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HP PSC 1210 Review

The HP PSC 1210 is actually not the first flatbed scanner/copier/printer to tempt customers. However the HP certainly is the tiniest, cutest all-in-one to date - with its front paper tray shut, it appears for all the world just like a breadbox or even toaster (16.8 by 10.2 by 6.7 inches), and a back recess for the power and also USB cables means that you can place it almost flush against a wall. A combination of top-panel buttons along with software drivers cause it to be user friendly, and it is quiet enough not to become a bother on your desktop.

Unpacking and setting up the PSC 1210 is a straightforward task, with the setup CD leading you throughout the procedure and one USB cable (not included) the sole link to your pc.

You have to flip down the front flap/paper tray and reach into a recess to be able to click in the two ink cartridges; the HP 56 black cartridge is rated for about 450 pages, together with the HP 57 tricolour tank for approximately 400. The flatbed scanning glass measures 8.5 by 11.5 inches, so legal- rather than letter-size documents need not apply.

A stick-on label distinguishes the eight jelly-bean-collared buttons within the 1210's top left side, including black and colour copy, scan, number of copies, normal or fit-to-page copy size, and paper type loaded. HP has simplified selecting media to plain - which includes both cheap copier and also coated inkjet - or photo paper (Okay, the driver offers an alternative meant for transparencies).

The PSC 1210 is a not-very-fast yet handy copier. Five superb good quality black copies of a laser-printed page took 2 minutes and 48 seconds, while five colour copies of a wall-calendar page - much less outstanding, with certain grainy banding, yet satisfactory with regard to handouts or even group meetings - required seven minutes.

The 36-bit, 600 by 2,400-dpi scanner turned out to be acceptable for making copies of family photos or even magazine articles, even though we wouldn't rely on it with regard to in depth artistic work.

We were happily surprised by HP's "Director" control toolbar along with other software tools, which offer anything from effectively structured image-catalogue thumbnails to red-eye reduction along with other basic photo-editing resources. Importing a page of text and graphics in to an editable Microsoft Word document turned out practically error-free.

In our real-world tests, draft text prints using the HP PSC 1210 ink cartridges appeared just a little faint however tolerable with plain paper - a five-page Word document required 1 minute and 37 seconds - though draft-mode images or charts ended up both pretty pale as well as full of banding artefacts.

Normal-mode text appeared pretty decent on plain paper (2 minutes and 20 seconds with regard to the five-pager and 32 seconds regarding a one-page letter inccluding a two-colour logo), however in fact worse - somewhat dim or even blotty - upon the coated inkjet paper that many cheap printers generally require. Switching to best mode and coated paper made close to laser-quality yet slow output - 69 seconds regarding our organization letter, nearly five and a half minutes to make the five-page document.

The six-page Adobe Acrobat text-and-graphics document took 4 minutes and 20 seconds in normal setting, also together with a lot of banding with plain paper however OK upon coated inventory. Best option upon coated inventory was really good looking, yet needed 7 minutes and 17 seconds.

Lastly, an 8 by 10-inch camera photograph appeared rather nice upon inkjet paper in normal option (1 minute and 40 seconds); on glossy paper in best option, it took approximately five minutes but was utterly spectacular, having sharp details as well as vivid colours.

The HP PSC 1210 has some faults, but it's a nifty small device even so. Its diminutive size as well as smooth style bring a breath of fresh air to the swiftly filling consumer-flatbed-multifunction market place, and also the overall performance will be far more than effective enough to be able to please home Computer customers tempted by its low cost.