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HP Photosmart C8180

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By Edvarcl Heng, CNET Asia
Nov 12, 2007

This is one AIO that has them all… almost. While it doesn't have a fax feature, it does have a built-in CD/DVD burner, and it's not something we see on a printer everyday.

The optical drive adds more options both in terms of reading and writing. If someone hands you a photo CD and wants a printout in a hurry, typically, you would need a computer to drive the images to the printer.

     
For more details on the C8180's design, click on the image.
With a drive (DVD+/-RW and CD-RW), you can print directly from the disc which can be useful on some occasions. As a bonus, you can save images to the disc as well, but how useful that is really depends on you.

As is typical of HP's wont, the burner is LightScribe-enabled--you can adorn your LightScribe discs with monochrome images without the need to print out a separate adhesive label.

HP has also improved its graphical user interface. A quick browse through the 3.5-inch touchscreen assures that the learning curve won't be as steep as its armory of features suggests.

As it's aimed at the small office or home printing environment, the C8180 tops up the feature list with networking: Both Ethernet and wireless 802.11g/b. There's also Bluetooth, PictBridge and USB 2.0 for occasional fuss-free (almost) connectivity.

However, there isn't an automatic document feeder or duplex print option, so print-hungry users won't be lucky here unless they fork out extra for the duplex option. The C8180 also supports an almost complete set of media slots: CompactFlash, xD, Secure Digital, Multimedia Card, SDHC and a few more.

For speed, the C8180 claims 34ppm (black, draft quality, A4) and 33ppm (color, draft quality, A4). For photos (color photo, draft quality), that's one every 10 seconds. And that's all printed out with the six Vivera ink cartridges with a best color resolution print of 4,800 x 1,200dpi.

If you are looking out for a AIO that almost does it all, at S$599, the C8180 is not a bad choice if an optical drive grabs you right.