• PC World
• » Printers

Multipurpose printers are like soap opera actors: They can turn their hands to any role, but they're unlikely to win an Emmy. This holds true for Hewlett-Packard's PhotoSmart 1218 printer, which the company claims can do double duty as a photo printer and as a document printer.

Though not exceptional at either job, the PhotoSmart 1218 is pretty good at both.

The image quality my shipping unit produced was good on text, with only slight blurring at the edge of letters that is typical of ink jets. You'll see some dithering, especially on subtle gradients and in skin tones, but overall the photo image quality was reasonable for this class of product--though understandably not as good as you'd get with the Olympus P-400 (see above), a dedicated photo printer.

In my informal tests, a typical page of high-quality text took approximately 70 seconds to print while a full-page photograph took just under 4 minutes--fair performance but not terribly speedy.

The printer has a sensor that automatically detects paper type. HP also provides CompactFlash and SmartMedia card slots, which allow you to take your media straight from a digital camera and print indexes or images directly.

Though it's not the fastest printer on the block, the PhotoSmart 1218 will get the job done and should suit most home or small-office needs.

SUMMARY

HP PhotoSmart 1218 PRO: A good multipurpose printer. CON: Not outstanding in any particular category. VALUE: Moderately priced, good for general home or small-office use. List price: $499 Hewlett-Packard 800/752-0900 www.hp.com

• See more like this:
• photosmart,
• hp