For $99.99, the HP Photosmart C4480 is a solid all-in-one printer, scanner, and copier. It’s pretty fast, and the printing software will help you conserve ink from the somewhat expensive cartridges.
Design
At 17.1 x 11.4 x 6.4 inches, the C4480 is relatively compact for an all-in-one; however, we’d still recommend using a separate printer stand to leave a little room on your desk. It connects via a USB 2.0 cable and can print directly from its 5-in-1 memory card reader. We liked being able to preview photos on the 1.5-inch LCD, though the display is too small for accurate picture editing, such as red-eye correction. The 2.5-inch LCD on the Epson WorkForce 500 is more suited for that task.
C4480 Performance
A black-and-white document printed at 25 pages per minute, about 5 ppm less than advertised. Still, that’s 6 ppm faster than the Canon Pixma MP190 managed. Color documents topped out at 20 ppm, and a 4 x 6 photo took 28 seconds to print. The quality was not the best, but it was acceptable for a printer at this price. The scanner produced clear and accurate reproductions, and the C4480 copied documents at 30 ppm.
Money-Saving Features
Ink cartridges cost a bit more than for your average all-in-one ($14.99 for black, $17.99 for tricolor), but HP does go some of the way to help keep ink costs down with advanced features for improved color quality. One of those is the automatic paper-type sensor, which selects the best settings for paper you are using, minimizing paper and ink waste.
We also liked the Smart Web Printing feature, which automatically adjusts Web pages to prevent cut-off edges and can combine portions of different Web pages into one page.
Verdict
The HP Photosmart C4480 is an easy-to-use all-in-one that’s good for everyday photo and document printing. Being able to print without needing a computer is a plus, making this a strong low-cost choice for home and photo printing.
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