HP Photosmart Premium All-in-One Printer (CD055A#ABA) | 
| Brand: Hewlett-Packard
Category: CE
List Price: $246.00
Buy New: $109.99
as of 9/5/2010 11:41 CDT details
You Save: $136.01 (55%)
New (50)
Seller: Ka-shing Li
Rating:  159 reviews
Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 16.4
Dimensions (in): 18.6 x 17.8 x 7.8
MPN: CD055A#ABA
Model: CD055A#ABA
UPC: 884420986706
EAN: 0807027540300
ASIN: B002GWVZHW
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Print, scan and copy from a single, energy-efficient device with 3.45-inch touchscreen for printing directly from Snapfish | | • | Connections include Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n) and Ethernet networking, Bluetooth, USB, and PictBridge | | • | Rotate and crop, adjust brightness, or apply color effects before printing with TouchSmart control panel--no PC necessary | | • | Up to 33 ppm black and 32 ppm color print speeds; scans up to 4800 x 4800 dpi (8.5 x 11.7 inches) | | • | Borderless photo printing up to 8.5 x 11 inches; 125-sheet input tray and 20-sheet photo tray |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Use less energy, save some money, and reduce your environmental impact. HP Energy Star qualified inkjet printers are over 10 percent more energy efficient than standard models.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 159
 Best printer I've owned so far October 4, 2009
John S. Dean (Sturtevant, WI United States)
94 out of 97 found this review helpful
I had a not very old Epson Photo printer, the RX580, and was happy with it. However, it did not last long at all. While I may go a month or two without printing, I certainly don't expect the printer to become inoperable during downtime...
I purchased a new Mac to replace my tablet PC in July, so a few days ago for the first time I tried to hook my mac up to it, and I could not get anything to print well. After some troubleshooting and testing from other platforms, I realized that there was something wrong with the unit physically, and tossed it in the garbage and looked for a printer at a local brick and mortar.
I was half sold on getting one of the Canon all in one units, based on some favorable remarks in some of the apple forums, but the local store by me only had one model of Canon, a lesser one than I wanted, so I looked at the rest of the available printers, and narrowed it down to this HP and another HP, one step below this. The kicker for me was the bluetooth in this one, which was worth the extra $40 for me, since I run an 802.11n only network at home, and had assumed the wireless on this unit was just 802.11 b/g like most. Happily, I was mistaken.
Got it home, unboxed, and like the other reviewer said, this is a nicely sturdy, well built, solid home printer.
As usual, I downloaded the most current version of the software and driver rather than relying on the CD to be current, and indeed the CD had been superceded. The download and install went fine, so when it started nagging me about where the printer was, I hopped into the printer and set up the wireless just to see, since it actually saw my 802.11n network. Sure enough, entered my encryption key, and there it was. And instantly my mac found it, and the install completed.
One thing to note, the little paper manual that came with it didn't seem to have anything in there regarding setting up the unit, so I'm going to assume detailed instructions are probably on the CD in PDF or TXT files somewhere. But I was able to get the wireless going without any documentation, the touch screen is very well designed and extremely simple to follow. The flow for printing or setup is well thought out.
So I did some printing, both of 4x6 as well as some 8 1/2 x 11 photos, and they turned out just excellent. Superb, better than I had hoped for, and certainly faster than I had expected.
I will also add that the printer loves to do the samba, especially the 8 or 9 minute "first run" it does the very first time you power it on. But it gives the status right on the LCD, and a timer counting down so you know how long it will be. I'm assuming the wiggles after printing are probably cleaning off the heads and parking them to seal them again between print jobs.
I haven't tried the duplexer yet, but as the other reviewers mentioned, scanning is just as simple and as high quality as the printing.
After I knew it worked and was happy with it, I hopped back into the on screen menu and checked the bluetooth settings, then added it via bluetooth to my mac, and a minute later, was printing via bluetooth.
One surprise was that it actually came with a USB cable for those who will use one - something I'm not used to seeing bundled with printers.
Another nice feature for me is the front paper load - after the Epson I just tossed, it's nice to be able to get at the paper right in the front, rather than feeding from the top in the back. Makes it easier on my shelf in the computer armoire, i don't have to roll it out and play around trying to find where things fit back there out of sight.
The finish is nice. And the mac software works well, haven't booted to my Windows 7 install yet to see how it works there, but I would be surprised if I had any problems on the windows side. This is not my first HP printer, and if it performs and lasts as well as my others have, I will be more than happy with it.
I purchased mine without any review searches at all, since it was an impulse grab at the store when the one I was looking for wasn't available, but I'm glad it wasn't, as this one has a few more features and works better than I could have hoped.
Terrific choice if you don't demand photographic perfection November 2, 2009
William W. Davis
66 out of 68 found this review helpful
Take a look at the customer images showing the print output from this HP all-in-one!
Quick summary: I like this HP PhotoSmart all-in-one! Setup was very smooth (except for HP's bloatware causing my browser to not work), the photographic output was good for a 4-ink system, scans were bright and crisp, and using this HP all-in-one was very easy to do using the brightly lit touch screen. Highly recommended!
I just finished writing a review for a competing product, the Epson Artisan 710 Color Inkjet All-In-One Printer (C11CA53201). After using that all-in-one for over a week, it didn't take long for me to realize how much more I prefer this HP all-in-one. Although the feature set for both are very similar, the HP is much more intuitive to use. Read on to learn more.
*** INSTALLATION:
Unpacking the HP was easy to do. I was very pleased that it came with a package of 100 4x6 sheets of photo paper, so I could immediately begin printing some favorite family shots. Shame on other vendors (think: Epson) who include only a "sample" of a few sheets of photo paper! This model uses a 4-ink system (1 black, 3 color) but the package includes an extra, high capacity black ink cartridge, too, for everyday printing. Nice!
I use my home network to connect to this HP. The HP PhotoSmart C309 easily recognized my discoverable network, and it was very easy to use the touch screen to enter the 26-character key I have for my network. Once entered, the printer was given an IP address by the router and it was ready to work after I installed the drivers on my computer.
I really like how easy it was to insert paper into the front-loading tray. Just raise up a lid, insert paper, put lid back down (for both general-use 8x11 paper and also for inserting 4x6 photo paper). Later, I did experience a problem where the HP couldn't properly load the 4x6 paper into the printing mechanism. Hopefully that's an anomaly.
Installing the HP drivers was a breeze to do on my laptop. It includes out-of-box support for Windows 7 on the enclosed CD-ROM disc (no searching HP's website for Windows 7 drivers!). HOWEVER, by just quickly clicking through the installation windows, I inadvertently loaded seven other HP programs beyond the required drivers to support printing and scanning. Among these were the HP Solutions Center, a program to help re-ordering HP supplies, a Customer Feedback program, HP Print Projects, and a customized Yahoo! toolbar for Internet Explorer. I was thumping myself for not paying attention to the installation process that loaded all this crapware on my computer. Very soon later, I really regretted it because after it was all loaded, my Internet Explorer wouldn't work (even after rebooting my computer). I tried uninstalling the Yahoo! toolbar, and still IE8 wouldn't work. Finally, I used Windows 7's restore feature to return to the last restore point before I loaded the HP drivers and programs, and that removed whatever was causing IE to not work.
From that experience, I paid much closer attention to the 2nd attempt at installing the drivers. HP doesn't make it obvious how to customize the install -- you must look closely for a link on the window that asks you to accept the EULA -- but you *can* deselect all the bloatware and install just 2 programs (the printer and scanner drivers), which is all you really need. After those two programs were installed, the HP C309 was fully functional on my WiFi home network -- and IE was working, too!
I got a new LG Env3 with Bluetooth, so I tried printing a photo taken with my phone using Bluetooth. Setting up Bluetooth was easy! What I learned from the experience is that you must FIRST set the HP to look for Bluetooth devices, THEN place your phone in discovery mode. Once my LG Env3 was paired with this HP, it was easy to print 4x6 photos. And they looked terrific for a camera phone!
*** USABILTY AND PERFORMANCE:
Using the HP was a joy to do. The photographs I printed were very, very good-looking, but depending on the photo, they were sometimes inferior to the six-color print output from the Epson Artisan 710. The Epson's photos have very deep, rich colors and vibrancy, while the photos from this HP were sometimes not so rich in color depth, and not as vibrant. I found that it depends on the photo whether the differences were apparent or not. In some photos (lots of sunlit trees and grass), the differences were very slight. When I printed a studio portrait of my in-laws, the result from this HP unit was as good as my other 6-color printer. In other photos (for example, photos with a deep blue sky), the differences were more apparent (see the customer images I loaded showing this difference). Camera flash-lit faces look a little yellowish coming from this printer. Grass and trees have more yellow in them than what I'd expect, too. If you're wondering whether a six-color printer can really print better than a 4-color printer, the answer is, **YES**, it can...but *not* always! So if you want to print the absolute best photos possible -- all the time -- look to a different all-in-one than this HP PhotoSmart C309. If you're not *that* excruciatingly picky, then this HP will do a very, very good job (especially if you're not contrasting photos printed from this HP with photos printed on another, 6-color machine).
I used the "Copy" function to see how well the HP could duplicate a photograph. Ideally, if you place a photo on the flatbed scanner and press Copy, the copied photo would be indistinguishable from the original, right? Well, there was a definite difference between the copy and the original. The copy was auto-cropped so it lost about a quarter-inch off the border of the original photograph. The colors on the copy were less vivid, too, although the copy was more faithfully reproduced on this HP C309 than what the Epson Artisan 710 could achieve.
Scans taken with this HP were very bright and vivid -- more so than what the Epson Artisan 710 could achieve. The background white on my daughter's drawing was a very bright white, and her ink colors were rendered brightly and sharply on the scanned image. (Keep in mind, I'm using all default, automatic settings -- I could achieve better results if I tried customizing the scan settings). One thing: some of the faint black lines on my daughter's drawing weren't picked up properly on the scanned image. In all, I liked how the automatic scanned image looked. Another perk: The software creates a folder under My Pictures on your computer, and stores the scanned image inside that folder (rather than just adding it to My Pictures alone).
I haven't used the HP long enough to speak to matters pertaining to ink usage. Once I get more experience, I'll re-edit this review to include those details.
SUMMARY:
The HP PhotoSmart C309 is a terrific multifunction choice. If you demand the very best in photographic output, look to a different model that uses a 6-ink system. If good-looking photos is "good enough" for you, then be assured that this printer will print good looking photos. The touchscreen interface was easy and intuitive to use, and loading paper into the front-side slot was no-hassle at all. Aside from HP's bloatware during the software installation process (which you now know how to avoid after reading this review), I like everything about this HP model. Highly recommended!
*** NOVEMBER 16, 2009 UPDATE
I just ordered 2 replacement color ink cartridges for this printer. After printing 21 4x6 photos and maybe three dozen sheets of everyday 8x11 (mostly black text and a little color), the yellow and cyan ink cartridges dipped into the "replace me" levels. The magenta and photo black inks are about one-half spent.
Taking the advice of another reviewer, I opted to order 3 "XL" cartridges for quite a lot more than a regular 3-pack of the color cartridges. I don't know whether the value equation will be favorable or not, but I'm hoping that the cost to print 4x6 photos will go a little lower than what it is currently (which by my calculations, each 4x6 photo costs about 50 to 75 cents to print).
Best HP AIO ever!!! October 18, 2009
G. Allaway (Laurel, Maryland)
24 out of 25 found this review helpful
Okay, so you've had a quite a few printers in your lifetime and you're wondering why you should bother buying this one. Well, let me tell you why you should:
- Newest technology there is! Touch screen menu? Are you serious?!
- Bluetooth AND Wi-fi?!?! Talk about having options!!! I am being completely honest when I say that I did not use the enclosed CD to connect my printer to my Mac!!! I didn't have to! Awwwesome!
- Auto duplex (2-sided) printing?! For those of us who are forever taking undergrad or grad/phd courses, this is a lifesaver!!! And what about those of you who have school-age children/teenagers?! Think about the amount of paper you'll save every month! I will absolutely NOT buy a printer without this option!!!
- Let's not forget how reliable HP printers are, but just to be on the safe side. I bought mine from Best Buy w/ an extended warranty.
- $9.99 ink?!?!?! Come on!!! Are you tired of spending $20+ dollars for printer ink?!?!
All in all folks, this is a great printer. A little noisy when printing, but the pros far outweigh that small con, so go ahead and get this printer! You'll love it!
Look no further--this is the all-in-one you want October 16, 2009
The Grumpy Hacker (Milwaukee - Top 5000 Reviewer!)
48 out of 55 found this review helpful
Are you shopping for a printer/scanner/copier combo? Unless you absolutely need a feature this printer doesn't have (like an auto document feeder or fax), just buy it. Print quality is amazing, installation's a breeze and the touchscreen is just awesome. This has got to be the best value in printers right now. Just buy it. But if you still need convincing, here's my story...
I did loads of shopping (aka "research") once my wife convinced me our Canon MP160--which was decent even though we got it cheap in a PC/printer bundle three years ago--really did need to be replaced. Our first thought was to get another Canon that could use the ink we still had on hand. But...a recent issue of Popular Photography mentioned the Epson Artisan series in a good light; my wife had had a good experience with her dad's HP recently; and I had seen an impressive demo of an OKI Data colour LED printer recently. So, I looked at all of the above and then some.
Whilst the OKI (Okidata 62426904 C3400n Color LED Printer) has won some awards and does print really, really fast, it was a bit out of our price range (both the initial investment and the ongoing cost of toner). My wife also insisted the printer double as a scanner--even though we already have a stand-alone scanner--because of the convenience of making photocopies. So then we started thinking more realistically and businesslike about our requirements.
In addition to a scanner, she also noted that a frequent problem with our Canon was due to the way it loaded paper: vertically from behind. Not only was this inconvenient since our printer's under a desk, we've found after owning two or three similar printers that the paper tends to bend or curl and cause feeding problems. Lastly, I really wanted the printer to be networkable (either wired or wireless) so we didn't have to leave one PC on all the time to act as a print server.
We visited Best Buy and checked out the Epson Artisans. We were shocked at how cheaply they seemed to be built, not to mention the fact that the model that featured a "touchscreen" really didn't have a touchscreen at all--rather it had a button panel around a normal LCD screen that simulated a touchscreen by lighting up certain buttons at certain times (Epson Artisan 800 Wireless Photo All-in-One Printer (Black)(C11CA29201)).
So then we went to Costco--they typically only sell decent products owing to their previous policy of 100% satisfaction forever (nowadays certain items can only be returned within 90 days). Costco had a few HPs, and two of them looked all right. One had an auto document feeder and fax, which sounded like great conveniences, but it didn't sound like it would be too good with photos (HP Officejet 6500 Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer). The other didn't have the auto feeder or fax (HP C6350 Wireless Inkjet All-in-One Print/Scan/Copy) but I just wasn't sure I should pull the trigger without doing some comparison shopping online.
I'm glad I did. The first thing I did was go to Amazon.com and look up the HP model above. Not available?! Well, Amazon pointed me to the very similar C6380 which is available (HP Photosmart C6380 All-in-One Printer), however, upon loading that page I noticed Amazon's helpful tip, "There is a newer model of this item: HP Photosmart Premium All-in-One Printer." I don't know if that's entirely accurate since the former is still listed as a current product in the line-up on HP's site, but nevertheless after seeing this black beauty with its svelt touchscreen I knew my search was over.
With a little more shopping around I found one from a reputable etailer for under $145 including shipping. Plus, as it happens, I was shopping for a new PC as well and HP's currently offering a $60 mail-in rebate on this printer when purchased on the same day as any (yes, ANY) PC! Hooray for procrastination!
A great printer October 21, 2009
Susan Bleiweiss (Massachusetts)
24 out of 26 found this review helpful
As a fiber artist I work a lot from digital photos that I take to use as inspiration to create from so I want a printer that gives me a good quality printed photo with bright, clear, vivid colors. I like the benefit of the built in 4"x6" photo paper holder because this saves me the trouble of having to unload and reload paper depending on what I want to print. It's a smaller compact sized printer so it doesn't take up much space in my studio which for me is a bonus since I don't have a ton of room to spare for computer equipment.
Set-up was fairly easy and straightforward and the touchscreen is a nice feature when installing since it walks you through installing the print cartridges and over all set up. There are a few nice little bonus features: printing blank calendar pages (monthly or weekly), lined paper, blank checklist and graph paper which are fun and I suspect would come in handy if you've got kids in the house and need lined paper for homework etc. You can also connect directly to Snapfish to print out your photos. Can't say how well this works though, since I don't have a snapfish acount to test it with. You can also print directly from a memory card.
There's a fair amount of movement in the unit when it's printing (and when it's finished) and it's not the quietest printer I own but it does do a very nice job. It copies quickly and gives a nice clean sharp result both when copying in color and b/w. Double sided printing is a nice feature but if you're doing a double sided copy, be aware of the position you put the second (or flip side) of the page on the copy bed or you'll end up with it going in the wrong direction on the finished page.
Where this printer really shines though is when printing photographs on printer paper. The colors are clear, sharp and vivid. There's no waiting for the ink to dry so I can print several photos in a row without running to the printer to keep them from stacking up on one another and causing smudges in the prints.
Overall a terrific printer that gives a beautiful photo print!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 159
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