The HP PhotoSmart P1000 is a Digital Photo Printer for under $200!
Written: Nov 03 '01 (Updated Jan 27 '03)
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Pros: Easy to use and prints great!
Cons: No Borderless prints!
The Bottom Line: Excellent Photo Printing Quality!
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| surferdude7's Full Review: Hewlett Packard PhotoSmart p1000 Ink-jet Printer |
If you want quality photo printing then the HP Photosmart printer may be what you are looking for. Originally listed at $299, now you can find it at most stores for $199 and less if you shop on the Internet.
Hewlett Packard (HP) designed a series of printers for the person in mind who is looking to print digital photos from their digital camera. There are several Photosmart printer models available and the Photosmart 1000 is one of the best to start with. All models have the same quality of 2400 x 1200 dpi (dots per inch) with the others having different printing speeds and some other options.
The Photosmart 1000!
The Photosmart 1000 has two slots built-in for you to plug-in your memory cards from your digital cameras.
The top slot is for SmartMedia Cards and the bottom slot is for CompactFlash Cards or a Microdrive.
You can print directly from the printer using the built-in LCD display or upload your photos to your computer.
This printer will print on almost any type of paper from plain to a Glossy Photo paper. Paper sizes can very with the largest being 8.5 x 11 inches and it will also print on several envelope sizes.
The paper tray holds 100 sheets of paper at a time and then there is a small tray above it to place in 20 4 x 6 inch glossy photo cards. Using the HP 4 x 6 inch glossy photo paper with tabs on them made for the printer will give you about a 1/8 of an inch border around the photo. (20 = 4 x 6 glossy photo cards are $9.95 and a pack of 60 are $19.95.)
The Photosmart 1000 connections!
The Photosmart 1000 can be connected to a computer using a parallel cable or USB cable. Both cables do about the same quality speeds printing from the computer.
If you are going to upload your photos from the printer to the computer, I highly recommend the USB cable connection because of the faster upload over a parallel connection.
Printing Speeds!
The Photosmart 1000 is rated at 11 pages per minute in black text in the draft mode. The black text printing in the normal mode is 5.1 pages per minute and 4.4 pages per minute in the best mode.
In the color text and mixed graphics it is rated in the draft at 8.5 pages per minute, in the normal mode at 3.6 pages per minute and in the best at 2.5 pages per minute.
Now when you are printing on photo paper it will take you about two minutes on a 4 x 6 inch card and 6 to 7 minutes on an 8 x 10. These are my printing times in the best mode at 600 dpi. All printing varies depending on your photo and what mode or resolution you print in.
Software
There are two CDs that come with the printer.
They include the HP printing software and the drivers for a Macintosh OS 8.6 or above and Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000 Professional or NT 4.0.
Other Specifications!
Print at 600 dpi or 2400 x 1200-dpi mode using photo paper.
Macintosh and Windows ready
8 MB built-in RAM
Printer command language is HP PCL Level 3 enhanced
Uses HP Photo Ret III - Enhanced Color Layering Technology
8 built-in fonts
It weighs 14.2 pounds
It is 17.32 wide x 7.72 high and 14.56 deep
What comes in the Box!
You get the HP PhotoSmart 1000 printer
A black cartridge
A color cartridge
Software
Users Guide
(No USB or Parallel Cable included)
Print on both sides!
The Photosmart 1000 has the option of printing on both sides of the paper with the optional two-sided printing module that snaps in the back of the printer.
You can to go to their web site to get one, the price is $79.
My Experience!
I had the Photosmart 1000 for about one week when the paper started jamming all the time. There is a plastic like tray that holds the paper down that looked like it came lose somehow and since it was new I decided to just take it back and get another one.
The place that I bought it was out of stock but would have me a new one in a couple of days, then the store manager made me an offer on the Photosmart 1215. I paid $199 for the Photosmart 1000 and the 1215 sold for $299. The store manager said he would meet me half way on the price, so I paid them another $50 and went home with a new Photosmart 1215 printer.
As far as printing quality there is no difference between the 1000 and the 1215. The 1215 prints a little faster, has infrared capability, has 16MB of built-in memory instead of 8MB and some extra software, these are the main differences.
Overall!
Even though I had a little trouble with the printer I was ready to take another one just like it back home without any hesitation because it is an excellent quality photo-printing printer.
The quality of printing on plain paper and photo paper are just as great as on the Photosmart 1215.
I would still highly recommend the HP Photosmart 1000 to anyone wanting to print excellent quality photo prints.
The HP Photosmart 1000 has a one-year limited warranty.
~~~ Update ~~~
The HP Photosmart P1000 is discontinued and replaced with the Photosmart 1115.
Read about some of my other Printer reviews.
Canon S 9000 Personal Printer
HP PhotosSmart 7550 Photo Printer
HP PhotoSmart 7350 Photo Printer
HP PhotoSmart 1315 Desktop Personal Printer
HP PhotoSmart 1215 Personal Printer
HP LaserJet 1000 Personal Printer
Hewlett-Packard HP LaserJet 4100n
Sony DPP-SV77 Digital Photo Printer
Sony Digital Photo Printer SV55 Desktop Printer
~ Thank You for Reading my Reviews! ~
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199
Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
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surferdude7
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