Hewlett Packard HP J6480 All-in-One Review

Hewlett-Packard's  J6480 All-in-One is a great printer, copier, fax machine and scanner for use in our home.  We do use it for some minor, work-related business, but it mainly serves as a convenience in this area.  As an ink jet color printer, it gives good copies with the ability to adjust the settings for quality and ink usage.  As a copier, it is not a true, toner-using machine.  Its copying capabilities are simply printing from a glass panel scanner, so the copying smudges when wet like all printed ink.  It is a typical fax machine that hasn't given us any problems, but then again, we don't spend a lot of time faxing.  It is a good quality scanner that is compatible with other software that I already had in my computer.  One drawback is that it takes a very long time to print photos.  However, the quality is excellent, so I guess it's a trade off.

This printer produces fine-quality colors that are very close to what appears on the monitor.  The ink isn't very expensive, but it can run out quickly. I haven't looking into finding a cheaper store brand compatible ink cartridge for the HP J6480 yet, but I might have to once school is in session and my kids are back to work printing assignments.  It can hold about a half-ream of paper in its tray (250 sheets), and they are contained underneath, so there is no concern about paper folding over, bending or "warping."  This used to be a problem with our last printer in which the paper stood up before it was pulled through the printer, sometimes getting jammed.

The best part about this device is that it saves so much space having everything in one machine.  It is about 18" wide by 18" deep by 10" high, and as it weighs in at under 20 pounds, it wasn't heavy to carry or move when setting it up. We got ours for around $180, which might seem expensive for home use, but it also serves some business functions for us, when we need to bring work home.  It is also reliable for my junior high school children, who need to type and print out their papers.  I would suggest it to anyone who needs a multifunctional machine to save on space and produce high-quality printed documents.