What people search:
 | Title : HP PhotoSmart 7550 Inkjet Printer
Author : Hewlett Packard
Release Date : 20020907
Binding : Electronics
Regular Price : $299.99
Amazon.com Price : $341.50
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Editorial Reviews :
Enjoy high performance with the HP PhotoSmart 7550 printer--HP's best photo-quality printer at the time of its release. Preview and edit photos before you print with the color LCD, right on the printer's front panel. Get crisp detail and color with up to 4,800 (optimized dpi on premium photo papers) or up to seven-ink printing.
You can print directly from your digital camera memory card using convenient card slots--without using a computer. The printer works with CompactFlash Types I and II, SmartMedia, Secure Digital, Multi-Media cards, and Sony Memory Stick. Print borderless photos using the convenient 4-x-6-inch photo paper tray and HP Premium Plus photo paper. Photos printed with the PhotoSmart 7550 resist fading twice as long as most traditionally processed photos--up to 65 years on HP Premium Plus photo paper (based on information provided to HP by Wilhelm Imaging Research Inc.). Ink-reserve printing mode completes the print job even if one cartridge runs out, while paper-type and size sensors automatically adjust the print settings for best quality.
Use the included HP Memories disc-creator software to create your own digital slide shows and view them on a PC or TV via a DVD player, or organize and store your digital photos on CD and print your favorite photos (this feature works with Windows only).
Buyer Reviews :
SUMMARY
Pluses:
· Rugged, according to HP.
· Quiet operation with minimal vibration.
· Fade resistant ink, according to HP.
· Loaded with features, including a small display and a separate 4x6 tray.
· No cartridge swapping
Minuses:
· TWO-SIDED PRINTING ACCESSORY WORKS WITH PLAIN PAPER ONLY.
· Factory settings for color photos give dark, muted colors. (Fixable in most cases-see below.)
Lots of good things about this printer. The software installs easily and runs glitch-free. Canceling a job doesn't send the printer and software into a tizzy like with my previous printer.
HP gives each of its printers a 'recommended monthly volume, maximum' rating, which HP techies call the 'duty cycle', which is how many pages the printer can print per month without dying young. This printer is rated at 5,000 pages per month, much higher than some of HP's cheaper printers.
Per HP support, 'About 20,000 hours of use is the average mean time before failure if you stay within the duty cycle.' So if HP is right, the 7550 will print many thousands of pages before it wears out. I tend to believe HP on this because the printer's quiet operation, with little table shaking, suggests that it is not under much stress.
The impressive control panel includes four card slots, thirteen buttons, and a small LCD display. Yes, the 7550 is a small computer in its own right. For me, this is more a psychological edge than a practical advantage because I like to pass my photos through an editor and run the printer from my desktop computer.
It hasn't misfed a page yet, from either the main tray or the 4x6 tray, and the 4x6 photos print reliably, not sometimes tilted like with a gravity-fed printer.
HP claims that the ink will be fade resistant for 65 years, which is important to anyone who, like me, prints family history or other archival information intended to last for generations. (By the way, I recommend also using an acid-free paper. HP, will that extend the fade resistance beyond 65 years?)
I've spent ten hours, much paper, and half the ink in my color cartridges in testing this printer and learning its quirks and how to get the best results. Setting up a print job requires several software selections regarding pixel density, paper type, and color handling. Or you can just set it on 'Automatic' and hope for the best. Actually, when left on Automatic, the 7550 is pretty good at sensing the paper type and selecting the best pixel density, but the color settings sometimes need manual intervention, as I will explain.
The factory settings for the 7550 darken and dull the colors in my Fuji 3.2-megapixel digital-camera photos. For example, a vibrantly green leaf among brown leaves turned into a green-brown splotch that no longer stood out. (The unedited photo, taken in bright sunlight, shows correctly on my monitor, which is set to True Color, 24-bit. However, for photos taken with the flash, the camera is also partly to blame for color washout.) *BUT* I can bring the colors back to life by clicking on the 7550 printer icon, then the Color tab, then moving each of the three sliders two notches to the right, toward Vibrant, Lighter, and Warmer. This gives more differentiation between colors and simply makes the photo match reality. If I slide further to the right I can really jazz things up, but I may get weird effects such as the brown gutters on my house turning red. The two-notch adjustment works for landscape photos but is not necessary for canned art (which does fine with the factory settings), and it harms greyscale photos by adding a red haze. Based on one test that included a person's face, the skin tone was excellent with the adjustment, so I think that the adjustment works for most color photos. It may over-redden a photo where editing has already boosted the colors. If a page contains both a black-and-white photo and a color photo, a compromise needs to be worked out-maybe all color sliders one notch back
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