HP Photosmart C7280 All-in-One

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HP Photosmart C7280 All-in-One

Posted 12/27/2007 at 1:00:24pm | by Stephan Somogyi

The Photosmart C7280 can connect to your network via Ethernet or Wi-Fi, so all your Macs can take advantage of its versatility.

The capable Photosmart C7280 All-in-One gives you a color inkjet printer, scanner, copier, and fax machine in one tidy, versatile unit. And it easily attaches to a wired or wireless network, making it an ideal choice for a home office or small business.

At press time, HP was still working on a full software driver installer for Mac OS 10.5 Leopard. The C7280 printer drivers are actually part of Leopard’s built-in printer driver collection, but Leopard users need to install additional software to use the C7280’s scanner. If you’re still using Mac OS 10.4 Tiger, you simply install the drivers on the supplied CD, and you’ll be up and running quickly.

The connectivity options are straightforward: You can connect directly to a Mac via USB, or use the printer’s Ethernet or built-in 802.11b/g Wi-Fi (including WPA2 encryption) for attaching to a network. In addition to configuration via HP’s Mac software, the C7280 offers a built-in Web server that lets you access some options that aren’t available through the control panel, such as Webscan (scanning over a network via a Web browser). The Web server is laudable, but it doesn’t support encryption, a security feature you’d want for maintaining your privacy while doing network tasks.

The C7280 uses a six-ink set (black, yellow, light and dark cyan, and light and dark magenta). HP’s drivers give you exemplary printing control, but the defaults usually work just fine. And while the first page of a job can take a little bit to come out after the unit’s been idle for a while, both black-and-white and color pages print swiftly, cleanly, and accurately. Given its name, we also expected photos printed on photo paper to come out looking good, and our expectations were certainly met. The printer’s built-in duplexer lets you print on both sides of a sheet of paper, but there’s no duplex scanning for two-sided documents.

When it comes to scanning, the C7280 can save files directly to a storage device inserted into its front USB port. We had no trouble scanning straight to a USB drive. You can also send scans over the network to a machine that has HP’s scanner drivers installed. The C7280’s fax support also works well, and the unit has both single-line and dual-line phone jacks, the latter being popular in home office situations.

The bottom line. If you need an all-in-one for your Mac, this jack of all trades won’t disappoint.

COMPANY: HP

CONTACT: www.hp.com

PRICE: $299.99

REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.3.9 or later; USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth

It just works. Solid Mac driver support for both Tiger and Leopard.

No duplex scanning. Minimal security for the built-in Web server.

COMMENTS: 9

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COMMENTS

Run far and fast
Submitted by Rob (not verified) on Sun, 2007-12-30 19:21

I bought an HP all-in-one last year and it was nothing but a pain in the a$$. I've owed 3 HP printers since 1997 an you'd think each time I'd have learned my lesson. Not so. GO EPSON. Like Mac's they just work.

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I bought the C7280 for the
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2008-01-12 11:49

I bought the C7280 for the duplexing. Which with a MAC does not work, always prints the reverse sheet with the wrong orientation, works well with windows though.

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Still not working
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2008-02-15 12:12

So I'm unable to get support from HP for the Mac -- what a bunch of b.s. Why do they only have support during certain hours for us Mac users. I don't understand. I can't get the printer to install correctly, HP SAYS they'll call me back and help me solve my problem, but they never called. Now I wish I would have gone with something different.

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C7280 - DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY
Submitted by MacHappy (not verified) on Thu, 2008-03-20 11:42

I bought this device about four months ago and I can't begin to tell how much time I have wasted trying to make the scanner functions work properly with Leopard. I have spent hours on the phone with HP support uninstalling and reinstalling the software and the problems remain unsolved. It is unstable working with Adobe Acrobat and, when not using Adobe, it mysteriously enlarges an 8x11 scan to something around 20x30. I also had problems trying to run it through parallels using windows xp. Don't know how well it works for straight windows users, but if you use a mac, buy something else.

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Recently saw a commercial
Submitted by jasonla on Thu, 2008-10-23 16:37

Recently saw a commercial for a wireless printer i think it was HP I don't see why people just don't share it from their desktop then add it to their laptops rather then having it be totally wireless. I know it's because people are used to how wireless works now and trying to get them to figure out how to work shared devices would cause headaches. I have an laser and inkjey just wish that hewlett packard toner was a bit cheaper. Their products are great.

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Read this article, Louis
Submitted by jingren on Fri, 2009-09-11 18:47

Read this article, Louis Vuittonsome knowledge to understand, thank you, the author

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I can't Scan!!!! Grrrrrrrr!
Submitted by thetileninja on Tue, 2009-10-06 08:03

What's the deal? I had a Mac with Leopard 10.5 and it worked fine, a few bugs maybe... Now with diff laptop (MacBook too) with snow leopard and it won't scan. it keeps popping up with unknown error. Can someone tell me how to change settings or download new software so that function will work?? Thanks.

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awww, nevermind
Submitted by thetileninja on Tue, 2009-10-06 09:26

So... I figured it out. Thank god for the google search. I just had to download new software from HP from their site an configure my device and it's all good. False alarm... lolThe Tile Ninja

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Submitted by benet (not verified) on Tue, 2009-11-10 18:55

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