Hewlett Packard OfficeJet J6480 All-In-One InkJet Printer

Over the years I have used numerous HP printer products, from the early Deskjet B/W series to newer all-in-one products. I have always liked the way they perform but the cost of ink cartridges caused me to utilize Cannon more often than HP. My last Cannon purchased was an F50 multifunction which I absolutely loved...cheap ink and very good quality for its generation. Since it finally quit working and I no longer have any of my previous Epson or HP printers I began the search for a wireless multifunction. The J6480 met the requirements.

It was well packaged and came with installation CD, USB cable, power supply, and phone cable for FAX. Software installation was straight forward although very bloated; over 200 MB of drivers and utilities. Wireless setup and operation was also straight forward with no surprises. It only required connecting the USB port to a computer that was on the wireless network during one phase of the installation. Setup instructions were quite clear. The printer went out over the network and gathered all information required for wireless operation and when it was complete, requested you to disconnect the USB port. Installation took about a half hour to complete for each computer that has access to the printer.

After installation, the computers came up recognizing the printer and operated flawlessly. I have not printed photos with it yet but text and color pictures are excellent. I never turn it off and print from three different computers. It performs at satisfactory speed for my use and the double sided printing capability seems to work well. I especially like the way the FAX will automatically detect an incoming FAX, and even if voices come over the line during a FAX, it will recieve the FAX just fine. This is handy if your voice mail message answers when a sending machine wants to start the FAX. The greeting can be playing while the sending machine starts the FAX and the J6480 will recognize it and receive the FAX without error.

There is a very significant issue that is being resolved by HP at the moment. When I installed the HP software I started receiving Device IO and HPqste08.exe End Program errors when turning off my computers. Additionally, when starting WORD or EXCEL by clicking on a file (rather than through the Start Window) it would take about 2 minutes to start the program and load the file rather than the typical 2 seconds it normally takes. HP gave me instructions to disable all HP printer programs from the Startup file in the System Configuration Window and these problems disappeared. They gave me instructions to correct this by loading their most recent installation software but I haven't tried it yet.

As mentioned at the beginning of this, cost of ink was a key concern in choosing a printer. So far I have not emptied my ink cartridges. They seem to be holding up much better than an Epson 6300 I have borrowed and recently been using.