Dan Littman

HP PSC 2175

HP's PSC 2175 has added the same twist to the basic multifunction printer that it's added to many of its printers: flash-memory slots. The $200 MFP's four slots read CompactFlash, Memory Stick, SD, or Smart Media cards. With a memory card inserted, the PSC 2175 can print a proof sheet of thumbnails, each with a fill-in bubble. There are additional bubbles to select print and paper size, border type (if any), and single or double prints?but each choice applies to all the photos you're printing. The PSC 2175 scans the proof sheet for your marks, and then prints your selections. You can improve the quality of the photo prints by installing an optional $35 photo-ink cartridge. The PSC 2175 impressed us with good print quality in most areas. On plain paper, it produced very attractive gray-scale photos and detailed, sharply focused color photos; it even managed to print narrow parallel lines that didn't bleed together. Using the optional photo-ink cartridge, the PSC 2175 produced superb glossy photos in best quality setting, and did so in less than two-and-a-half minutes?43 percent faster than the test-set average. Our panel also judged its scan quality near the top of the pack. When making copies, you can use the control panel to scan two pages and reduce them to print side by side on one page, reverse the image to print on iron-on transfer media, blow up a page to create a poster, and use other features that are usually accessible only from a printer driver.
The PSC 2175 scanned very slowly. At high resolution, it was the slowest scanner by far, taking over 2.5 minutes to scan a 2-by-2-inch color image, more than twice the average for ink jet MFPs we've tested. It scanned a text page at 300 dpi in 51 seconds (which was 46 percent slower than average). It performed better when scanning a 4-by-5-inch color photo at low resolution, but at 38.2 seconds was still 9 seconds slower than the test-set average. Though the PSC 2175's price is not high considering its flash-memory slots, this MFP doesn't fax. One minor annoyance: Because the output tray rests on top of the input tray, the narrow gap between them makes loading paper a little awkward. Unlike most other HP printers, the PSC 2175 won't let you prop up the output tray; if you want more room, you have to remove it.
Print and copy speeds were about 20 percent faster than test-set averages overall. The PSC 2175 printed text at 4 ppm and color graphics at 0.6 ppm. Copy speeds were average. The printed text, however, looked a bit gray and slightly rough around the edges--good enough for ordinary use, but not as sharp as you might want for business correspondence. The PSC 2175's lid slides up on its hinges for scanning or copying thick items such as books, but it doesn't come off to accommodate outsize documents. If you want to do a lot of scanning or copying, keep in mind that this MFP doesn't have an automatic document feeder. The heart of HP's software bundle is a suite of HP-labeled utilities, including HP Director, a floating tool bar that launches various functions such as scanning or copying images from flash cards to your PC; HP Memories Disc Creator, for creating slide shows and other photo presentations, as well as for burning your pics onto CDs; HP Photo Gallery, an image archive with templates for creating on-screen or printed photo albums; and HP Image Editor, a basic photo editor that lets you perform basic image-correction tasks and add text notes to your photos. The software also includes the ReadIris OCR engine. One nifty feature to note: The menus have a setting that changes the viewing angle of the control panel LCD to make it more visible when you're standing or sitting. However, some of the PCs we used for testing couldn't boot when the PSC 2175 was already turned on. HP says this is a "known issue" that it plans to fix with a software patch.
The PSC 2175 is a good choice for shutterbugs who want to print attractive photos and don't need a fax machine.

Buying Information

HP PSC 2175 $ http://