Customer Reviews

HP OfficeJet 7140xi All-in-One

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

We have three of these and just purchased a fourth. They are fast and work very well for medium-volume work (probably could handle more). All three currently running are in different offices and users roam from office to office and are able to print/scan/fax.

The setup was a little clunky and hard to understand how to make work. We did have to get on the phone with tech support a couple times for the first printer, after we knew what we were doing they were much easier. Support was very knowledgeable.

The drivers are the only other sticky point. They are a little difficult to reconfigure when the network configuration changes. And may require re-installation to make work after a change. But once they work, they work well.

I was a HP printer fan until I purchased the 7140xi. I purchased it because it came with a print server & networking capabilities for my home LAN. After 40-50 hours on the phone with HP Support; calling friends for technical support, weeks of frustration, and many installs/uninstalls later--the HP printer is being returned. I could not get the HP software to install on my desktop with Windows XP-Home. I was able to install the HP Director software on 1 Windows 2000 laptop but not on another W2K laptop. My advice: consider another multifunction. I just ordered a Canon Multipass 730 & have given up on a networked multifunction for my home LAN.

I sit next to this monstrosity at work. I see and hear the complaints daily. It pulls multiple pages while both printing AND faxing. We even sent it back to be fixed because of another issue, and it is still as difficult as ever.

DO NOT BUY THIS MACHINE

The potential of this device is huge. A single network attached device to do all of your paper-based communication: fax, scan, copy, print. Unfortunately the scanning part doesn't really work.

Printing and copying seem to work fine, no complaints there. I don't use the fax so I can't comment on that. It's when I try to scan over the network connection that things fall apart.

There's two ways to try to do it:

1) Via the client software. Just walk up to the printer, select which computer you want to send the scan to, and scan. Unfortunately the client software consistantly crashes on every computer I've installed it on.

2) Via the web interface. After putting your document on the scan bed or in the document feeder you return to your computer, open the web page for the 7140xi, and click scan. An acrobat window pops up with the pdf (tiff and jpg also supported). You can also have the 7140xi send the document via email.

This works pretty well for a single document on the scan bed. Using the document feeder seems to always produce corrupt images that Acrobat can't open. This makes it hard to scan multiple pages. I thought my document feeder might be broken, but copying from the document feeder works fine. I spent some time with HP on their live support chat, but they weren't useful.

I just got this printer, mainly because of it being a network printer, and I have several PC's that need to print. Set-up was okay, documentation was not too good. Once set up, it's a workhorse. Printed documents are good, photos are okay (as with any all-in-one printer), copying and faxing are a snap. Surprises: I was surprised that it accepted memory cards for photo printing, nice little feature. The printer also works from my LINUX box, that made me happy.

The documentation that comes with it is weak but this is a beautiful and strong workhorse for the small home business. Just what I wanted, just what I expected, and just what I needed. Networking is a breeze; setup from the CD was flawless. Oh, and what a relief to get rid of all those power cords and USB and parallel cables.

The hardware functionality is excellent for our small office; however, the Windows PC-Hosted software is awful! The "scan to destination" feature is only compatible with Acrobat 5, and will it only work from the profile under which it was installed. So, if you log in as "bob" and install Acrobat and the HP software, you will only be able to create pdfs while logged in as "bob". Acrobat disappears as an option under all other profiles. Judging by HP's forums, this is a well known problem; however, they haven't released new software since 9-17-2003. The media slot can only be accessed through HP's proprietary software; thererfore, it doesn't appear as a drive, and can't be shared over the network without installing the nasty HP software on every machine.

If you just want a great fax/copier get this. If you'd actually like to use the other features in a networked environment, forget about it.

Had all the functionality I wanted but ended up being a very costly printer. Because it has separate printheads and it monitors the age of your ink cartridges it has been VERY expensive to run. I do mostly black and white printing with only occasional color. This printer constantly 'tests' it's own printheads --as I have learned-- so it uses the various color printheads and ink even when you haven't printed any color items. It tells you your ink is going to expire, which is a good reminder, but then it just stops printing one day--even if there is plenty of ink. Even if you just want to print in black and white it will stop because your color ink cartridge has expired. I finally found a work around--removed the internal battery. But still requires replacement of all color printheads to print in black and white???

You are better off getting the printers that have the printheads in the cartridge rather than spending 4 times as much money to replace 3 color printheads plus the color cartridge to print in BLACK and WHITE.

I have had many HP products last forever with no problems. This 7140XI looks like it will perform, but I agree with the other review the product is not ready for prime time. Same complaints as above, HP software is bad, no recent attempts to patch. Scanner gets hung up frequently, Burns through ink. Document feeder has had problems; pulls through multiple pages, they have now resolved with a new doc. feeder. HP customer service has really been so good to me I don't like dissing their product. But, I don't like it, and I am looking for a new all in one. Hope this helps !!

This all-in-one printer does everything it promises very well. I print all my family photo prints from this printer; double sided prints saves me paper, and has great print quality too. Have not had the problems others have complained about. Always advisable when you buy an electronic hardware like this to download and install the latest software. Also, read the manual. I use this printer as part of my home network. Bought the 7140xi to get the printer network accessory as part of the printer. By itself the network accessory has almost the price of the 7110, 7120 printer. So get the series with the network printer. I love this printer and have been using it for over a year now.