Written on September 23, 2009 – 7:15 am | by CoolGadgetConcept |
Nowadays every manufacturer tries to improve their sales with the MFP printers. An MFP printer (stands for Multi Function Printer or Product) is an all in one printer (aka AIO). Build at first as an office machine because it incorporated the functionality of multiple devices in one, it easily spread as a home device because of the same feature. Even if you are in the comfort of your home, or at the office you always appreciate good centralized document management (distribution, production). An all in one printer usually incorporates beside the actual printer a scanner, photocopier, fax and email (the last two are not very common for the home products).



Basically the MFP printer got a consistent upgrade from a regular printer. The marketing direction was imported from the modern mobile phones (phone, camera, music player, GPS and other). If you are looking for a middle range all in one for your personal use, the smart buy would be the HP Photosmart C4680. This printer covers the basics. The text, graphics and photo quality are all good for an inkjet printer, and it prints pretty fast for both business applications and for photos. However, its single input tray maxes out at 80 sheets. It has no output tray; therefore all the printed files or copies will just be dropped on the input tray.

Also the input tray makes awkwardly noises when you unfold it, leaving you a feeling of bad build. The HP Photosmart C4680 offers good features, like the 1.5 inches LCD display that shows the menu options. Using this touch sensitive display you can select your settings by just tapping. You can also use the LCD display to preview photos on memory cards before printing. The supported memory cards are: Memory Stick, SD Memory Card, Multi Media Card, xD Picture Card, Memory Stick Duo, SDHC Memory Card. The LCD display is rather small; therefore the viewing angles are tight.

The C4680 has a USB 2.0 connector, but no Ethernet. So, no networking, no fax capabilities, and no automatic document feeder - the C4680 is strictly for home use. However, the HP Photosmart C4680 speed is rather good. The maximum printing speed will deliver up to 29 pages per minute (mono) and up to 23 pages per minute (color). The quality of the printing is pretty good. The C4680 all in one, has a height of 6.7 inches, wide of 17.4 inches, deep of 16.6 inches with a weight of 11 lbs. the setup is in normal standard. Just remember to run the semi automatic alignment routine. HP ships C4680 with a black cartridge (up to 200 pages) and a color cartridge (yellow / cyan / magenta up to 150 pages).

The HP Photosmart C4680 runs smoothly with a Windows Vista system. The all in one comes with a full set of software for Vista x64, XP Service Pack 1 or higher, and Mac OS X v10.4 and 10.5. The new OS X 10.6 and Windows 7 will both provide C4680 drivers as part of the operating system. The scanning feature provides gray scale depth at 8 bit, with an optical resolution of 1200 x 2400 dpi and a color depth of 48 bit. The copying feature provides a good speed with up to 9 pages per minutes (mono) and up to 6.5 pages per minute (color).

The maximum copying resolution goes up to 1200 x 1200 dpi in both mono and color, while the maximum printing resolution goes up to 4800 x 1200 dpi both in mono and color mode. The biggest drawback for the C4680 is the cost of its ink. Otherwise the Photosmart C4680 is a decent choice for a light duty home multi function printer, because of its good quality printing and friendly controls.