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| The
footprint: The
HP 1315 functions as both printer and computer,
and requires no more space than an average
printer. Note swiveling LCD panel. |
Once upon a time you needed a computer to practice
digital imaging, but thanks to the 2.5-inch color
LCD monitor (among other refinements) found on
Hewlett Packard's Photosmart 1315 inkjet printer,
the printer now handles the computing, too.
One of the first things you notice are the
1315's multiple ports for digital camera memory
cards: SmartMedia, CF, IBM MicroDrives, and
Sony Memory Sticks. (Sorry, no SD compatibility.)
Like some other HP printers, the 1315's ability
to print 4x6s, 5x7s, or 8x10s directly from
a memory card is surprisingly efficient for
noncritical work. In our experience, such printing
consistently produces acceptable snapshot-quality
reprints, thanks, in part, to HP's built-in
RET color, resolution, contrast, and focus enhancers.
The 1315 is standard size and weight for a
unit that handles sheet-fed, letter-sized originals.
It uses four inks (in two cartridges: color,
$32, and black, $28) with life expectancies
of approximately 20 years. The printer is bundled
with Arcsoft's Photo Impression (3.0), plus
a stingy two sheets of HP's unusually thin "Premier"
8 ½ x 11 photo glossy paper and four
glossy 4x6 sheets.
The printer's memory card bays operate as conventional
card readers, and let you save images directly
to a hard drive via a fast USB connection. Want
e-mail? An HP e-mail applet opens an outgoing
e-mail message screen so you can automatically
send attached image files and messages via AOL,
Microsoft Outlook, Netscape mail, Eudora, or
Hotmail.
The 1315 also lets you produce index prints
showing all the images on a memory card. Because
the 1315 is DPOF (Digital Print Order Format)
compliant, it will also automatically print
image files in the quantity and sizes you specify
in your camera. Best of all? The 1315's built-in
image editor and its multiscreen control menus
let you crop, lighten, darken, rotate, change
color, enhance color saturation, and even add
one of six decorative borders to your prints.
All in a printer that streets for under $400.
So how did it work for us? Unpacking, hooking
up the Photosmart, and loading the Mac drivers
into our Apple Macintosh G3 took all of five
minutes, with no hang-ups or surprises.
Image quality was superb. Using HP's Premier
Photo Paper (glossy), 8x10 prints from files
created with a 3MP compact were deemed photo-quality.
Color, contrast, sharpness, shadow, and highlight
detail were all satisfying, usually on the first
pass; remakes were rarely required.
