HP Photosmart 7960

Barely a week goes by without another photo printer hitting the streets and, with the digital camera craze showing no signs of abating, a slowdown in production is unlikely. However, what sets the new Photosmart 7960 apart from the rest is that it delivers eight-ink colour printing.

The increased colour gamut results in photo printouts with more vibrant and realistic colour. Fans of black and white photography will be pleased to hear that the Photosmart 7960 is also capable of producing many subtle shades of grey thanks to the grey photo cartridge.

Take a quick glance at the Photosmart 7960 and you'll instantly notice the 6.4cm LCD display on the front of the unit. Combined with the various card slots, this screen allows you to print direct from all current memory card formats. By using the intuitive menu system it's also possible to crop, rotate, zoom, perform red-eye reduction and even add a selection of border patterns without even going near a PC.

We do wonder, however, that since people who buy this eight-ink printer are going to be looking for excellent print quality, would they really want to print direct from a memory card without previewing or tweaking the image in the likes of Photoshop first?

When put through our tests, the Photosmart 7960 performed admirably. It took just over one minute and seven seconds to print an A4 colour photo and an extra 45 seconds to print 10 A4 pages of text. While those who don't usually examine their printouts might not notice the improvement eight-ink printing makes, experts will.

If you want excellent quality prints and don't mind paying the price, the HP Photosmart 7960 certainly won't disappoint.

Contact: HP 08705 474 747
www.hp.co.uk

Specifications:

• 100-sheet input tray, 50-sheet output tray
• 15ppm colour, 21ppm mono
• 1,200 x 1,200dpi (4,800 x 1,200 on glossy photo paper)
• Four cartridges
• Eight inks
• 16MB
• USB
• 7.53kg
• 530 x 383 x 194mm (w x h x d)
• Duplex adaptor optional upgrade