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More…The HP Officejet J6480 All-in-One color inkjet multifunction printer competes with other midrange MFPs, including Lexmark's X9575 Professional and Dell's 968w--and all offer a similar array of features, including integrated Wi-Fi. The J6480 manages to do everything for the lowest price of the bunch, which might help some people overlook its middling performance and quirks.
HP Officejet J6480 All-in-One
Pricing
$159.99 - $229.99 From 6 Vendors Get Best Prices »
- Spec Navigator
- Core Components
- Media Handling
- Display
- Network
- Connectivity
- Platform Support
- Dimensions
- General Features
- Green
- Included Hardware
- Included Software
- Resolutions
- Scanning
- Faxing
Media Handling
| Manual Feed Slot | No |
| Maximum Number of Input Trays | 1 |
| Maximum paper size, height | 14.0 inches |
| Maximum Sheets With All Paper Trays | 250 |
| Output Tray Capacity | 50 |
| Standard Number of Input Trays | 1 |
| Maximum paper size, width | 8.5 inches |
| Standard input sheet capacity | 250 |
| Duplex printing | Yes |
General Features
| Media slots |
|
| PictBridge compatible | No |
| Printer languages supported | PCL3 |
Included Hardware
| Included Hardware |
|
3
7 User Reviews Add your own »
$159.99 - $229.99
From 6 Vendors
Get Best Prices »
- Lab Tested
- How We Test Printers »
Pros
Inexpensive; integrated Wi-Fi
Automatic duplexer
Cons
Mediocre speed; confusing control panel
Confusing control panel
Bottom Line
A raft of features makes this unit tempting, despite middling performance and a few design flaws.
HP Officejet J6480 All-in-One Inkjet Multifunction Printer
Officejet J6480 All-in-One Review, by Melissa Riofrio June 4, 2008
In our speed tests, the J6480 printed text at a passable 7.3 pages per minute (ppm) and color graphics at 2.4 ppm. The results were only somewhat worth the wait: On plain paper, text looked dark-charcoal rather than the preferred true black, with some unevenness to the edges, while color images appeared a little grainy. HP's own photo paper improved matters--color images seemed a little dark, but natural and smooth. Scans and copies looked a bit fuzzy but quite good.
Multifunction printers in this price range struggle to fit more stuff into a fairly compact case. The Officejet J6480 does a pretty good job with the all-important paper handling. The main input tray holds a voluminous 250 sheets of plain paper, as well as thicker media. The lid of the input tray is also the 50-sheet output tray, with a wide, pull-out extension. An auto duplexer (for two-sided printing) hangs off the back, and a 35-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) sits atop the scanner.
I wish HP had paid as much attention to ease of use. The control panel is clearly laid out and fairly easy to navigate. The power button, however, is the same dark color as its surroundings and sits in the far upper-right corner of the angled main control panel. It lights green when the machine is on, but the user needs to see it before then. The button to activate the Wi-Fi transceiver is on the front of the machine, but the installation documentation neglects to tell you to turn it on if you want to use it; the manual buries that revelation in the troubleshooting section. Finally, though ink levels display on the two-line monochrome LCD, the droplet icons beneath each indicator are the same silvery color--you can't tell which cartridge you're looking at.
Ink costs are just shy of pricey. A 780-page, high-yield black cartridge costs $30, or 3.8 cents per page; the 520-page, high-yield tricolor cartridge costs $35, or 6.7 cents per page.
The HP Officejet J6480 offers a lot of features for the price, but slowness is the primary trade-off. Although HP's ratings in our recent Reliability and Service survey were just average overall, among midrange MFPs this model is still very competitive.
--Melissa Riofrio
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PCWorld Lab Results
- Rating Breakdown
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75
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77
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81
- See Complete Lab Results »
Performance Comparison with Similar Printers
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82
Performance
| 300dpi Line Art Image (secs) | 25.72 |
| 4 by 6 Color Photo (secs) | 21.55 |
| 4 by 6 Grayscale Photo (secs) | 21.89 |
| Color Output Quality | Very Good |
| Color Photo Quality | Superior |
| Copy Output Quality | Very Good |
| Copy Quality | Very Good |
| Final Scan Time, 2-by-2-Inch Document, 600 dpi | 16.09 |
| Final Scan Time, 4-by-5-Inch Document, 100 dpi | 1.05 |
| Final Scan Time, One-Page Word Document, 300 dpi | 1.71 |
| Grayscale Glossy Output Quality | n/a |
| Grayscale Output Quality | Very Good |
| Line Art Output Quality | Very Good |
| One-Page Copy | 24.38 |
| One-Page Copy (secs) | 24.38 |
| One-Page Line Art, Maximum Resolution | Good |
| One-Page Webpage (secs) | 27.56 |
| One-Page Word Document, 300 dpi | Fair |
| Overall Scan Quality | Good |
| Preview Scan, 2-by-2-Inch Document, 600 dpi | 27.59 |
| Preview Scan, 4-by-5-Inch Document, 100 dpi | 27.62 |
| Preview Scan, One-Page Word Document, 300 dpi | 28.26 |
| Sports Action Shot (secs) | 61.69 |
| Ten-Page Word Document | 106.51 |
| Ten-Page Word Document (secs) | 106.51 |
| Tested Color Speed (ppm) | 2.4 |
| Tested Glossy Photo Speed (ppm) | 1 |
| Tested Grayscale Speed (ppm) | 2.7 |
| Tested Lineart Speed (ppm) | 2.3 |
| Tested Text Speed (ppm) | 7.3 |
| Text Output Quality | Very Good |
| Three-Page Word Document | 46.66 |
| Three-Page Word Document (secs) | 46.66 |
| Total Scan Time, 2-by-2-Inch Document, 600 dpi | 16.09 |
| Total Scan Time, 4-by-5-Inch Document, 100 dpi | 1.05 |
| Total Scan Time, One-Page Word Document, 300 dpi | 1.71 |
| Two-Page Excel Document | 52.08 |
| Two-Page Excel Document (secs) | 52.08 |
Scanning
| Preview scan, 2-by-2-inch document, 600 dpi | 27.59 |
| Preview scan, 4-by-5-inch document, 100 dpi | 27.62 |
| Preview scan, one-page Word document, 300 dpi | 28.26 |
| Preview scan, one-page Word document, 300 dpi | 28.26 |
Text Printing
| Text output quality | Very Good |
User Reviews
Average User Reviews for HP Officejet J6480 All-in-One
2 Reviews Add your own »
- Latest User Reviews 2 reviews
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Reviewed by: ron1333
Duration of ownership: 6 Months
Strengths: Prints clearly.
Weaknesses: Bloated software came with totally annoying popups. the J6480's software conflicted with that of another HP device on the workgroup network. An HP technician couldn't make it work except by downgrading the installation on one of the computers. The software caused my XP system to have problems booting up.
Overall: Of the several multifunction machines I've used, this one have given me to most problems and has cost me more than the cost of the machine in technical support and dozens of hours of wasted time.
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Reviewed by: harrisbc
Duration of ownership: 5 Months
Strengths: wireless at low cost duplex ADF
Weaknesses: Hardware and software issues service high ink usage and costly
Overall: Had issues with the print quality from the first day and after hours on the phone it was returned for service. Returned in the same condition and with the same problem. This time a broken spring beneath the printhead reveled the problem and it had to be returned a second time. Still had problems and call center could not solve. After hours and hours on the phone and no satisfaction I gave up and replace the unit with another manufacturers product which works!
Review Now! Already own it? Tell us What You Think
User Reviews From Around the Web
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Reviewed by: darnwalt31
Strengths: Does everything it is advertised to do.
Weaknesses: Difficult to set up because software was apparently corrupted.
Overall: Superior tech support to complete setup after spending a couple of hours trying to set it up from a corrupt disc that came with the new printer. After HP tech deleted all the files from my attempted installation and re-installed the software online, the J6480 works perfectly, except that I cannot use the fax function on my single phone line because my voice mail picks up incoming fax tone. Was told to either drop voice mail or get dedicated line. Am looking into magicJack to act as dedicated line.
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Reviewed by: Ironfist69
Strengths: It appears to be assembled very well
Weaknesses: It is a noisy, slow machine, the program locks up often.
Overall: Wanted to upgrade from my HP 5610, this seemed like the logical next step. Took forever to install, appeared to have done so without problem. Started scanning documents and had to uninstall and reload the program twice.Having read the other reviews, perhaps I have a Lemon but think it is just a piece of crap. I really expected better out of HP.
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Reviewed by: meganzack
Strengths: Easy set-up, very convenient wireless, all-in-one unit.
Weaknesses: Haven't found any so far.
Overall: I've only had this printer-scanner-copier-fax machine for a few weeks, and have not had any problems. It's quick, easy, and quiet. Set up was a breeze, even for the fax machine part of it. I hear scare stories about fax machines every day from my company's customers, and I was worried about doing it. No problem; I just followed the instructions, plugged it into my cable company's Digital Voice phone jack, and it was good to go!
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Reviewed by:
Strengths: Fast printing, easy fax setup, great scanning software.
Weaknesses: Set up of wireless connection.
Overall: The only problem I had with this was settig up a laptop to print wirelessly while at the same time using it "plugged" to my desktop. It took several hours over the course of a few days to finally get
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Reviewed by:
Strengths: Supports Wireless, USB, and standard wire lan. Scanning is very good for the normal user. Faxing is excellent.
Weaknesses: Ink cartridges are a little pricey.
Overall: I have been using this printer for 2 1/2 weeks now. I find that it is a lot quiter then my 10 year old HP 912C Ink Jet. After installing the drivers on a laptop. The drivers look for the printer before the wireless lan comes up. After 1-2 minutes, everything is fine. I would buy this printer again.
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