By Help Desk Al Gordon
Columnist

If you are thinking that it is about time to replace your old computer printer, the experts at HP recommend you think again. No, employees of the market-leading printer company haven't taken leave of their senses. They definitely want to sell you new equipment.

But, says Hugh Amick, HP's VP for Macintosh marking, given the typical lifespan of an imaging product compared with the pace at which the technology is evolving, the odds are high that there are entire categories of products available now that weren't on the market (or were unaffordable) when you made your last purchase. So instead of simply looking for the current equivalent of what you bought last time, you should take a look at some of the new offerings. Specifically:

r "All-in-ones" -- units that combine printing, scanning, copying and faxing capabilities into a single device.

r Photo Printers, which have features designed to let you easily make prints of shots from your digital camera.

r Devices that do both of the above, such as HP's 7410, which I tested in connection with this article.

All-in-ones used to be digital imaging's jack of all trades and master of none. They did allow consumers to save a huge amount of space by taking the place of as many as four devices. But you wound up with something that was less capable at any one function than the stand-alone equivalent. Printing or scanning would be at lower resolution than single-purpose units, for example, and faxing much less convenient. Pricing meantime was usually pretty steep.

None of that holds any more. All-in-ones now are the device of choice for home and small business users. You save space, the capabilities are equivalent to the stand-alones, and prices are way down. Very capable units are available for $150 and devices with most of the valuable bells and whistles come in under $300.

When you shop for an all-in-one, be aware that the term means only that a unit has multiple functions -- but there is no set requirement on what those functions are. All of them will print, of course, and scan -- and those two functions are combined to allow copying. But faxing is not a given. Lower end models either do not include scanning capabilities at all or handle them through software on your PC. If replacing a stand-alone fax is on your agenda, make sure the unit you are considering will work as an independent fax machine.

Another choice to make is between color inkjets and black-and-white lasers --inkjets generally are priced lower while lasers typically have lower per-page costs (because you don't have to replace cartridges as frequently). Obviously, your choice here depends on how much you need color.

Photo printers need to be judged on two standards: how good are the prints? And how easy is it to get from camera to print?

In my view, a minimum requirement is that the unit both has slots into which you can insert camera memory cards, the ability to hook your camera up directly to the printer, and the ability to print without using your PC. Other features to consider include such things as borderless prints, optional photo cartridges (generally they replace the black cartridge with one that gives gray shadings more suitable for prints), and various methodologies for setting up batch photo printing jobs.

I was impressed by the quality of prints the HP 7410 delivered using HP's premium photo paper and the special printer cartridge. They looked like the typical 24-hour print to me, if not a little better because of the user's ability to tweak the photo to satisfaction.

Note that the key words here are: "premium paper" and "special cartridge." One reason why printer prices are down sharply is that the industry has moved to the Gillette business model -- making the money on the blades (supplies) rather than the razor (the printer). Do-it-yourself photo printing can be a convenience, but it's not necessarily a way to save money compared with commercial prints. In the lifetime of a printer, you will spend several multiples of its purchase price on supplies, so make sure that your choice is a brand and model for which the cartridges are readily available at discount and office superstores.

The 7410's street price is around $500, which is very high for an all-in-one. That's because it comes with a wide range of accessories including a second print tray and a device that lets you print on both sides of a page. These are valuable in an office setting; less so at home. More important, though, the unit comes with both wireless and wired networking built in. This is essential for an office and is increasingly valuable for home networks. It is fairly priced given the prevailing costs of network printer adapters, but if you don't need those capabilities there are lower cost alternatives, including HP's own 7210 and 7310 series.

Technology marches on, and so should your definition of a "printer."

Al Gordon is a Massachusetts-based media and political consultant who also writes about technology. You can read more of his articles at www.tnpcnewsletter.com/al and e-mail him at eagle@algordon.com.

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