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134 of 136 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful photo quality even with regular paper, November 15, 2004
When they say All In One they're not kidding with this device. I have owned this device for a little over 2 months now and have put it through its paces. First of all this beast is HUGE. Its about the size of a 17-19" monitor width wise. It will fit snugly on top of a standard filing cabinet. Its fairly easy to assemble and get up and running. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS as they're printed or you'll have issues with your computer recognizing the drivers, especially if you're not using XP.
The print quality is outstanding! I have never seen a printer print such vivid colors or such realistic fleshtones. Especially one not considered a photo printer. But this is where the device shines. WIth a photo cartridge and HPs photo paper, I cannot tell the difference between a photo printed on this device and a professionally printed photo. The media slots are a plus. You can use them to open photos on your computer as well so it does act as a card reading device for your computer rather than hooking up your digital camera directly to the computer. It will NOT print a document from a media card however. You must print from the opened document.
Its copying abilities are good with minimal jamming in the feeder tray. Plus its so easy to open and pull out a jammed paper. You can specify how many copies and what quality you want them from either your computer or from the LCD panel. Very nice!
Its scanning capabilities are average to very good. There is no notching or markings as to where the page is oriented so getting started is a little tricky, but once you get it, very easy and fast scanning. Make sure you have a decent sleep mode time set or you'll be blinded by the scanning light that is always on unless the whole device is off or sleeping. Minor annoyance at worst.
Its faxing is well... faxing. It does the job. Its easy to set up, its easy to program, and it sends faxes. Need I say more.
Now the device also comes with some photo editing software which for someone who's buying a device like this, you should already have Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro or other editing program. The HP photo editing program is non-intuitive and cumbersome. The software is a serious resource hog on your computer. I would not install the software if you have a 650MHz dinosaur like I originally installed this on. It severely slowed down my computer. On a 3GHz with 1Gb RAM computer, no issues with the software at all. You are not forced to install the photo editing software, you can choose minimal install and it'll only install the drivers and the HP updater
Overall, if you have the means and the need for a powerhouse like this, I'd recommend it highly. Its sturdy, big and professional in appearance. Its wireless capabilities are a nice plus even though I dont use that. The 2 paper trays and the duplexer make it even nicer. A small minus, no override paper tray. So printing a single envelope or a single odd size sheet of paper is annoying. I had hoped that HP would have added this feature on such a feature rich product
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120 of 126 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mac-specific notes on this printer, January 17, 2005
UPDATE November 14, 2006: A couple months ago I downloaded the latest version of HP's Mac software for this product, and found the new software very user-unfriendly. Also, it apparently eliminated 2-sided scanning, among other problems. After a couple hours on the phone with HP I gave up and reverted to the older version of the software. Unless they fix these problems, I cannot currently recommend this unit for Mac users. Latest rating: 4 for hardware, 1 for software. Overall, 2 stars. Sorry I can't change the star rating I gave originally that appears with this review. (The older version of the software does fix the first problem noted below.)
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As a Mac user, my experience of the 7410 may be different than those using Windows machines because the software and drivers are different. I'm currently using this All-in-One with a first generation iMac G5 running Tiger, Mac OS 10.4.4 and the two generally work well together. I used to use it with Panther, Mac OS 10.3.9, and it also worked will in that environment.
On the Software
The scanner comes with a suite of different applications that each have a single function, like scanning from the document feeder, scanning from the glass, choosing a printer on the network, printing (drivers), faxing (drivers), scanning to OCR software, setup assistants, etc. I've run across 4 problems with the software.
First, if you choose book-binding style 2-sided printing, the top margin on one side is about twice what it should be, and the bottom margin is almost zero. This occurs when the top and bottom margins are set at 0.5 inches. This problem has been reproduced by HP support and should be fixed in the next driver version, whenever that comes out. The temporary work-around is to use tablet-style 2-sided printing. The problem doesn't occur in that case. (Addendum February 12, 2006: This problem has been fixed.)
The second problem I've encountered is that (using Word X) text like a page number in the footer is cut off about half-way up each character, as if the printer can't print that low on the page (although it is well within specifications). HP support has reproduced this and are looking into whether this is a driver issue or not. The temporary workaround is to put a return after the page number, so there is an empty space under the page number. (Addendum February 12, 2006: I don't think HP ever "fixed" this; the work-around above still works.)
Third, the printer specs say it can print within 0.2 inches of the bottom of the page, but the driver only lets you set a bottom margin of 0.56 inches minimum (in Word X). I haven't reported this to HP support yet. (Addendum February 12, 2006: Eventually, HP explained that when printing text 0.56 inches is the minimum margin at the bottom of a page for reliable printing. Accordingly, a "fix" was never issued.)
A fourth problem concerns the latest software version only, 7.7.2. The Scan and Archive application doesn't show double-sided scanning as an option unless the document to be scanned is in the document feeder BEFORE the application is launched. The double-sided option should be displayed whether or not the document is in the feeder, as was the case with earlier versions of the software. Also, the Scan and Archive app preferences no longer stick. HP tech support has confirmed these problems and forwarded the report to the software engineers. I just hide the application instead of quitting it, so I don't have to change the resolution preferences every time.
I should note that faxing from the computer through the OfficeJet is hit-or-miss. Sometimes I just can't get it to work, so I have to print out the document then fax it manually through the document feeder.
It's interesting to note that I had the first and second problems when using an early OS X-compatible driver for an HP DeskJet 935C printer. Driver updates from HP fixed these problems, so I think the second problem is an HP driver problem. The real question is, how long will it take HP to release a driver update? If these are, in fact, the same problems that occurred in the first driver release for another printer, I'm disappointed that HP didn't avoid these problems in new drivers for their newer printers. It's like they aren't learning from their mistakes made a few years ago.
On the Hardware
I've used the printing, scanning, faxing (both in and out), and copying features of this printer, and I'm very pleased with how it works. It prints very quickly. I only scan text (printed and handwritten) for medical records, but it does a good job, though it's noisy when scanning. The copies are fast and accurate. Faxes have been sent and received with no problems. I do all of this wirelessly, using Airport Express and an iMac G5, and I really like the wireless capabilities of this All-in-One. Initially, it worked best with a static IP address, which I set up with HP support after having a few connectivity problems. Lately, I haven't needed the static IP address. One hint: If your Mac and this unit lose contact with each other when running wirelessly, and the problem isn't that you've lost your wireless connection with the Airport base station, usually turning the HP off and then back on solves the problem.
When I first wrote this review, I recommended this printer to Mac users. 4 stars for hardware, 2 stars for Mac driver problems noted above: Overall score, 3 stars. Assuming all the Mac driver problems are fixed, I'd give this printer 4+ stars. Unfortunately, HP seems to have fixed a few problems and then took a major step backward with the software. I cannot currently recommend this unit for Mac users. Latest rating: 4 for hardware, 1 for software. Overall, 2 stars. Sorry I can't change the star rating I gave originally that appears with this review.
On HP's Support
HP support on the whole has been helpful. As you might tell from the above review, I've called them several times. I had a problem with the HP Communications background software repeatedly quitting for no reason, and their recommendation to completely delete all HP software and reinstalling worked. The one time I spoke to a "Level 3" support person, I found him very knowledgeable and helpful. The first person you get to speak to is more at a beginner level, and not always very helpful. If you don't think you're getting the help you need, ask for a more senior person.
Addendum February 12, 2006: I've had at least two more issues with this printer for which I called HP tech support. Twice they had no solution for me, after several hours on the phone, but for one I found the solution in the HP knowledgebase (don't the tech support people know about that?) and for the other I stumbled across the solution myself. Despite this, my experience has been that the tech support personnel in the Mac department really do try to help.
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40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost 5 stars and maybe is by now - see below, January 14, 2005
Reasons I bought the 7410:
a) Wireless printing capability.
b) Speed vs. my older Xerox printer.
c) Better print quality than my Xerox (although photo quality was not a deciding factor - I use a HiTouch dye-sub printer for that).
d) Better software support than Xerox. After all, this is HP's cash cow so they should do it right, right?
After about 3 months of use, I love this printer. Here are my pros and cons so far:
Pros:
> Speed - this thing flys, especially in comparison to my older printer!
> Wireless - works perfectly, especially after the latest software upgrade. (But see note below on sofware loading, etc.)
> Easy double side printing. I have cut my paper usage tremendously with the double side priting feature. And it works beautifully.
> The features I have tried all work perfectly the first time. (I have not yet used the camera card reader function, but I expect it will work fine.)
> Automatic software updates: Other reviewers have noted software issues and I had some as well, as noted below. BUT, and this is important to me after my Xerox experiences, you can set up your HP software to check for updates weekly and install any updates released automatically. The one issue that i did have initially has been completely resolved with the patch issued in December.
Cons:
> Software loading worked on my laptop but was a problem on my desktop. Others have cited this problem and it is what kept me from giving this printer 5 stars. If you find that your software fails to install from the CD the first time, I found this to work: Instead of installing the recommended 'complete' software package, select the 'minimum' software installation. When this installs (I had no problem installing this on my desktop unit), try installing the full installation again. This worked for me.
> Initial printing glitch from the desktop. Perhaps related to the above, my laptop worked perfectly via the wireless connection (which was easy to set up) but the desktop worked sometimes but not others. This, however, was resolved by a software update that HP posted. Since then, no problems.
Wish list: I was surprised that the 7410 allows you to choose either wireless, ethernet or USB printing, but not a combination of these methods. For a number of reasons, I had wanted to install both ethernet and wireless connections, but you cannot do that. You need to choose one method and use it for all of your printing needs. I wish HP would change this to allow all input types to be utilized.
Bottom line, now that the software appears stable, this printer is great. I would give it 5 stars right now, but unless the indluded software CD has been updated to eliminate the initial bugs, many consumers may find the initial effort required to get the software loaded, updated and working far less intuitive and automatic than it should be.
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