HP Photosmart 7350 Color Inkjet Printer review

Definitely a good printer for the cost, the HP Photosmart 7350 is extremely quiet and has a really professional appearance. It can be used both with a PC or a Mac or as an independent unit by inserting a smart card into the smart card front slot. There is a separate tray/slot to print in the 4x6 format. Controls feel nice and its slightly angled up screen display makes it easy to read it.

Compared to the 7550, the Photosmart 7350 is slower and doesn't have the LCD screen for previewing pictures. However, the price is also lower, so, for those having no problem trading price for performance, this is the best choice indeed.

This printer does a phenomenal job printing photos: they look as though they were professionally printed - both black and white and color - with high resolution (of course, it depends on the resolution of your digital camera) and a clean look. It practically does a great job with anything you ask it to print, photos, graphics, or text, and the colors are very true to the original.

For high quality pictures it can take a while to initialize and print, sometimes up to 5-8 minutes for an 8 x 10. However, it's well worth the wait, and you can easily print ordinary quality/smaller pictures.

The 7350 holds 2 print cartridges, one for the tricolor cartridge and one for the photo or black cartridge. The unit comes with a tricolor and a photo cartridge that are about 1/3 full. If you want to use this as a regular ink jet as well, you'll have to buy a black ink cartridge, as the photo or color ink cartridge may run out more quickly than you might like. If you print out non-photo documents as much as photos, it could be quite annoying to have to switch the black and photo cartridges.

In order to get the best from this printer the software and scanner also have to be considered, as they do make a difference. Though the photo software that comes with the printer is very good, for people who do a lot of photos it is recommended to get some image editing software to improve the photos they print, especially for older or damaged photos.

Although it can take a while to become familiar with its controls, this printer is very easy to operate and for some operations, a real time saver. The memory-card slots located on the front panel (CompactFlash/IBM Microdrive, MultiMediaCard/Secure Digital, Memory Stick, and SmartMedia) makes it able to print from a smart card and also to download the data directly from the printer to the PC. It also has a digital camera port located on the front that you can use to print photos directly from your camera. However, if your are planning to use it by your camera’s memory card, note that the printer does not work with xD. But if you have a computer this won’t be a problem.

For the owners of a Mac (also older Macs equipped with Mac OS 10.2) buying this printer turns to be an excellent decision, as it prints both text and pictures very well without problems.

The Photosmart 7350 is very easy to set up: you can have it connected to your PC and running practically in less than 5 minutes.

For somebody the size of the printer may be an issue, as the Photosmart7350 is considerably larger than most HP color inkjets and take up a lot of space, especially for those who have a crowded desk.

However, this printer is highly recommended to those people who have a digital camera and like to print their photos.