Printer frustration. After arguments between colleagues about what temperature the office air-con should be set at, surely getting the printer to do what it's supposed to is cause for more workplace stress than any other issue.
And that doesn't just apply to the office - even those of us working from home often have to print stuff and that means you're your own IT department when, inevitably, the printer there won't do what you want it to either.
The big difference is, when the office printer runs out of ink, that's not your problem.
When your own machine comes up empty, the ink bill buck stops with you.
HP might be able to help with that.
Nobody loves replacing ink cartridges and although the HP Smart Tank 7605 does have cartridges, it's really only the ink you have to change, and you won't have to do that very often.
So many other printers come with only the bare essentials in the box - perhaps even smaller-than-usual cartridges just to get you started, before you have to lay down about the same amount of money the whole printer cost to keep stocked up in ink.
A key selling point for the HP Smart Tank line is unlike those other printers, you get four large bottles of ink as well - enough for up to 6000 black-and-white pages or 8000 colour ones. Depending on individual use cases, that's likely to be more than two years worth of printing, included in the box.
What's more, the replacement bottles aren't that expensive and of course, plastic bottles are a lot more recyclable than whole empty cartridges.
There's nothing about the Smart Tank that doesn't make more sense.
In truth, not all that much has changed between the 7605 and the 7305 I reviewed three years ago, which is not to say there's much wrong with either device. More accurately, it's kind of a if-it-ain't-broke situation.
You still get high capacity scanning and copying, with a well-designed flip out document feeder. You can still have full-colour, double-sided printing in next to no time and as you'll see in my video below, for a home printer, the 7605 is pretty darn quick - even when printing full-colour A4 pics.
However, there are a few crucial distinctions with the 7605. For example, you can fax. Why you should want to do this, I have no idea. But somebody must and with the 7605, they can.
Apparently, faxing is still more secure than other forms of e-transmission so medical and financial institutions are still pretty into it. Who knew?
But for me, the 7605's crucial modification is the "touch interface" (screen) now embedded into the upper panel of the printer, appearing as if by magic, then vanishing completely when not in use. On other HP printers we've seen a bunch of confusingly labelled buttons, with a small LCD screen, or perhaps a more intrusive, colour touch screen on the front that you could tilt up at an angle.
This new monochromatic touch interface is much more elegant, guiding you through every step of setup, use and maintenance.
Of course, the key to all this used to be the HP Smart app, although that seems to have evolved into a more streamlined app, now simply called, HP. Regardless of whether you use this from your phone or your desktop, once signed in, you get instant access to your printer from anywhere, with clear status windows showing connected devices and ink levels at a glance.
In fact, thanks to the revamped app, it's never been easier to do things like scan and print from your phone, order more ink (you know, in two years time) or yes, even send a fax!
Other than that, it's silly little basic things I like about this printer. I've already mentioned the ample flip-down flap on the 35-page document feeder, but there are similar flaps on the copy return tray and on top of the paper tray to ensure your printouts don't end up randomly shuffled on the floor.
The paper tray itself is much more generous than most other home printers - able to accommodate up to 250 sheets of normal paper, 50 of photo paper or 30 cards at a time.
There's a front-facing USB port to make it easier to print from or scan directly to a USB drive.
And there's an easily accessible off button. Why does that matter? If your printer is in the spare room like mine is, when guests come to stay, it's nice to be able to shut off any glowing lights without having to switch the thing off at the wall.
But at the end of the day, surely the only reason you need to seriously consider the Smart Tank 7605 is the smart tank system itself. It's cheaper, better for the environment and most importantly, it lasts for ages. And with an HP Instant Ink subscription, you won't even have to think about ordering ink - if it ever does run out. It'll be delivered to your door in plenty of time, automatically.
Right, that's the printer sorted. Now... About the air conditioning...
Click here for more information and pricing on the HP Smart Tank 7605.


No comments:
Post a Comment