[MacDoc]

We are introducing the 3320 HP into our low end packages and I must admit I'm impressed with the quality for the money - not fast but excellent print even on photo paper.
The software works well on OS9 but we've had a hiccup on X - anyone got any insight on this??

 

[MACSPECTRUM]

I assume you have visited the HP website for driver updates??

Any description of said hiccup?

 

[PosterBoy]

My only caveat with the low end HPs is that the Ink is very very expensive compared to just about every other manufacturer's low end machines. Also, the 3320 only comes with a tri colour cartridge so if you want to do any black printing you will need to pick up the black cartridge as mixing the three colours A) doesn't produce a very nice black and B) is expensive.

For the money, the 3820 is better buy, but it is 2x the price of the 3320 (as I recall anyway)

--PB

 

[gordguide]

I like HP printers (I own one) but one concern I have about them (and Epson, and Dell, and who-knows-who-else) is the embedding of smart chips in the ink cartridges (and in HP's case, another in the print head).

Since Windows 2000/XP and OSX don't allow direct access to the hardware layer, some of the functionality of HP's system no longer works (expecially talking to he printhead chip), and that explains why the printer utilities seem spare with the new OS's, and may help explain why some printer's compatible drivers seem so slow in coming, or don't work as expected with XP/OSX.

Still, it's not a practise I'm keen on. Do you know if this model uses embedded chips and if so, what exactly they do?

I hate the older HP system, which not only counts ink at the print head (rendering a refilled cartridge useless, cuz the machine reports that it must be empty) but also embedded a stale date in ink so even a full cartridge can stop working if it goes past the "best-before" date.