By Leonard Goh
23/04/2009
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/printers/0,39051175,44053939p,00.htm

All-In-One (AIO) printers are aplenty these days on the market, and printer manufacturers are dishing out such machines almost every other month. However, there are only a selected few with Wi-Fi capability and a large LCD screen. If these two options are your criteria for an inkbox, then the HP Photosmart C6380 might be suitable for you. It performed well in our tests and the print quality was decent, too. But as with most AIOs with wireless function, the setup can prove to be tricky.

Design

The Photosmart C6380 features a boxy design which didn't really take up much of our work space. However, we wouldn't refer its footprint to being compact as well, because the base dimension measures 455 x 240mm. Also, take note that the two paper trays jut out from the front of the machine, but are stacked to save space. The bottom shelf can hold media up to A4 size, while the top deck can accept only 5 x 7-inch photo papers. The smaller paper tray retracts into the printer when in use, so don't be surprised to see the parts moving during operation.

An array of buttons line the front of the HP printer and are neatly labeled with their function(s). There is also a four-way clickable navigation pad to be employed with the tilting 2.4-inch LCD. When not using the display, it can be pushed down to be set flushed scanner lid, which gives it a clean, sleek look.

At the bottom left corner are the media card slots, which accept most commonly used flash formats. However, the slots don't have cover, which may trap dust. The rest of the ports are on the back of the C6380, so with some proper cable management they shouldn't clutter up your space.

Features

One of the major selling points of the C6380 is its network capability. The printer has an Ethernet port as well as wireless LAN to connect to other computer terminals. Setting it up is relatively easy, but only with the included software. The procedures are simple enough and require only a few clicks to get the setup running. However, it would be best if you read the manual first as certain terms used in the setup can be a tad confusing.

If you don't run a wireless network at home or have no need to share the printer, there is also the standard USB 2.0 port to link up the printer to your terminal

The HP printer boasts all-in-one functions which include copying and scanning. It can also perform as a standalone machine--just plug in a USB drive to the front of the printer, navigate to the desired file from the LCD, and hit Print. Another nifty feature is that the C6380 can scan straight to a USB drive or memory card and save it automatically as a JPEG file.

Performance

In terms of printing speed, the C6380 was a decent performer in our tests. A 10-page document was delivered in 1 minute 9 seconds when we used the General Automatic mode, and 44 seconds when we switched to the Everyday Draft option. However, note that this timing may differ depending on how much text there is to print. Our test file was quite word-intensive with varying fonts on different pages.

For photographs, a 4R picture took about 28 seconds to print in Normal mode. Using the Best settings, we clocked nearly double the time--54 seconds. This was in line with the specifications of the inkbox, which states that a 4R print can output as fast a time as 60 seconds.

As for A4 pictures, the C6380 took 1 minute 15 seconds to deliver using Normal mode. The same print using Best mode, took 2 minutes 37 seconds.

The fastest time to scan a document was 35 seconds, which included the time needed for the components to warm up. This is pretty fast and will go down well with those who want an efficient machine.

For copying, HP states that the C6380 can output 33 pages per minute (ppm) for monotone, and 31ppm for color. However, this is achievable probably only in Draft mode. Under normal settings, it took about 29 seconds for the All-In-One to churn out a black-and-white copy, and the same time for a color print. Again, note that the timing may vary depending on the complexity of the document.

A gripe we had with the printer was its startup time. It took 1 minute 30 seconds for the inkbox to power up, and while doing that, it made a good deal of noise. However, shutting down was much faster, clocking only 9 seconds.

Print Quality

The C6380 uses a five-tank ink system utilizing HP's Vivera ink. There are however, two different blacks--a normal one for text and a photo black for printing pictures with deeper tones.

The test prints which we got after setting up the printer, looked really good. Colors were vibrant and hues were accurate. The black-and-white test print showed different levels of gradations in tones and they were smooth.

Photographs which we printed showed almost similar results. If you don't look closely, you probably would not notice the fine ink pigmentations. In fact, we think it would be difficult to distinguish a print from this HP inkbox and a photo from a professional developer. That said, we have to emphasize that the quality of the photos would determine the output. If the original source is grainy, then naturally these would appear on the print, too.

The different modes didn't have much effect for photo printing in our tests. The Normal and Best options outputed almost similar results, and without proper labeling, it would be hard to tell which is which.

For text printing, the difference was more noticeable when we switched between the various modes. Color text looked washed out and had jagged edges when we printed using Draft settings. Normal and Best modes gave satisfactory printouts, but if you're out to impress or are working on a report, we'd suggest sticking to the latter as the text edges looked much smoother and had richer colors.

Conclusion

At S$399, the HP Photosmart C6380 can be considered as an affordable AIO option for home users or small businesses. Consumables start at S$19 per color, and can go up to S$45 each if you decide to buy the XL (higher capacity) ink tanks.

The C6380 offer a good mix of features and decent performances in our tests. The useful ports in front make the printer a great standalone machine. However, the instruction manual is very important if you want to hook up the machine to a wireless network, as it can be confusing for first-time users.