HP Deskjet 6980 Color Printer (C8969A#B1H)
I've had this printer for about 6 months and its been great. I'm not very technical but I got a wireless router going in the house for a laptop that we move around. I assumed getting this printer to work on the wireless network would be a problem, but the setup went fine using a wireless laptop (running the HP setup CD) and the printer hard wired into my ethernet connection per the instructions (they include the cord to do this). Once it was all lined up, I simply unplugged the printer from the ethernet and it worked great wirelessly. We have it tucked into a cabinet where it's hidden and the wireless laptop prints to it without a problem. One time it wasn't working so I pulled it out and ran throught the set up again with it plugged into the wall and its run fine wirelessly ever since. The print quality seems great also, but all we have printed are web pages and a few word documents.
Probably like you, I wanted to have a wireless printer so I wouldn't have to listen to my wife complain any more about printing from her laptop instead of waiting for me to get off my desktop. On top of all the other normal nagging, I figured this was one thing I could actually do something about... To make matters worse, my desktop is a Mac and her laptop is a Wintel. We have a wireless network in the house with a Linksys router (802.11g). I considered a linksys wireless print server, but they got very bad reviews.
This particular printer only had 1 reivew, but it was highly positive, so I ordered it. It came in just a day or two. When I took it out of the box I was impressed with its modern styling, as was my wife- score 1 for me. At first I tried to set it up using my Mac for wireless connection through the router, but the setup manual is out-of-date with the actual software, so I couldn't get that to work. Note that I was not using Airport, but a direct Ethernet connection from mac to Router. Instead, I followed the manual's instructions for setting it up from her Wintel wireless connected to the network and with the printer temporarily connected by Ethernet. Along the way I ignored the threats about needing to disable my firewall, opting to keep everything going. Despite that there were no problems whatsoever using this setup route. The final step is to unplug the Ethernet cable and go wireless.
After a quick test to confirm printing from both the Wintel and the Mac, I called my wife in for a test run. She easily printed out a document and admired the printer again. Now I can return to my normal life confident that I've served some useful purpose in my marriage lately :)
I am in the process of returning the 2nd one of these for the same reason I returned the first. I could not ,in spite of several hours spent online and/or and on the phone with HP techs, get the thing to connect wirelessly to either of 2 HP laptops. I probably have something like 16 hours invested. I should have given up long ago, but I am stubborn.
I wish I knew what the problem was so I could inform future buyers.
I now have had about a month's experience with the HP Deskjet 6980. Overall I would say that it has done what I expected of it, but I'm now sure that it has been worth the cost above that of numerous other printers. I paid about $150 and it is easy to find good printers for less than $100.
I am running OX 10.4.5 on an iMac G5. Setup of the printer was very straightforward, except for the wireless feature. I never have been able to get it to connect wirelessly. The instruction manual doesn't have much in common with the real world of OS 10.4.5.
I found that printing two-sided was almost impossible - a big disadvantage to me. I tried the (inconvenient) trick of printing odd pages, flipping the output sheets, replacing them in the feed hopper and then printing the even pages. This is very problematical for a job with numerous pages or for a job with an odd number of pages. My solution was to throw another $70 or so at the problem and buy the two-sided printing attachment (Auto-duplex unit).
The two-sided printing attachment was trivial to install - it took less than 5 minutes start to finish. This device works very well, but it is slow because it has a built-in delay to allow the ink on the first side of the paper to dry before printing the second. Using two full pages of ordinary text in Microsoft Word, printing two single-sided pages took 25 seconds. Printing the two pages two-sided on one sheet took 1 minute 5 seconds. So it is convenient, but you can't be in a hurry.
From time to time, I print strips of labels. So far I haven't worked out all the details of getting the 6980 to do this very well. It appears that 24" is the longest form that the printer will handle and this printer is much slower than my old Epson C86. The C86 will print 36" strips. So I'll be keeping the Epson, it looks like.
Would I buy this product again? Maybe. It was expensive and performs well, but I'm not sure that it is doing that much more than much less expensive printers.
Considering how long and difficult it was to set up and install this printer, it better be the best device ever invented! I have installed hard drives and loaded operating systems in less time with fewer headaches than setting up this printer.
I wanted this printer to work on my network which is wired and wireless, with a PC and a MAC. According to all my research, this was do-able. I did get it all to work, but it was a painful ordeal that took two days.
The documentation is terrible. It comes with about six manuals and pamphlets, and not one of them accurately represents any of the true set-up instructions, screen shots or procedures. With enough trial and error, you eventually figure out what works and what doesn't. You cannot allow any program of any type to run in the background while you are installing the software. Nothing. If you have automatic updates scheduled that you've forgotten about, they will crash the install. If you aren't disconnected from the Internet, you will crash the install. If you breathe wrong, you will crash the install. And crashing the install will require at least two re-boots to remove the software and start over. Even after you get the software installed, if it isn't configured EXACTLY EXACTLY EXACTLY right, it won't work, and no diagnostic will tell you what you did wrong. The only way to fix it is to un-install and start over.
OK, point made. My other complaint is that there is no output "catch tray" for printed copies. They just kind of fall out onto the desk or whatever. Dumb design.
The buttons on the front of the printer are not explained anywhere in the manuals that come with the printer. The only way to figure them out is to go online and look them up in the online documentation. Even that documentation is sorely lacking. It goes into great detail about the difference in the types of wireless frequencies, but doesn't tell you nearly enough about how to configure the communications parameters to work with your wireless router. Imagine looking up a recipe to bake a cake and halfway through, it starts telling you how flour is made.
It is indeed much quieter than my previous HP printer, and even has a "quiet mode" to mute it more. The envelope function appears to work better, although you do get an error message when you use it. Once you click through it, it prints fine, so I'm not exactly sure why the error message.
Is it a good printer worth the money? Too soon to tell. I'm still licking my wounds from setting it up.
I am very pleased with this printer, was so easy to set up, prints really good and hardly makes any noise.
I couldn't tell you what to chalk it up to, but I had none of the installation woes of some of the other users of this or the previous wi-fi model, the Deskjet 6840. Maybe it's that I wasn't connecting it to a full wireless network/router per se? Using the setup for the ad hoc wi-fi connection between just my laptop (ThinkPad, if that's relevant) and the printer, the instructions in the included setup guide worked flawlessly (and as another user noted, I didn't even have to turn off the firewall). Installation took no longer than my CD drive copying the files from the driver disc.
Printing wirelessly is pretty handy; a little slower than a wired connection, but the difference is almost negligible, and a full 8x10 photo print didn't seem like it took more than a minute or two. Print quality's about par for the course for the cheaper HP printers these days (this being HP's low-priced wi-fi printer, I guess) - it doesn't *WOW* you exactly, but images are nice and crisp, comparing favorably to my old DeskJet 940, not too grainy at all. I do, however, shudder to think 1. how little ink must be in these tiny ink cartridges (Vivera 96 and 97) and 2. how much replacements of these tiny cartridges will probably cost.
One oddity I did encounter in installation, though, was registering for product support. It kept trying to point me to an HP URL that apparently isn't there, giving me an error a few times until it gave up trying to connect, and suggested I visit the HP support site and register manually. Other than that, though, I've encountered no problems, and gotten pretty much exactly what I wanted: a fairly inexpensive printer that I can print to wirelessly, printing text documents and the occasional 8x10 photo of reasonably sharp quality. Overall, I'd recommend it.
(Update 6/8/06)
It's still working pretty nicely, but I figured I should note that when I close my laptop having been wirelessly connected to the printer and later reopen the laptop without the printer present or turned on, it seems like one or two of the computer's background operations pertaining to the 6980 crash occasionally. It doesn't result remotely in any sort of system instability, and I usually can still print without any issues, but I wasn't able to today. Opening the hpqtra08.exe file in C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin seemed to fix it, though.
(Update 7/31/06)
Perhaps this printer isn't as good as I initially thought. In the intervening months, I've discovered many a little issue. If you use a laptop, and you open and close (hibernate) it with any regularity, the printer will just keep adding more and more memory-draining copies of the same two programs, and on multiple occasions, I've woken up to find that while I closed my laptop the previous night, it hasn't shut off due to a printer spooling program preventing it, regardless of whether or not the printer is even ON. To boot, many of the apparently vital background programs for the printer have a tendency to crash for no apparent reason. Beyond that, there have now been countless times where I've been in a rush to get something printed out (which is why I bought the printer in the first place: convenience in printing quickly from a laptop), and the print queue just hangs and hangs, never doing anything until I restart the print job (if I'm LUCKY). I'd really like to love this printer, but if I were shopping, I'd hold off. It seems like HP needs another couple of years to work the kinks out of their low-priced wi-fi printer models. Their software and drivers may be updated occasionally, but that hasn't solved any of the problems I've had yet. Cartridges are indeed small and pricey!
Oh, and just for reference, I'm using XP Home, ThinkPad T42 laptop, Intel wireless, used the ethernet cable for the intial connection.
The printer itself is great! Setting it up for a single computer is very simple. Like a lot of people I also wanted to set up a wireless network connection to add this printer.If you understand how to setup and deploy a network you should not have any problems at all. After two days I finally got it.The problems I had was with my routers internal settings and the windows security and printer sharing settings. If you have this printer connected to your desktop and you just want to be able to print from your laptop you can save yourself a lot of headaches by just using the bluetooth option, it works really great.
I also have had some issues with setting this up on a wireless network (using a Linksys router). I have one Windows 2000 and two WinXP home computers. I'd like to suggest to other reviewers that it might be helpful to include your OS and wireless equipment brands and models, especially those who had no problems.
Also, please specify whether you used the "Easy Button", the USB port, the ethernet cable option or the direct USB option to setup your wireless network. Thanks.
Great little printer! Mom is set up with a wireless router connected to the cable modem, and spends her time on the laptop computer in the living room. Since this printer came with an ethernet connection, I plugged it into the router and in no time at all she was up and printing. It is so fast, she prints documents off before she can make it to the office to pick them up! It's very simple and straightforward, so she really enjoys having it to print webpages, pics and emails.
the documentation and installation manual should be abandoned immediately. Also, the supplied ethernet cable did not work. It was a combination of the extra plastic gaurding over the clips on each end of the cable, which thoroughly prevented either end from being plugged into either the printer or the router. Also, I was only able to use the third installation option where you have to set up the printer via the ethernet cable. Nowhere does it inform you of the most important step of the installation process. After the WPA information is transferred to the printer, you actually have to remove the ethernet cable from the printer in order for it to connect to the network. You will receive the Network Status: Not Connected, until it's removed.
Once the printer is installed, it works very well. Very quick black/white and nice color prints. Haven't had any wireless network issues. It feels solid and has excellent build quality. A very big improvement over my previous experience with Epson products.
My home network has a mix of Windows and Linux PCs. Like some of the other reviewers, I agree that the Windows setup instructions are a bit murky, but I had no problems. Also, the HP Solution Center application is fairly unhelpful, if you need help. One demerit for weak documentation and software.
Quality of printing is excellent from Windows, although photos require the purchase of a third printer cartridge. To use it, you have to remove the black cartridge. This cartridge comes with a clip to cover the bottom of the ink well when it's out of the machine.
For Linux, you need to get the driver [...]. Quality and control of output are excellent on Linux, as well.
Lastly, the built-in web server on the printer is helpful for checking on the printer's status via a network. Many devices have these embedded these days, and it's nice to be able to access the printer via a browser.
I've had this printer for about 4 months now and it works great. The network setup was easy. I have 4 computers in my home printing to this computer, all are hooked up using a Linksys 54g router.
I would recommend this to anyone wanting a good printer with the feature of wireless printing.
This is a great upgrade from my old printer. The set up was easy, taking about an hour. After reading other reviews that talked about how difficult the printer was to setup and install, I was hesitant to get started. I even bought a USB cable just in case. But the instillation was a snap. Just a matter of following a few steps, loading the CD, selecting how my printer was connected to my PC, and printing a test page to make sure everything was working properly. I never even touched that USB cable I bought.
The prints are awesome. The color and graphics are very sharp and look great. The software for the printer loads a program called HP Solution Center which allows me to easily change the printer settings and view helps if I need them.
I would gladly recommend this printer to anyone looking for a good inkjet printer.
I own this HP 6980printer for a week. This printer serves my purpose. Good color printing quality. Fast printing speed. Setup for wireless is easy. Stylish design. However you have to use cable to set up the printer before the printer can operate in wireless. One compliant is that the installation of cartridge seems a little bit odd. Tt made me feel that I damaged something. Over all is a good buy.
It seems most people having problems setting this up are on Windows machines or Windows/Mac or Windows/Linux networks. I just now set it up for my home Mac network, and it was pretty much a snap. I used the ethernet cable to connect it to my Netgear wifi router, and now all the Macs in the house can talk to it. The most time-consuming part was loading the software/drivers on the machines.
This printer works wonderfully. You can even use the wireless feature if your computer doesn't have wireless. I have my desktop pugged into a wireless router. The router communicates wireless with the printer, and so I can print 'wirelessly' even though my desktop computer is not wireless.
The wireless was easy to set-up by the way - no complaints at all - I don't see how they could have made it any easier. Obviously if you're using a password protected wireless network, you'll have to give the printer those settings - that's where temporarily plugging it into the network with an Ethernet cable comes in.
The construct seems quite durable by the way. This is another in the line of excellent HP printers. Of course the cost of ink is another story.
Installation was a pain (XP popped up fifteen billion "installing device" screens during the installation) and the printer is full of the typical HP bloatware with no option to avoid installation of the extra junk. A printer should have a printer driver and that's it, we don't need another image viewer/editor, ink monitor, HP customer service center, etc. There's no reason that a printer's installation should require 200 megs of hard drive space.
Somebody else mentioned that there is no paper tray. There is one, but it is too small to function and your pages do fall all over the place. The bright side though is that the printer does print well. Pages look great and come out fairly quick.
Be forewarned, the power cord is one of those two-cord power block things and the part that goes into the outlet is VERY short, so plan on keeping the power block on the floor near the outlet (I like to keep mine on the credenza behind the printer but couldn't do it with this one).
I bought this printer here at Amazon because their price was excellent. I was replacing an older Epson printer, and realized that for twice the cost of replacing the cartidges, I could buy this printer instead.
I bought it mainly because of its wireless capability right out of the box. I have a home wireless network, using a Linksys Wireless G Broadband router (the ubiquitous WRT54G), which is shared by both a Macintosh and a PC. I set up the printer using my Mac, and by just following the instructions and using the "Easy Setup" button on the router, it was exceptionally easy to get it connected.
We've printed over 100 prints at this point, using both plain paper and photographic paper. The printer has never jammed, and the prints are excellent quality, especially the photos. The wireless connection works every time, and it's very easy to replenish the paper when necessary.
So far, I'm very happy with this printer. I would recommend you take a look!
I ordered this HP 6980 printer late in the day on Monday Dec 18th. I never expected it before Christmas, but it was delivered to my front door by 11AM Friday, Dec 22nd! I found the printer to be relatively easy to add to my wireless network, by following the easy setup. I also thought there was no output tray, but the flip up handle for the paper supply, slides out and the end flips to stop the paper. I admit it is a bit flimsy, but the paper doesn't fall to the floor. I did jam a single sheet of 4x6 photo paper, trying to use the special slot. Once I did a photo print of a wildflower bouquet, I was very impressed with the colors! (didn't use photo ink, just standard color cartridge). I also got the print for $13 less than the currently stated price, and no tax and free shipping to boot! Thanks to Amazon for another great transaction, and to HP for another great printer.
I've had this printer for about a week now, and can't say enought good things about it. The speed and print quality is great, and its very easy to set up. I'm not sure why several other reviewers had so much difficulty setting this up. I'm not very technical and I had this setup, working in wireless, and printing documents in less than 30 minutes. A wireless HP quality printer at this price is hard to beat. I would highly recommend this item. I've had many printers by other manufacturers and HP is still the best.
Finally a printer that when using a home wireless system will work from a laptop. I have waited patiently for the technology to catch up with my need at an affordable price. A little loud, but effective in a wireless situation. It was the answer to my technology prayers
It was with great hesitation that I bought this product, and I have no regrets. It works fine with my MAC and I love the convenience of having it in another room, away in my working space. Setting up the printer proved to be a bit of a challenge. I found the directions quite confusing, although I'm generally good at this kind of task. The manual did not make it clear that I needed to go to a specific page on the web to complete the process. Without technical support's help I'd still be trying to figure it out! Maybe they have updated the manual and there will be no problem for new buyers. Probably unlikely. Definitely call them for help with the setup if you can't get the printer working immediately. Once I phoned them, the tech had me up and running quite quickly.
This is a great printer and a great buy, HOWEVER, installation was horrible. The driver file was literally buried in the directory. The good news is that HP has a great online/real-time helpdesk that had me hooked up within an hour. But the days leading up to that hour and my husband's stubborness was rough. All in all, we love it. Just let someone with patience install it with HP's help.
I started using this printer at work and when it was time to replace my previous printer I looked everywhere to find this one. The print quality is excellent, hook-up was a breeze (using a router to hook-up), and I really like all of the different projects you can make with this printer. The only thing I miss is having a scanner included. (I kept the old printer to use as a scanner only.)
I just got this printer for work. It was fairly easy to set up. This unit looks heavy duty. However, the print speed and quality isn't as good as my old obsolete HP895Cse.
I recently purchased this for a friend and helped them install it. It was very easy, the instructions seem to be great for even the "technologically challenged". You do have to find the correct set of instructions for you set up, the manual seems to think most people have a Linksys router with the "SecureEasySetup" option. The print quality is very good, we tested multiple papers and a photo. Everything was set up and ready to go within 45 mins. Personally, I'd go with a laser printer because of the low yield of an inkjet cartridge compared to its price. But if you're looking for an inkjet, $149 is a great price considering there is wireless built in. I'd highly recommend this printer.
I just set up this printer & it went very well. I've got a Belkin router (no "SecureEasySetup" option) with 1 wired XP, 1 wired Mac, & 2 wireless XP systems. After reading all the reviews, I was pretty nervous about the network setup! I dutifully read all of the documentation to make sure I understood exactly what was required. In the end, I wish I hadn't. Before reading, I had a vague idea of what to do. After reading, I was confused about which option applied to my configuration
I really like the print quality and the speed of this printer, but I have one major complaint. No one else has mentioned this so I am wondering if it is just me but this printer shakes the desk like crazy when it is printing. My laptop and printer are on the same surface and while it is printing the entire desk shakes. Thankfully the print speed is fast enough so that it is done printing quickly, but when I am printing multiple copies it is definitely annoying. I didn't add the extra paper tray because I didn't think I'd need it but maybe that would help? I was very surprised by the shaking, but overall it is a good printer. And, don't be scared of the wireless setup, you'll get it.
I also have the HP 5500 all in one printer. I've found them both to be quiet and reliable. The 6980 is really fast as well.
I had this installed on my secured wireless network in about 10 minutes. It was incredibly easy, and print quality is as expected for a home use deskjet. I haven't printed photos or anything yet to check quality - I largely wanted a decent quality, wireless deskjet, that I could print to easily when I brought my laptop home from work.
We needed a new printer to replace two Epson inkjet printers that had stopped working. After doing some research and on the advice of a relative we chose the 6980 due to the Mac/PC compatibility and the fact that we could hook it up to our network (an ethernet cable even comes with the printer).
I found the installation instructions easy, and had it hooked up to the PC in no time. We then installed the software on the Mac laptop and followed the instructions, and everything worked fine - we can now print from the laptop, no cables required! We haven't done any extensive printing, but so far, we're very happy with the Deskjet 6980.
The setup process was a nightmare. Finally, after hard-coding an IP address into a port, it printed.
Once the printer was up and running, it shook my entire desk including the monitor. One HP chat group support person said to put the printer on the floor. Another support person said to unplug printer from surge protector and try the wall jack.
They should just TELL YOU that the printer is designed to shake. Once it prints, the paper gets thrown to the floor.
No one can explain how to configure a desktop with an Ethernet cable and a wireless laptop. If you delete a printer driver w/ a hard coded IP address, you can't add a printer driver a 2nd time. I went through the registry trying to clean this up, but could not find the info. Finally, I used the other computer IP address.
The laptop still doesn't print unless the desktop machine is on. I think this printer was designed to only work with ALL wireless PC's or non-wireless. I don't think you can have a mix of equipment.
Finally, when you want to delete a print job, it doesn't cancel when you delete it. You have to go through "control panel" - "admin tools" "services" scroll down to "Print spooler" click "stop the service" and then "restart the service."
I am VERY unhappy with this printer and support and plan to return it.
I purchased this printer earlier this week. I installed the software and had it up and running in about 10 minutes. The installation was simple and straightforward, and could not have been easier. The install was on a Mac and not a PC -- in case that is a factor.
My impressions: Print speed is remarkably fast. The quality of the printing is excellent too -- HP describes it as laser quality and I would agree. The printing appears sharp, clean, crisp and very professional. It's quiet too. This machine has a very solid feel to it; it's weight and construction makes it feel like it is built to last. I mention this because I have examined other HP printers priced for less and found many to be very lightweight and made primarily of plastic. HP rates this model as capable of printing 5,000 copies per month ... which should speak to it's durability and build quality.
If you are seeking a printer for your home or home office do consider this model. It's a good, solid, well built printer that should last many years and which produces high quality printing.
I'll give 4 stars for great prints, but having it less than 2 weeks isn't yet enough time to give more.
Like many who've had older printers, I too miss larger ink cartridges, but this machine DOES take larger ones than most other HP's now.
Yesterday it started printing documents beginning at BACK page & ended at the FRONT, no matter how I tried to adjust otherwise. Spent 2 hours ea. with HP techs last night & today; they had me uninstall, then reinstall each time to try figuring it out (at least installing with them went faster than by myself!) They're equally baffled, but will get back to me to help solve it -- or exchange it for another if they can't fix it :)
Overall, though, this machine seems like a good investment. Sure glad I first looked at these Amazon reviews before buying!
(Oh, to someone who said exiting paper just flops on desk, there IS a small pull-out tab on the end of the out-tray; just hard to see & tough to grab & adjust)
WI-FI Setup was painless on my 4 computer network. (2) Vista, (3) XP Pro.
Pros: Run your images all the way to the edge if you so choose!
Very FAST!
Sleek looking.
Wireless, nuff' said!
Great combo of quality image and text printing capability for those who want one unit which is better than most other ink jets at doing both types of jobs. Of course you could always spend more on a dedicated photo only printer with a higher resolution, but most of us do try to get the most bang for the buck, and often times dealing with limited desk space as a consideration (kitchen work area, etc.) All said, this unit is surprisingly capable and fast for the money spent.
Cons: Cannot use the WiFi/wireless or pre-packaged software for this unit
if running a Vista operating system...yet. H.P.'s website says to
look for patch come July 07'. Not too happy about this, but such
is life when changing to the new O.S. on the block.
Unknowns: ink life.
Note: Now if it lasts like my last HP printer (8 years), then I will truly be impressed.
Like the title says, this is a decent wireless printer. No bells and whistles, no scanner, no copier, no fax - Just what I wanted. The only problem I have is a modest one; I have to 'reset' the printer often by turning it off and back on after 10 seconds. Sometimes it goes a couple of days before I have to reset it and some days I have to reset it every time I print.
However, I would recommend this printer for anyone who would prefer resetting their printer every so often compared to running printer cords to and from inconvenient spots.
Given the choice (and the price) I would purchase this product again.
What more can I say. The printer does what I want it to do. I DO NOT print photos with this printer. It is my general purpose home printer. It is very fast and 'seems' to sip the ink. The printer's internal webpage currently gives me a Total Page Count of 413 and I have 60% Black Ink Level and 50% Color Ink Level with included cartridges.
I installed the printer in my garage to free up my office desk space. (Office space recently shrank due to 95% of room being converted to a play room. Bah. ;-)
The 6980 worked good on my Windows XP PC using a Linksys wireless router with no security. (Yes... I ran it with no security. I played with MAC filter security and the 6980 worked but I don't think that's very good security.)
I recently installed Windows Vista and couldn't believe it when Vista auto-configured the printer's wireless connection. Recently, I enabled WPA2-AES security on my router. So, I connected the 6980 to my Linksys router with a Cat5 cable and accessed its "website" tool via the printer's new LAN IP. No problems. I configured its Wireless Network settings to use WPA2-AES and gave it the Passphrase I setup earlier on my router. After disconnecting the Cat5 cable, I refreshed Vista's Printer control panel and the printer re-appeared. I typed in its wireless IP in Internet Explorer and its internal website popped right up! I was very happy.
NOTE: The IP for the printer is different depending on whether it is connected via Wireless or Cat5 cable. At least it was for me. Check your OS's printer control panel to discover the IP. If anything in this review doesn't happen for you... you may want to read the Network Guide and Setup Guide located here:[...]
(Yes, the printer will make your cheapy pressboard desk wobble/vibrate while it prints. But you didn't buy a wireless printer to put it on your desk!)
PRINTER REVIEWED
HP Deskjet 6980 Color Printer (C8969A#B1H)
This is one of the few printers I've encountered which work perfectly on my mixed Linux-Windows-FreeBSD LAN. I print wirelessly with this printer from Linux, from FreeBSD, from Windows XP Pro, and even from Windows 2000 running as a guest OS on Linux using VMWare and on FreeBSD using qemu.
There is no need to go to a store to purchase a printer any more! This was such an easy process. There was plently of information to help me to decide which printer to chose. Free shipping and delivered to my door step in 2 days! Honestly, what could be easier?
The reason I rated this purchase 4 stars instead of 5, I bought the printer for its wireless feature and I couldn't get this to work. I use a cable, set-up a home network and I can print "wireless" in the sense that I'm not connected to my printer. The quality of the printouts is great.
I have both Macbooks and PC's on my home network and have had trouble finding a printer/wireless print server combination that would support everything. I bought this printer, it was delivered quickly and exceeded my expectations. The printer configuration was quite simple and I was able to connect it to both a Macbook and a PC on the first attempt. I couldn't tell you the last time that happened. In addition, the print quality and speed is quite good for a home user.
Good job HP!
I got this printer about 5 months ago. We love this printer. The printing quality is good (normal printing + photo printing up to 8x10). Really love the wireless part of the printer. I installed this on 1 desktop machine (a 3-year-old cheap Dell Dimension), 7 laptops (1 HP, 2 Dell's, 1 Acer, 1 Compaq, 1 IBM, 1 Sony). The only failure is on the Sony VAIO (7 year old). All of them are running Window XP. The installation is not the easiest. On a couple of laptops, the installation script actually said that the install failed (ironically, one of them was my daughter's HP laptop). Funny thing is I am still able to print from these two machines. By the way, I had an el cheapo Dlink wireless B/G router. I have recently "upgraded" to another el cheapo Airlink wireless N router. The printer still works. I also read that some of the users are seeing excessive shaking from this printer. I do not notice it (it sits in a rarely used room). Also, the arm of the output "tray" needs to be totally extended or you will end up with bunch of papers on the floor (my dog would have a field day eating my wife's and kids' homework when this happened). The only odd thing I notice is that the printer queue does not resume when the machine is turned off and turned back on. I have to empty the queue and resubmit the jobs - not sure whether this is the printer's fault or the PC's fault.
I purchased this product for it's wireless capability. The tech support was fantastic. She stayed with me until I got the wireless working. It's prints beautiful pictues and quick and from anywhere in my small office. It was everything I hoped it would be. +++
Very pleased with this printer. Purchased it for mainly my kids' school projects and administrative type work from home. It is working out excellent. My husband was able to set up the wireless feature without too much hassle! The wireless printer sits nicely on the bottom shelf of our end table in the living room, while my wireless laptop is in the kitchen. It is nice not to be restricted with large, bulky machines taking up lots of space! Very pleased with this purchase.
I really wanted a good quality printer that allowed easy wireless printing through my DSL router. This one fits the bill. Simply connect the printer directly to your router with the supplied ethernet cable and follow the instructions. It took about 20 minutes for the software to install but once it did I disconnected the ethernet cable, moved the printer to another room and I am happily printing from anywhere in the house. I haven't printed a ton of photos yet but the few I did print look beautiful. Black and white document prints are quick and look great too. You may be able to find a cheaper printer but if you want easy wireless high quality printing you can't go wrong here.
Delivery was quick. Installing was fast. Got it to sink up the first time connecting to LAN and printer sharing. Quality is great, picture is great. Easy to install. Great Product. Not having all the other problems like some of the other owners.
This printer is a great choice for a few reasons. The least reason to buy a printer is appearance, sure, but the stylish blue appearance on the HP 6980 makes it one of the best looking printers out there. Wireless setup is by far the best reason to chose this printer. I was a bit hesitant about how easy it would work, but the documentation in the box by HP (paper manuals) was very helpful. Just take the printer and the router, run an Ethernet cord between them, and run the software on your PC (PC doesn't need to be connected to it). Then it instructs you to remove the ethernet cable and in the end, only the power plug needs to be present. I have one Vista desktop and one Vista laptop currently set to this printer.
Some issues to note. It does in fact shake, as I guess many printers probably shake. I recommend placing this on a different desk/table from which you use for your desktop and/or laptop. It's only a minor inconvenience though. Even with my desktop on the same table, I still feel the shaking somewhat noticeably.
The CD in the package is essentially useless for Vista users. Now in the store, you might see it say "compatible with Vista" and it is, though not as simple as some people I'm sure have been misled to believe. You will need to download the software from the HP site. It's not hard, just a few clicks on the HP site will get you there. Download and then install on EACH PC with which you'd like the printer to work.
One other quick note. The printer allows you to print a report page showing the printer's status on your network and other relevant details as well as an IP address you can enter in the browser that shows details such as ink levels and allows some configuration. HP seems to know printers quite well. Highly recommended!
I've had this printer for about 6 months and its been great. I'm not very technical but I got a wireless router going in the house for a laptop that we move around. I assumed getting this printer to work on the wireless network would be a problem, but the setup went fine using a wireless laptop (running the HP setup CD) and the printer hard wired into my ethernet connection per the instructions (they include the cord to do this). Once it was all lined up, I simply unplugged the printer from the ethernet and it worked great wirelessly. We have it tucked into a cabinet where it's hidden and the wireless laptop prints to it without a problem. One time it wasn't working so I pulled it out and ran throught the set up again with it plugged into the wall and its run fine wirelessly ever since. The print quality seems great also, but all we have printed are web pages and a few word documents.
Probably like you, I wanted to have a wireless printer so I wouldn't have to listen to my wife complain any more about printing from her laptop instead of waiting for me to get off my desktop. On top of all the other normal nagging, I figured this was one thing I could actually do something about... To make matters worse, my desktop is a Mac and her laptop is a Wintel. We have a wireless network in the house with a Linksys router (802.11g). I considered a linksys wireless print server, but they got very bad reviews.
This particular printer only had 1 reivew, but it was highly positive, so I ordered it. It came in just a day or two. When I took it out of the box I was impressed with its modern styling, as was my wife- score 1 for me. At first I tried to set it up using my Mac for wireless connection through the router, but the setup manual is out-of-date with the actual software, so I couldn't get that to work. Note that I was not using Airport, but a direct Ethernet connection from mac to Router. Instead, I followed the manual's instructions for setting it up from her Wintel wireless connected to the network and with the printer temporarily connected by Ethernet. Along the way I ignored the threats about needing to disable my firewall, opting to keep everything going. Despite that there were no problems whatsoever using this setup route. The final step is to unplug the Ethernet cable and go wireless.
After a quick test to confirm printing from both the Wintel and the Mac, I called my wife in for a test run. She easily printed out a document and admired the printer again. Now I can return to my normal life confident that I've served some useful purpose in my marriage lately :)
I now have had about a month's experience with the HP Deskjet 6980. Overall I would say that it has done what I expected of it, but I'm now sure that it has been worth the cost above that of numerous other printers. I paid about $150 and it is easy to find good printers for less than $100.
I am running OX 10.4.5 on an iMac G5. Setup of the printer was very straightforward, except for the wireless feature. I never have been able to get it to connect wirelessly. The instruction manual doesn't have much in common with the real world of OS 10.4.5.
I found that printing two-sided was almost impossible - a big disadvantage to me. I tried the (inconvenient) trick of printing odd pages, flipping the output sheets, replacing them in the feed hopper and then printing the even pages. This is very problematical for a job with numerous pages or for a job with an odd number of pages. My solution was to throw another $70 or so at the problem and buy the two-sided printing attachment (Auto-duplex unit).
The two-sided printing attachment was trivial to install - it took less than 5 minutes start to finish. This device works very well, but it is slow because it has a built-in delay to allow the ink on the first side of the paper to dry before printing the second. Using two full pages of ordinary text in Microsoft Word, printing two single-sided pages took 25 seconds. Printing the two pages two-sided on one sheet took 1 minute 5 seconds. So it is convenient, but you can't be in a hurry.
From time to time, I print strips of labels. So far I haven't worked out all the details of getting the 6980 to do this very well. It appears that 24" is the longest form that the printer will handle and this printer is much slower than my old Epson C86. The C86 will print 36" strips. So I'll be keeping the Epson, it looks like.
Would I buy this product again? Maybe. It was expensive and performs well, but I'm not sure that it is doing that much more than much less expensive printers.
I am in the process of returning the 2nd one of these for the same reason I returned the first. I could not ,in spite of several hours spent online and/or and on the phone with HP techs, get the thing to connect wirelessly to either of 2 HP laptops. I probably have something like 16 hours invested. I should have given up long ago, but I am stubborn.
I wish I knew what the problem was so I could inform future buyers.
Considering how long and difficult it was to set up and install this printer, it better be the best device ever invented! I have installed hard drives and loaded operating systems in less time with fewer headaches than setting up this printer.
I wanted this printer to work on my network which is wired and wireless, with a PC and a MAC. According to all my research, this was do-able. I did get it all to work, but it was a painful ordeal that took two days.
The documentation is terrible. It comes with about six manuals and pamphlets, and not one of them accurately represents any of the true set-up instructions, screen shots or procedures. With enough trial and error, you eventually figure out what works and what doesn't. You cannot allow any program of any type to run in the background while you are installing the software. Nothing. If you have automatic updates scheduled that you've forgotten about, they will crash the install. If you aren't disconnected from the Internet, you will crash the install. If you breathe wrong, you will crash the install. And crashing the install will require at least two re-boots to remove the software and start over. Even after you get the software installed, if it isn't configured EXACTLY EXACTLY EXACTLY right, it won't work, and no diagnostic will tell you what you did wrong. The only way to fix it is to un-install and start over.
OK, point made. My other complaint is that there is no output "catch tray" for printed copies. They just kind of fall out onto the desk or whatever. Dumb design.
The buttons on the front of the printer are not explained anywhere in the manuals that come with the printer. The only way to figure them out is to go online and look them up in the online documentation. Even that documentation is sorely lacking. It goes into great detail about the difference in the types of wireless frequencies, but doesn't tell you nearly enough about how to configure the communications parameters to work with your wireless router. Imagine looking up a recipe to bake a cake and halfway through, it starts telling you how flour is made.
It is indeed much quieter than my previous HP printer, and even has a "quiet mode" to mute it more. The envelope function appears to work better, although you do get an error message when you use it. Once you click through it, it prints fine, so I'm not exactly sure why the error message.
Is it a good printer worth the money? Too soon to tell. I'm still licking my wounds from setting it up.
I couldn't tell you what to chalk it up to, but I had none of the installation woes of some of the other users of this or the previous wi-fi model, the Deskjet 6840. Maybe it's that I wasn't connecting it to a full wireless network/router per se? Using the setup for the ad hoc wi-fi connection between just my laptop (ThinkPad, if that's relevant) and the printer, the instructions in the included setup guide worked flawlessly (and as another user noted, I didn't even have to turn off the firewall). Installation took no longer than my CD drive copying the files from the driver disc.
Printing wirelessly is pretty handy; a little slower than a wired connection, but the difference is almost negligible, and a full 8x10 photo print didn't seem like it took more than a minute or two. Print quality's about par for the course for the cheaper HP printers these days (this being HP's low-priced wi-fi printer, I guess) - it doesn't *WOW* you exactly, but images are nice and crisp, comparing favorably to my old DeskJet 940, not too grainy at all. I do, however, shudder to think 1. how little ink must be in these tiny ink cartridges (Vivera 96 and 97) and 2. how much replacements of these tiny cartridges will probably cost.
One oddity I did encounter in installation, though, was registering for product support. It kept trying to point me to an HP URL that apparently isn't there, giving me an error a few times until it gave up trying to connect, and suggested I visit the HP support site and register manually. Other than that, though, I've encountered no problems, and gotten pretty much exactly what I wanted: a fairly inexpensive printer that I can print to wirelessly, printing text documents and the occasional 8x10 photo of reasonably sharp quality. Overall, I'd recommend it.
(Update 6/8/06)
It's still working pretty nicely, but I figured I should note that when I close my laptop having been wirelessly connected to the printer and later reopen the laptop without the printer present or turned on, it seems like one or two of the computer's background operations pertaining to the 6980 crash occasionally. It doesn't result remotely in any sort of system instability, and I usually can still print without any issues, but I wasn't able to today. Opening the hpqtra08.exe file in C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin seemed to fix it, though.
(Update 7/31/06)
Perhaps this printer isn't as good as I initially thought. In the intervening months, I've discovered many a little issue. If you use a laptop, and you open and close (hibernate) it with any regularity, the printer will just keep adding more and more memory-draining copies of the same two programs, and on multiple occasions, I've woken up to find that while I closed my laptop the previous night, it hasn't shut off due to a printer spooling program preventing it, regardless of whether or not the printer is even ON. To boot, many of the apparently vital background programs for the printer have a tendency to crash for no apparent reason. Beyond that, there have now been countless times where I've been in a rush to get something printed out (which is why I bought the printer in the first place: convenience in printing quickly from a laptop), and the print queue just hangs and hangs, never doing anything until I restart the print job (if I'm LUCKY). I'd really like to love this printer, but if I were shopping, I'd hold off. It seems like HP needs another couple of years to work the kinks out of their low-priced wi-fi printer models. Their software and drivers may be updated occasionally, but that hasn't solved any of the problems I've had yet. Cartridges are indeed small and pricey!
Oh, and just for reference, I'm using XP Home, ThinkPad T42 laptop, Intel wireless, used the ethernet cable for the intial connection.
I am very pleased with this printer, was so easy to set up, prints really good and hardly makes any noise.
The printer itself is great! Setting it up for a single computer is very simple. Like a lot of people I also wanted to set up a wireless network connection to add this printer.If you understand how to setup and deploy a network you should not have any problems at all. After two days I finally got it.The problems I had was with my routers internal settings and the windows security and printer sharing settings. If you have this printer connected to your desktop and you just want to be able to print from your laptop you can save yourself a lot of headaches by just using the bluetooth option, it works really great.
I also have had some issues with setting this up on a wireless network (using a Linksys router). I have one Windows 2000 and two WinXP home computers. I'd like to suggest to other reviewers that it might be helpful to include your OS and wireless equipment brands and models, especially those who had no problems.
Also, please specify whether you used the "Easy Button", the USB port, the ethernet cable option or the direct USB option to setup your wireless network. Thanks.
Great little printer! Mom is set up with a wireless router connected to the cable modem, and spends her time on the laptop computer in the living room. Since this printer came with an ethernet connection, I plugged it into the router and in no time at all she was up and printing. It is so fast, she prints documents off before she can make it to the office to pick them up! It's very simple and straightforward, so she really enjoys having it to print webpages, pics and emails.
I've had this printer for about 4 months now and it works great. The network setup was easy. I have 4 computers in my home printing to this computer, all are hooked up using a Linksys 54g router.
I would recommend this to anyone wanting a good printer with the feature of wireless printing.
the documentation and installation manual should be abandoned immediately. Also, the supplied ethernet cable did not work. It was a combination of the extra plastic gaurding over the clips on each end of the cable, which thoroughly prevented either end from being plugged into either the printer or the router. Also, I was only able to use the third installation option where you have to set up the printer via the ethernet cable. Nowhere does it inform you of the most important step of the installation process. After the WPA information is transferred to the printer, you actually have to remove the ethernet cable from the printer in order for it to connect to the network. You will receive the Network Status: Not Connected, until it's removed.
Once the printer is installed, it works very well. Very quick black/white and nice color prints. Haven't had any wireless network issues. It feels solid and has excellent build quality. A very big improvement over my previous experience with Epson products.
My home network has a mix of Windows and Linux PCs. Like some of the other reviewers, I agree that the Windows setup instructions are a bit murky, but I had no problems. Also, the HP Solution Center application is fairly unhelpful, if you need help. One demerit for weak documentation and software.
Quality of printing is excellent from Windows, although photos require the purchase of a third printer cartridge. To use it, you have to remove the black cartridge. This cartridge comes with a clip to cover the bottom of the ink well when it's out of the machine.
For Linux, you need to get the driver [...]. Quality and control of output are excellent on Linux, as well.
Lastly, the built-in web server on the printer is helpful for checking on the printer's status via a network. Many devices have these embedded these days, and it's nice to be able to access the printer via a browser.
I bought this printer here at Amazon because their price was excellent. I was replacing an older Epson printer, and realized that for twice the cost of replacing the cartidges, I could buy this printer instead.
I bought it mainly because of its wireless capability right out of the box. I have a home wireless network, using a Linksys Wireless G Broadband router (the ubiquitous WRT54G), which is shared by both a Macintosh and a PC. I set up the printer using my Mac, and by just following the instructions and using the "Easy Setup" button on the router, it was exceptionally easy to get it connected.
We've printed over 100 prints at this point, using both plain paper and photographic paper. The printer has never jammed, and the prints are excellent quality, especially the photos. The wireless connection works every time, and it's very easy to replenish the paper when necessary.
So far, I'm very happy with this printer. I would recommend you take a look!
Finally a printer that when using a home wireless system will work from a laptop. I have waited patiently for the technology to catch up with my need at an affordable price. A little loud, but effective in a wireless situation. It was the answer to my technology prayers
I've had this printer for about a week now, and can't say enought good things about it. The speed and print quality is great, and its very easy to set up. I'm not sure why several other reviewers had so much difficulty setting this up. I'm not very technical and I had this setup, working in wireless, and printing documents in less than 30 minutes. A wireless HP quality printer at this price is hard to beat. I would highly recommend this item. I've had many printers by other manufacturers and HP is still the best.
I ordered this HP 6980 printer late in the day on Monday Dec 18th. I never expected it before Christmas, but it was delivered to my front door by 11AM Friday, Dec 22nd! I found the printer to be relatively easy to add to my wireless network, by following the easy setup. I also thought there was no output tray, but the flip up handle for the paper supply, slides out and the end flips to stop the paper. I admit it is a bit flimsy, but the paper doesn't fall to the floor. I did jam a single sheet of 4x6 photo paper, trying to use the special slot. Once I did a photo print of a wildflower bouquet, I was very impressed with the colors! (didn't use photo ink, just standard color cartridge). I also got the print for $13 less than the currently stated price, and no tax and free shipping to boot! Thanks to Amazon for another great transaction, and to HP for another great printer.
It was with great hesitation that I bought this product, and I have no regrets. It works fine with my MAC and I love the convenience of having it in another room, away in my working space. Setting up the printer proved to be a bit of a challenge. I found the directions quite confusing, although I'm generally good at this kind of task. The manual did not make it clear that I needed to go to a specific page on the web to complete the process. Without technical support's help I'd still be trying to figure it out! Maybe they have updated the manual and there will be no problem for new buyers. Probably unlikely. Definitely call them for help with the setup if you can't get the printer working immediately. Once I phoned them, the tech had me up and running quite quickly.
I recently purchased this for a friend and helped them install it. It was very easy, the instructions seem to be great for even the "technologically challenged". You do have to find the correct set of instructions for you set up, the manual seems to think most people have a Linksys router with the "SecureEasySetup" option. The print quality is very good, we tested multiple papers and a photo. Everything was set up and ready to go within 45 mins. Personally, I'd go with a laser printer because of the low yield of an inkjet cartridge compared to its price. But if you're looking for an inkjet, $149 is a great price considering there is wireless built in. I'd highly recommend this printer.
I just got this printer for work. It was fairly easy to set up. This unit looks heavy duty. However, the print speed and quality isn't as good as my old obsolete HP895Cse.
I started using this printer at work and when it was time to replace my previous printer I looked everywhere to find this one. The print quality is excellent, hook-up was a breeze (using a router to hook-up), and I really like all of the different projects you can make with this printer. The only thing I miss is having a scanner included. (I kept the old printer to use as a scanner only.)
This is a great printer and a great buy, HOWEVER, installation was horrible. The driver file was literally buried in the directory. The good news is that HP has a great online/real-time helpdesk that had me hooked up within an hour. But the days leading up to that hour and my husband's stubborness was rough. All in all, we love it. Just let someone with patience install it with HP's help.
I just set up this printer & it went very well. I've got a Belkin router (no "SecureEasySetup" option) with 1 wired XP, 1 wired Mac, & 2 wireless XP systems. After reading all the reviews, I was pretty nervous about the network setup! I dutifully read all of the documentation to make sure I understood exactly what was required. In the end, I wish I hadn't. Before reading, I had a vague idea of what to do. After reading, I was confused about which option applied to my configuration
We needed a new printer to replace two Epson inkjet printers that had stopped working. After doing some research and on the advice of a relative we chose the 6980 due to the Mac/PC compatibility and the fact that we could hook it up to our network (an ethernet cable even comes with the printer).
I found the installation instructions easy, and had it hooked up to the PC in no time. We then installed the software on the Mac laptop and followed the instructions, and everything worked fine - we can now print from the laptop, no cables required! We haven't done any extensive printing, but so far, we're very happy with the Deskjet 6980.
I also have the HP 5500 all in one printer. I've found them both to be quiet and reliable. The 6980 is really fast as well.
I had this installed on my secured wireless network in about 10 minutes. It was incredibly easy, and print quality is as expected for a home use deskjet. I haven't printed photos or anything yet to check quality - I largely wanted a decent quality, wireless deskjet, that I could print to easily when I brought my laptop home from work.
I really like the print quality and the speed of this printer, but I have one major complaint. No one else has mentioned this so I am wondering if it is just me but this printer shakes the desk like crazy when it is printing. My laptop and printer are on the same surface and while it is printing the entire desk shakes. Thankfully the print speed is fast enough so that it is done printing quickly, but when I am printing multiple copies it is definitely annoying. I didn't add the extra paper tray because I didn't think I'd need it but maybe that would help? I was very surprised by the shaking, but overall it is a good printer. And, don't be scared of the wireless setup, you'll get it.
The setup process was a nightmare. Finally, after hard-coding an IP address into a port, it printed.
Once the printer was up and running, it shook my entire desk including the monitor. One HP chat group support person said to put the printer on the floor. Another support person said to unplug printer from surge protector and try the wall jack.
They should just TELL YOU that the printer is designed to shake. Once it prints, the paper gets thrown to the floor.
No one can explain how to configure a desktop with an Ethernet cable and a wireless laptop. If you delete a printer driver w/ a hard coded IP address, you can't add a printer driver a 2nd time. I went through the registry trying to clean this up, but could not find the info. Finally, I used the other computer IP address.
The laptop still doesn't print unless the desktop machine is on. I think this printer was designed to only work with ALL wireless PC's or non-wireless. I don't think you can have a mix of equipment.
Finally, when you want to delete a print job, it doesn't cancel when you delete it. You have to go through "control panel" - "admin tools" "services" scroll down to "Print spooler" click "stop the service" and then "restart the service."
I am VERY unhappy with this printer and support and plan to return it.
We needed a new printer to replace two Epson inkjet printers that had stopped working. After doing some research and on the advice of a relative we chose the 6980 due to the Mac/PC compatibility and the fact that we could hook it up to our network (an ethernet cable even comes with the printer).
I found the installation instructions easy, and had it hooked up to the PC in no time. We then installed the software on the Mac laptop and followed the instructions, and everything worked fine - we can now print from the laptop, no cables required! We haven't done any extensive printing, but so far, we're very happy with the Deskjet 6980.
The setup process was a nightmare. Finally, after hard-coding an IP address into a port, it printed.
Once the printer was up and running, it shook my entire desk including the monitor. One HP chat group support person said to put the printer on the floor. Another support person said to unplug printer from surge protector and try the wall jack.
They should just TELL YOU that the printer is designed to shake. Once it prints, the paper gets thrown to the floor.
No one can explain how to configure a desktop with an Ethernet cable and a wireless laptop. If you delete a printer driver w/ a hard coded IP address, you can't add a printer driver a 2nd time. I went through the registry trying to clean this up, but could not find the info. Finally, I used the other computer IP address.
The laptop still doesn't print unless the desktop machine is on. I think this printer was designed to only work with ALL wireless PC's or non-wireless. I don't think you can have a mix of equipment.
Finally, when you want to delete a print job, it doesn't cancel when you delete it. You have to go through "control panel" - "admin tools" "services" scroll down to "Print spooler" click "stop the service" and then "restart the service."
I am VERY unhappy with this printer and support and plan to return it.
I purchased this printer earlier this week for an older parent. I installed the software and had it up and running in about 10 minutes. The installation was simple and straightforward, and could not have been easier. The install was on a Mac and not a PC -- in case that is a factor.
My impressions: This machine has a very solid feel to it; it's weight and construction makes it feel like it is built to last. I mention this because I have examined other HP printers priced for less and found many to be very lightweight and made primarily of plastic. HP rates this model as capable of printing 5,000 copies per month ... which should speak to it's durability and build quality. Print speed is remarkably fast. The quality of the printing is excellent too -- HP describes it as laser quality and I would agree. The printing appears sharp, clean, crisp and very professional. It's quiet too.
If you are seeking a printer for your home or home office do consider this model. It's a good, solid, well built printer that should last many years and which produces high quality printing. Indeed it is so good that I plan to buy one for my own use.
Like the title says, this is a decent wireless printer. No bells and whistles, no scanner, no copier, no fax - Just what I wanted. The only problem I have is a modest one; I have to 'reset' the printer often by turning it off and back on after 10 seconds. Sometimes it goes a couple of days before I have to reset it and some days I have to reset it every time I print.
However, I would recommend this printer for anyone who would prefer resetting their printer every so often compared to running printer cords to and from inconvenient spots.
Given the choice (and the price) I would purchase this product again.
I'll give 4 stars for great prints, but having it less than 2 weeks isn't yet enough time to give more.
Like many who've had older printers, I too miss larger ink cartridges, but this machine DOES take larger ones than most other HP's now.
Yesterday it started printing documents beginning at BACK page & ended at the FRONT, no matter how I tried to adjust otherwise. Spent 2 hours ea. with HP techs last night & today; they had me uninstall, then reinstall each time to try figuring it out (at least installing with them went faster than by myself!) They're equally baffled, but will get back to me to help solve it -- or exchange it for another if they can't fix it :)
Overall, though, this machine seems like a good investment. Sure glad I first looked at these Amazon reviews before buying!
(Oh, to someone who said exiting paper just flops on desk, there IS a small pull-out tab on the end of the out-tray; just hard to see & tough to grab & adjust)
This is one of the few printers I've encountered which work perfectly on my mixed Linux-Windows-FreeBSD LAN. I print wirelessly with this printer from Linux, from FreeBSD, from Windows XP Pro, and even from Windows 2000 running as a guest OS on Linux using VMWare and on FreeBSD using qemu.
There is no need to go to a store to purchase a printer any more! This was such an easy process. There was plently of information to help me to decide which printer to chose. Free shipping and delivered to my door step in 2 days! Honestly, what could be easier?
The reason I rated this purchase 4 stars instead of 5, I bought the printer for its wireless feature and I couldn't get this to work. I use a cable, set-up a home network and I can print "wireless" in the sense that I'm not connected to my printer. The quality of the printouts is great.
What more can I say. The printer does what I want it to do. I DO NOT print photos with this printer. It is my general purpose home printer. It is very fast and 'seems' to sip the ink. The printer's internal webpage currently gives me a Total Page Count of 413 and I have 60% Black Ink Level and 50% Color Ink Level with included cartridges.
I installed the printer in my garage to free up my office desk space. (Office space recently shrank due to 95% of room being converted to a play room. Bah. ;-)
The 6980 worked good on my Windows XP PC using a Linksys wireless router with no security. (Yes... I ran it with no security. I played with MAC filter security and the 6980 worked but I don't think that's very good security.)
I recently installed Windows Vista and couldn't believe it when Vista auto-configured the printer's wireless connection. Recently, I enabled WPA2-AES security on my router. So, I connected the 6980 to my Linksys router with a Cat5 cable and accessed its "website" tool via the printer's new LAN IP. No problems. I configured its Wireless Network settings to use WPA2-AES and gave it the Passphrase I setup earlier on my router. After disconnecting the Cat5 cable, I refreshed Vista's Printer control panel and the printer re-appeared. I typed in its wireless IP in Internet Explorer and its internal website popped right up! I was very happy.
NOTE: The IP for the printer is different depending on whether it is connected via Wireless or Cat5 cable. At least it was for me. Check your OS's printer control panel to discover the IP. If anything in this review doesn't happen for you... you may want to read the Network Guide and Setup Guide located here:[...]
(Yes, the printer will make your cheapy pressboard desk wobble/vibrate while it prints. But you didn't buy a wireless printer to put it on your desk!)
PRINTER REVIEWED
HP Deskjet 6980 Color Printer (C8969A#B1H)
I have both Macbooks and PC's on my home network and have had trouble finding a printer/wireless print server combination that would support everything. I bought this printer, it was delivered quickly and exceeded my expectations. The printer configuration was quite simple and I was able to connect it to both a Macbook and a PC on the first attempt. I couldn't tell you the last time that happened. In addition, the print quality and speed is quite good for a home user.
Good job HP!
I got this printer about 5 months ago. We love this printer. The printing quality is good (normal printing + photo printing up to 8x10). Really love the wireless part of the printer. I installed this on 1 desktop machine (a 3-year-old cheap Dell Dimension), 7 laptops (1 HP, 2 Dell's, 1 Acer, 1 Compaq, 1 IBM, 1 Sony). The only failure is on the Sony VAIO (7 year old). All of them are running Window XP. The installation is not the easiest. On a couple of laptops, the installation script actually said that the install failed (ironically, one of them was my daughter's HP laptop). Funny thing is I am still able to print from these two machines. By the way, I had an el cheapo Dlink wireless B/G router. I have recently "upgraded" to another el cheapo Airlink wireless N router. The printer still works. I also read that some of the users are seeing excessive shaking from this printer. I do not notice it (it sits in a rarely used room). Also, the arm of the output "tray" needs to be totally extended or you will end up with bunch of papers on the floor (my dog would have a field day eating my wife's and kids' homework when this happened). The only odd thing I notice is that the printer queue does not resume when the machine is turned off and turned back on. I have to empty the queue and resubmit the jobs - not sure whether this is the printer's fault or the PC's fault.
I purchased this product for it's wireless capability. The tech support was fantastic. She stayed with me until I got the wireless working. It's prints beautiful pictues and quick and from anywhere in my small office. It was everything I hoped it would be. +++
I really wanted a good quality printer that allowed easy wireless printing through my DSL router. This one fits the bill. Simply connect the printer directly to your router with the supplied ethernet cable and follow the instructions. It took about 20 minutes for the software to install but once it did I disconnected the ethernet cable, moved the printer to another room and I am happily printing from anywhere in the house. I haven't printed a ton of photos yet but the few I did print look beautiful. Black and white document prints are quick and look great too. You may be able to find a cheaper printer but if you want easy wireless high quality printing you can't go wrong here.
Very pleased with this printer. Purchased it for mainly my kids' school projects and administrative type work from home. It is working out excellent. My husband was able to set up the wireless feature without too much hassle! The wireless printer sits nicely on the bottom shelf of our end table in the living room, while my wireless laptop is in the kitchen. It is nice not to be restricted with large, bulky machines taking up lots of space! Very pleased with this purchase.
Delivery was quick. Installing was fast. Got it to sink up the first time connecting to LAN and printer sharing. Quality is great, picture is great. Easy to install. Great Product. Not having all the other problems like some of the other owners.
This printer is a great choice for a few reasons. The least reason to buy a printer is appearance, sure, but the stylish blue appearance on the HP 6980 makes it one of the best looking printers out there. Wireless setup is by far the best reason to chose this printer. I was a bit hesitant about how easy it would work, but the documentation in the box by HP (paper manuals) was very helpful. Just take the printer and the router, run an Ethernet cord between them, and run the software on your PC (PC doesn't need to be connected to it). Then it instructs you to remove the ethernet cable and in the end, only the power plug needs to be present. I have one Vista desktop and one Vista laptop currently set to this printer.
Some issues to note. It does in fact shake, as I guess many printers probably shake. I recommend placing this on a different desk/table from which you use for your desktop and/or laptop. It's only a minor inconvenience though. Even with my desktop on the same table, I still feel the shaking somewhat noticeably.
The CD in the package is essentially useless for Vista users. Now in the store, you might see it say "compatible with Vista" and it is, though not as simple as some people I'm sure have been misled to believe. You will need to download the software from the HP site. It's not hard, just a few clicks on the HP site will get you there. Download and then install on EACH PC with which you'd like the printer to work.
One other quick note. The printer allows you to print a report page showing the printer's status on your network and other relevant details as well as an IP address you can enter in the browser that shows details such as ink levels and allows some configuration. HP seems to know printers quite well. Highly recommended!