HP Photosmart 7260 Inkjet Printer

Inkjets Print Photos Well, And Decent Looking Text, Too

Inkjet printers like this one are commonly used in a home or student setting as well as in a small office. Printing photos is their strongest suit, although they can also print decent to good-looking plain text. For the best results, you usually need to use specially coated papers.

Inkjet printers spray ink through microscopic nozzles arrayed on a print head. Because the printhead has to move back and forth across the page, inkjets can be slow--especially when printing those nice photos.

Ink type affects print quality. Dye-based inks (color dissolved in liquid) tend to create better-looking colors, but they’re less light- and water-resistant. Pigment-based inks (solid color particles suspended in liquid) create images that are more durable but not quite as colorful. Some inkjet printers use both: a pigment-based black for crisp text quality, for instance, but dye-based colors for better-looking graphics.

Ink cartridges come in two basic designs. The colors (cyan, magenta, and yellow) can come in a unified “tricolor” cartridge or in separate cartridges. There’s always a separate black. The tricolor cartridges are more compact, but they’re also wasteful because you have to replace the entire cartridge whenever you run out of any one color. Some printers offer additional colors, such as light cyan or light magenta, to widen the color palette.

Compatible with Microsoft Windows Operating System

Printers such as this model are compatible with computers that use the Microsoft Windows operating system, meaning it has at least one appropriate connection type and also has drivers written for Windows.

Be Skeptical of Color Print Speed Claims

A printer's stated color print speed (expressed in pages per minute, or "ppm") should be taken with a grain of salt. Vendors often use contrived methods to arrive at such numbers. For instance, they might print in draft mode, which is faster than the default mode most people use. Or they'll exclude the first page out from a document's total print time, because its slower exit reflects the processing time needed to create the document image for the printer. Or they might send raw data straight to the printer, bypassing any application or PC processing time. The PC World Test Center uses dedicated testbed PCs and real-world applications to reflect actual use as closely as possible. We also time the document "from click to clunk" -- from the time we click the "Print" button to the time when the last page falls into the output tray.

Take black-and-white print speed times with a grain of salt

A printer's stated monochrome or "black-and-white" print speed (expressed in pages per minute, or "ppm") should be taken with a grain of salt. Vendors often use contrived methods to arrive at such numbers. For instance, they might print in draft mode, which is faster than the default mode most people use. Or they'll exclude the first page out from a document's total print time, because its slower exit reflects the processing time needed to create the document image for the printer. Or they might send raw data straight to the printer, bypassing any application or PC processing time. The PC World Test Center uses dedicated testbed PCs and real-world applications to reflect actual use as closely as possible. We also time the document "from click to clunk" -- from the time we click the "Print" button to the time when the last page falls into the output tray.

Installed Memory is Ideal for Five or Fewer Users

This printer's installed memory is sufficient for small offices or workgroups that print typical business documents, such as memos, spreadsheets, or simple Web pages. If you have more than six people using the printer or the printer handles heavy traffic, you will want more memory than this printer provides.