Nirvana
My highest priority was for an all-in-one that would fit upon my home desktop alongside my computer and monitor. I needed to replace my HP F4180 because of queuing problems with the latest version of one of my photo editors.
By comparison the F4480 is much faster quieter and sleeker. Prints spew out at least 50% faster. The unit is quieter in operation and has the sound of quality. The F4480 is sleeker and shorter.
I can't address this unit's durability except to say that I am a computer hobbyist of over thirty years. For about the last ten years I have chosen HP products exclusively. I am very pleased with HP's online support (chat) system.
As for ink usage I will willingly pay more for the convenience of needing only two cartridges.
Tho I use printers predominantly for printing and copying documents I am delighted with the photo quality of the prints which are sometimes exhibited on the walls of our home.
As for the software I downloaded the driver only version from the HP website. The full HP software on the CD may be helpful to novice users but is an annoyance for folks who don't like all the ads. Better freeware options exist elsewhere online.
Price was not an issue this was simply the best at fulfilling my particular needs. However I am still in awe of the low price.
More detail ...
Had to return the first one
I did a ton of research and finally decided to go with this unit despite no reviews at the time. Installation was a breeze (using Mac OS X) except for one part where it asks you to set up a print queue. After doing so it didn't recognize it after multiple attempts. I finally decided to click past that step and it worked fine anyway.
We printed about a dozen photos over the first three days. On day 4 the printer booted up and slammed the print cartridge hard to the left then came up with a "Carriage Jam" error. The nice thing about the touch screen is that it also visually walks you through pictures of the areas that you need to check for paper jams etc.. Alas after going through every trouble shooting step provided it didn't solve the problem.
We returned it to Amazon (Very hassle free I might add--can't fault them a bit) and decided to try a second one since we did like the features. I was glad to see that Amazon ships you another even before you return the defective one. So far this one is working fine although it's only been a couple of days.
Our last HP was probably 4 years old. I have to say the print speed on this one is amazingly fast by comparison. I'm impressed it can print a 4x6 photo as fast as it does. Copy and scan work well too although I've found I have to initiate scanning from the Mac. Didn't seem to work if I tried to use the touchscreen to scan. I was pleased how easy they make choosing options with scanning. You can scan a document straight to PDF JPEG TIFF Memory Card USB drive OCR...
Overall it does seem as though this printer is very well made. It's also great having a tray for both paper and 4x6 photos. Unlike so many printer reviews it doesn't appear as though this printer is burning through much ink at all.
Although I would definitely recommend it I can't give it 5 stars due to the issues mentioned above.
More detail ...
