articles/Printers/hpphotosmart-page1
by Mike McNamee Published 01/06/2008
This is an inkjet printer with a 13" throat and a capacity for A3+ prints. With a footprint of around 27" wide by 17" deep, it requires an additional 14" behind when using the flat-fed art media. The front tray extends by an additional 7" or so. Physically it is the same size as the Epson 3800, although the Epson runs up to A2 size. The 9180 uses the Vivera eight cartridge ink set consisting of pigment inks in the following colours: Photo Black, Matte Black, Light Grey, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Light Cyan and Light Magenta.
There are a number of papers available as shown by this selection image in natural light and
Unpacking and Installation
There is nothing unusual to report here, a similar amount of sticky tape needed to be removed, comparable to its rivals. We noticed right away that trays and sliders were sturdy and well engineered , as indeed, is the whole machine.
Speed and Connectivity
The printer is provided with both USB and network connectors. We set up a network-connected printer and installed the drivers and profiles on a Windows XP box, using Photoshop CS2 to output test prints from. An A3+ print took 6m 16s to print, in line with the 3m10s reported elsewhere for an full coverage A4 print. The feed tray can hold stacks of thinner media but not the fine art and canvas types.
The printing interface for the HP is straightforward and simple to follow. We did not use the installed Photosmart Print Plug-in much, although this was even easier to use - a real joy in fact! It is accessed by opening the print in Photoshop and then going to the Automate menu and clicking HP Photosmart Pro Print. Initially only the HP media is shown but it is possible to set-up new papers and assign profiles.
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