HP Photosmart Wireless

Let's take a look at the screen then:



In reality, only the three white marks on the right are touch-sensitive.  Different options are displayed on the colour screen, and you choose between them using the white areas.  The system is fast and very responsive, and it's allowed HP to roll back the number of physical buttons and make the printer easier to use: now all that shows up on the display are options that are currently relevant.

Speeds

In normal mode, HP claimed to be able to reach speeds of 12 and 16 pages per minute in black-and-white and colour respectively.  We almost managed it using our test document, but both tests produced almost identical results.

Remember that the 'maximum' speed above is a theoretical maximum: it's the top speed of the printing motor and to get it we only print a single 'o' on every page in draft mode.

46 seconds for a 4 x 6'' print and two minutes on A4: that was a good result not so long ago, but now it's about average.

Quality

Because the Photosmart Wireless uses cartridges found elsewhere in HP's range, we knew that the quality of the results produced was never going to be that different from other models that rely on the same consumables.  We weren't surprised to find the same strengths, like accurate colours, as well as the same weaknesses.  In parts of some photos, you can still see the ink drops, which Canon, Lexmark and Epson have all managed to get around.  The slightly larger ink drops also affects office printing.  As you see in this example, the black text that reads 'Color Photo 600 dpi' is much clearer on the Lexmark and more legible.


Photo prints look good, and will suit most people.  Only the most demanding users will look at the small details, like ink drops that are still visible with some shades.  The model we tested has another problem too: even after cleaning and re-aligning the print heads, we still noticed the remains of a frame.  If you look at the photo below, you can see vertical lines running every centimetre or so. 


Energy and noise consumption

The printer uses around 17 W per hour while printing plenty of documents but only 3 W when idle.

It's not very loud either, reaching just 53 dB while printing.  


Scanner and copier

Scanning a 4 x 6'' photo takes just 11 seconds at 300 dpi, which is very fast.  On the other hand, before that you'll need to do a preview which takes longer than average at 22 s.

Things take even longer at higher resolutions, with a minute to enlarge a 600 dpi photo, which shows that--reasonably enough--this scanner is designed for the general public rather than professionals.

That becomes even more clear when you look closely at scans, where we found problems with just about every colour, white included.  Finally, as the example on the right shows, by default the scanner applies some rather aggressive post-treatment, which produces results that are too rough and with contours that are less smooth than in the originals.

Cost per page

Two types of cartridges are available: standard and XL.  XL cartridges cost more to buy, but last longer and are a worthwhile investment if you print a lot.

The printer comes with a set of standard cartridges, which is worth almost £40.

Cartridge	Price	ISO Lifespan	Cost per page
364 (black)	£11	250	4.4 p
364 (cyan)	£9	300	3 p
364 (magenta)	£9	300	3 p
364 (yellow)	£9	300	3 p

With standard cartridges, the cost per page reaches around 13 p, which is generally around average.  Moving to the XL cartridges allows you to slash your running costs however:

Cartridge	Price	ISO Lifespan	Cost per page
364 XL (black)	£28	800	3.5 p
364 XL (cyan)	£17	750	2.3 p
364 XL (magenta)	£17	750	2.3 p
364 XL (yellow)	£17	750	2.3 p

Use the XL cartridges, then, and the cost per page falls right down to 10.4 p, which is an excellent result.