It is HP Week and Amazon has 15% on select HP photo printers, all-in-ones and other products.

You can also use the coupon code SAVEHPPRNTER on either the PSC 1510 or the Photosmart 8250. This coupon is good for $20 off these printers and is valid through 5/1. The PSC 1510 is a popular printer and would be a good deal with the discount, while the Photosmart 8250 features HP’s newest technology. It is their first machine to feature individual colors rather than just a black and color/photo color cartridge.

Cartridges for the PSC 1510.
Cartridges for the Photosmart 8250.

Here are some pics of what HP’s in-store photo kiosks will look like. Thanks to CNET for the pics.

We’re pretty sure that if you walk into your local drug store, you aren’t going to see some fancy setup with HP banners and pictures hanging up all over the place, but the pictures should give you an idea of what the actual machine will look like. It is pretty much the same as most in-store Kodak or Fuji machines you will find - slots for all different types of memory cards, a CD drive and a touch screen. So, nothing too revolutionary about the presentation, although that isn’t really the most important thing. Getting people to switch to their service from Kodak or Fuji is what really matters for HP.

Canon announced a whole bunch of new products last week, and in addition to the two PIXMA Pro models we wrote about they also introduced two all-in-one PIXMAs, the MP800R Photo and the MP830 Office. Both models are geared towards those with home offices and tout the benefits of having the functions of multiple machines in one. The two machines are slightly different, as the MP800R is wireless, and as its name suggests, more of a photo printer, while the MP830’s features suggest it is for more official business use.

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A few months ago we wrote an article for our site about how some people would be better off using entry-level laser printers. If you are someone who prints only documents, then in the long run you would be better with a laser printer for a couple of reasons. You will pay a little bit more up front for the machine and the toner cartridge, but the cost to operate it is going to be much lower than a standard inkjet. Plus it is going to be faster and will require less maintenance as far as cleanings and also just based on the fact that the cartridge will last a few thousand pages.

Here is a story that supports that theory and then reviews some of the choices when it comes to low cost laser printers. The machines that were tested were all around $100, so you can see that buying a laser printer these days is not all that different from buying an inkjet. The results of the tests are basically what we would expect them to be. Dell had the cheapest machine, but the lowest quality. The Konica Minolta machine was not bad, but not great. The Brother machine got good marks all around and the HP machine is declared the winner (although the most expensive to run).

Review: Four Low-Cost Laser Printers [Desktop Pipeline]

Just as big name office stores are introducing refilling stations, HP announced yesterday that they are installing self-service photo kiosks into Albertsons supermarkets and Longs Drugs Stores.

The kiosks will work in conjunction with the HP’s Snapfish with the idea being that customers will upload their photos at home and then come to the store to print them out. The main feature will be printing 4×6s, but the kiosks (with the help of an employee) can do other things with the pictures like make calendars or CDs.

There is no mention of prices and the article notes that this could be a tough market for HP to enter. This is because it is currently dominated by Kodak and Fuji and it could take some time to build up trust among customers. Apparently HP sees this as another revenue stream, although it is one that seems to cater to a different market than they usually deal with it. After all, they are trying to make money off of people who didn’t want to print their pictures at home on an HP printer in the first place. I guess they think if they didn’t capture them the first time around then these kiosks are a second chance.

HP charges into retail photo printing market [Reuters]

Here is a brief article from the Fresno Bee that just sums up the current state of affairs for consumers. It mentions the number of alternatives that more and more people are using, such as retailers like Cartridge World or else the availability of refilled cartridges in office superstores.

At CompUSA recently, you could buy a single Lexmark ink cartridge for $32.99, only $5 less than the price of an entire new printer.

That example starkly illustrates that while the price of most computer hardware has plunged over the years, the cost of ink supplies has barely budged.

That’s been a boon to companies like Hewlett-Packard Co., whose printing and imaging business accounted for 51% of HP’s operating profits in the most recent quarter.

This article is nice because it mentions how our industry is growing and is expected to double in size over the next three years. They also make reference to the HP-sponsored study from 2003 that said that basically half of refilled/remanufactured cartridges have problems, while also noting, importantly, that the quality and technology has improved over the years.

Not the most in-depth article ever, but a nice, simple view of things from the customer’s perspective.

Refilled printer ink cartridges become a big moneymaker [via Fresno Bee]

Today Canon announced the release of two new PIXMA models, the Pro9500 and the Pro9000, which are the first to earn the ‘Pro’ label. According to Canon, these machines are aimed at professional photographers or imaging professionals, so that means that they might be out of the price range of regular users. Here are some stats on the models:

PIXMA Pro9500 - ten-color machine which uses pigment-based inks. Can produce prints up to 13×19. The ten colors include the standard red, blue and their photo counterparts, along with yellow, photo black, matte black, gray, red and green. The wide range of colors allows the prints to be more true-to-life, while also producing quality black and white results. To date, this is pretty much the biggest range of colors available on any commercial printer.

PIXMA Pro9000 - eight-color machine which uses dye-based inks. Also produces prints up to 13×19. One difference between this model and the 9500 is that this one uses only standard black and doesn’t use gray. This will probably only be noticeable when it comes to the black & white printing. The other difference is that it does not use pigment-based inks like the 9500. Typically that means that the prints from this machine will not last as long since they are dye-based, but that is not a certainty. Many factors go into the long-term life of prints, notably the type of paper used and the storage conditions. And in reality, few people think “I have to make sure these prints last 100 years” when they are printing family photos. That being said, if you are a professional and concerned about the life of your prints, this could be something to consider.

Both these machines feature Canon’s PictBridge to easily communicate with digital cameras, especially Canon digital cameras. They also feature Canon’s Easy-PhotoPrint Pro software, which includes many, many features - most of which are completely useless.

At the same time, Canon also announced the introduction of two new types of printing paper. One is called Photo Rag, for printing photos or artwork, and the other is Fine Art Paper Premium Matte, a thicker paper which Canon says “conveys an artistic, gallery-grade look.” These new papers are designed to work in the two new PIXMA Pro machines and likely are not suited for standard Canon inkjets.

At this time there is no pricing available for these machines. They should hit the market this summer.

Canon’s New Gallery-Quality PIXMA Pro9000 and PIXMA Pro9500 [Canon press release]

“What’s the best printer to buy?” is a common question these days. There are so many choices on the market and so many different features to choose from. It used to be more simple: most people got a standard inkjet printer, offices got laser printers and people really interested in photography got photo printers. Now that these categories overlap each other and basically all types of machines are marketed to home users, it is easy to see why people are unsure.

Here are the four different types of printers, and a brief hint as to which may be right for you. You can then follow the link and read more about that type of printer and some recommendations:

1. Inkjet Printers - I am looking for a basic printer for everyday use, including some photo printing.
   
2. Photo Printers - I print my own photos at home and need a machine that can give me quality results.
   
3. All-in-One Printers - I want the convenience of multiple machines in one.
   
4. Laser Printers - I only print documents and I am tired of always buying new cartridges.

This entry is an introduction to the informational pages located on our site. Those pages are a collection of guides and tutorials based on questions we have received over the years. New information is always being added there, based on either the changing market or feedback we hear.

Here are a couple of reviews for the HP Photosmart 8250, which was released last year:

photo-i
PC Mag
Macworld

The reason we put these reviews up is because this printer was a first for HP. This was their first machine to feature individual ink cartridges instead of just one for black and one for color. Big deal, right? Canon and Epson have had individual colors in their machines for years. True, and because of that, nobody was really lavishing too much praise on HP when this machine first came out. But, it is still a big deal that they finally did it and it is still a step in the right direction.

Hopefully this is the first in a series of many future HP printers featuring the same technology. Because HP has so many other Photosmart models, the introduction of this one was not a huge splash, but it seems to be catching on lately. As they phase out the Photosmart 8450, this model should become more popular and their new technology should get more notice.

You can take a look at the cartridges to see how they differ from the standard HP ones with built-in print heads that are available on all other models.

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