Why do so many people go for HP printers instead of chosing some other brand? It’s not like Epson doesn’t make high quality printers, or Dell, for that matter. Well, most customers that have owned a printer from the US manufacturer were not dissapointed. They were promised high printing speeds and reliability and their devices generally provided all that. This is why HP is now the world’s largest technology company, with it’s products being commercialized in almost all countries.

First off, let’s define the notion ‘multifunction printer’. Just like the name suggests, such a printer can do several things, usually copying, scanning, faxing and inkjet printing. Most quality printers manage to do all of the above at pretty high quality too. While not as fast and heavy as color laser printers (which are an ideal choice for large workgroups), all-in-one inkjets are a fair choice for any home office. One of the multifunction printers released on the market by HP is the Officejet 6110 offering a copier, color scanner and a automatic document feeder. The automatic feature implies that you can safely place all the documents you need copied or scanned in it, and just go drink a coffee till it finishes.

Upon receiving the HP 6110, you’ll find that it’s a pretty easy to install printer. It only involves inserting the software and driver CD in your CD-Rom drive, clicking next a couple of times then just giving it a couple of minutes to finish. But be warned that it has become tradition to an extent for HP not to include an USB cable, so be prepared to bring your own because you’ll need it. What you’ll actually find in the box includes a power supply cord, the software CD, a user’s guide CD and 2 ink cartridges.

Actually using the machine, after installing it, is pretty simple as well. You’ll have a choice between using your PC to print, or the buttons on the machine itself. It doesn’t require your PC to be powered on for printing. Printing speed is 19 ppm for black and 15 ppm for color, while copying takes place at 19 cpm for black and 14 cpm for color. This is obviously for draft quality, and if you choose to print at the highest quality offered, you’ll end up waiting significantly more for a page to come out. For your regular printing, the HP 6110 printer comes with two ink cartridges, a black one and a color one (cyan, magenta, yellow). If you want to print high-quality photos, however, you’ll have to replace the black cartridge with a specially made photo-ink cartridge.

One major inconvenience that potential buyers should be aware of is that it can’t fax straight from your PC. While it does have a fax-modem, a convenient keypad and one-touch speed dial, no PC-faxing is still a major drawback. A duplexer would have been nice to have on board as well, but you can add it later if you’re willing to spend a little extra money.

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