The photos were also reasonably waterproof and scratch-resistant, so you can let people handle them without worrying about them getting ruined. That won't be an issue if you print only color photos, however. I saw a problem with color balance in a monochrome photo, with slight tints at some shades of gray. If you cover most of the page with graphics, you may want to use a more-expensive, heavier-weight paper.Ĭolor photos handily rank as true photo quality-better than what I'd expect from my local drugstore. I noticed a tendency for full-page graphics to make the plain paper in our tests curl, however. If you stay away from thin lines, the quality is sharp enough to hand out to an important client or customer you need to impress with your professionalism. Graphics are easily acceptable for any internal business use, though (as with many printers) thin lines tend to disappear. Edges aren't quite as crisp as you'll get from a laser printer, but the quality is adequate for schoolwork and most business needs. More than half the test fonts were easily readable with reasonably well-formed characters at 4 points, and all but two heavily stylized fonts with thick strokes passed that threshold at 5 points. Text quality is as good as or better than most ink jets. Speed for photos was no better, averaging 1:39 for 4-by-6s and 3:41 for 8-by-10s, compared with 58 seconds and 2:01 for the MP970.įortunately, the output is worth waiting for. On our business applications suite (timed with QualityLogic's hardware and software, the C8180 limped in at an unimpressive 22-minute total, compared with 20:10 for the less-expensive C7280 and 15:58 for the Canon Pixma MP970 Photo All-In-One, our current Editors' Choice for photo-lab AIO. On the other hand, if you use it strictly for printing photos, the two trays will let you keep two different sizes of photo paper loaded, so you can switch between sizes easily.Īs already mentioned, the C8180 loses points on speed-big time. For standard printing, if you print more than about 20 pages per day, the meager 100-sheet tray may need refilling often enough to become annoying. Paper handling is a potential issue, depending on how you use the C8180. For printing on both sides of the page, the C7280 includes a duplexer as standard, whereas it's a $79.99 (direct) option on the C8180. Both have the same low paper capacity, with a 100-sheet standard tray and 20-sheet tray for 4-by-6 photo paper. The two models have nearly identical high-quality photo output. Both use the same ink system, with six colors and a separate cartridge for each color-cyan, yellow, magenta, black, light cyan, and light magenta. In that context, its worth mentioning that the C8180 is a close cousin to the HP Photosmart C7280 All-In-One, a more office-centric model without a DVD drive or touch screen but with an ADF and fax features added.īoth models offer Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections. It's not a good choice for a home office, however, since there's no fax feature and no automatic document feeder (ADF) for multipage documents. You can, of course, use the C8180 as a standard AIO for printing, scanning, and copying.

Even more impressive: The C8180 is the first photo-lab AIO I've seen with a built-in LightScribe DVD drive, which is both a welcome convenience for archiving photo files on an optical disc and arguably the easiest choice for labeling discs as well. The LCD also serves as a touch screen for giving commands. Moreover, it lets you preview photos before printing on its 3.5-inch LCD. It not only prints photos at high quality, but can also print directly from PictBridge cameras, memory cards, USB keys, and even 35mm slides and film. The C8180 falls into the subcategory of photo-lab AIO, which is to say that, even if you never connect the unit to a computer, it's worth getting for printing photos. One year limited hardware backed by HP Customer Care. Photos - HIGH -QUALITY SETTINGS - Adobe Photoshop 7 - Average output time per print: 4' x 6' prints : HP Photosmart C8180 Specs Business Applications - DEFAULT SETTINGS - Microsoft Excel 2003 - 1 page, graph:īusiness Applications - DEFAULT SETTINGS - Microsoft Excel 2003 - 1 page, table A (with grid):īusiness Applications - DEFAULT SETTINGS - Microsoft Excel 2003 - 3 pages, charts and graphs:īusiness Applications - DEFAULT SETTINGS - Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 - 4 full-page slides:īusiness Applications - DEFAULT SETTINGS - Microsoft Word 2003 - 2 pages, text:Ĭlaimed lifetime for photos - dark storage:Ĭlaimed lifetime for photos - framed behind glass:

Hp photosmart c7280 all in one reviews