HP Photosmart C4180 All in One Printer, Scanner, and Copier

I just purchased and set up this printer several hours ago. Being on a Mac (OS 10.4.7), I found set up occurred easily and quickly. First, I followed the 14-step "Start Here" poster. Once the software was loaded, it transferred from CD and ran through its installation application quickly (about 10 minutes).

In my set-up, the C4180 is connected by USB cable to a G5 iMac. I also have a G4 PowerBook and both machines are connected by wireless network. Copying, scanning and printing from the iMac was successful. But to print over the wireless network required that I activate Printer Sharing from the Internet & Network > Sharing preferences (accessed from the System Preferences). Once this was done on the iMac, the C4180 showed up as a printer on the remote PowerBook.

One hitch occurred during scanning. I placed a map on the glass and used HP's Photosmart Studio to control the scan settings. I set the scan to 200 dpi and enlarged the preview frame to scan the whole image. After clicking OK a warning came up that I didn't have enough memory to complete the task (I had 1.5 GB of RAM and no other software running). So I brought up Photoshop and controlled the scan from there. No problems (and the scan completed at 200 dpi). I'll have to return to Photosmart Studio and dig into how it works.

For ease of set-up and immediate gratification, this printer fulfills my needs and meets my expectations perfectly.

I agree the printer looks nice... nice size... easy installation... no problem scanning... until... I had to scan a newspaper article for a client. At 200... I could not read the type... at 300... still could not read the type... at 600 still could not read the type. Finally, I switched to my husband's Epson and got great quality on the first scan. So.. I am now on my way to return the printer/scanner and order an Epson instead.

Just bought mine yesterday, set up was quick, easy, no glitches no problems, it was so obvious what to do with it, read on instructions later.
HP has done a great job with this printer at a very reasonable price, my first attempts at printing photos were just great,very happy with this printer, I think at any price its hards to beat.
Tried scanning and then scanning and printing, all very successful.
Only negative I have is that HP does not give you full ink tanks with their printers, its a bit more than a sample, but, ok, the printer is so good, I accept it.
Their method of using another cartridge for printing 4 x 6 prints fits neatly on the side and is unseen,yet, works so well when pluged into the printer.
A top printer at a great price.

I got this printer as a gift from my employer. Functionally, it's a very nice printer, scanner and copier and I was very happy with it unitl I ran out of ink. The HP 98 b/w cartridge it uses has a capacity of only 11 ml (HP 56 is 19 ml). It does not take too many pages of printing to use it up. Office Depot does not make any remanufactured ink cartridge for it and you have to pay full price for the HP original.

It may be an inexpensive printer to buy but it is an expensive one to keep.

Extremely easy to install the software. CDs are included to install on both a PC and Mac. We love having a scanner and copier as well as a printer. Very satisfied with all functions. Have not tried the photo printer yet but expect great results. Our daughter has a matching unit and is very satisfied as well.

I find this printer to be extremely noisy and the print cartridges keep getting jammed.

I just bought this printer and came home to install it. I followed the directions step by step. everything started smoothly, and the alignment sheet printed fine. As I began the software installation, I heard a pop. The printer had no lights of any kind. I tried the on button, checked the cables, and even replaced the surge supressor, but the unit would not power up. I went online, read some of the reviews, and found tons of people with the same problem. In the mean time the software had frozen my computer. I promptly returned the printer and purchased the cannon mp600. Hp's used to be so good what happened.

P.S. For all the people who complain about printers. No printers come with usb cables, inkjets go through ink quick, you have to read the directions before you do stuff like connect the usb cable. This is standard operating procedure.

I really like this printer. It has a great scanner, has a handy photo tray, to print perfect photos and cd tatoos.

Also, it was very very easy to use it on a wireless network, with my 3 macs! :D

really happy customer. great quality-price.

I've had this AIO for about a year and it worked fantastic with everything up to and including Windows XP.
Never encountered any of the bugs I've heard reported.
Phenominal quality and speed.

I recently installed Windows Vista Home Premium
and NONE of it's software worked(compatiblity issue).
I now have to scan through MS Paint.
HP has no immediate fix for this problem other
than a generic driver download.
I highly reccommend it for many,but not if
you're going to run any version of Windows Vista.

I looked for a while for something affordable but good. I picked this one based on reviews. I like this printer. It is fast and does a good job. The only thing I don't like is that it it sounds like a cheap printer as it makes noise when it prints (like the plastic shakes), but otherwise for the money, it is excellent. It was easy to set up also.

we are very happy with it, it's quiet and easy to use. The display is a bonus for us since we like to print pictures straight from our camera card. I would purchase another and highly recommend it.

I love it! Price was just right and the ink cartridge price is also reasonable.

This printer is really a great little machine. It prints excellent pictures and even has an insert for the 4x6 photo paper. One plus is the 90 series ink cartridges. For those of you that have complained about buying the hp name brand for your ink cartidges instead of remanufactured keep the following in mind. The 98 cartridge that this machine uses is what HP calls Vivera ink. It is a durable, longer lasting ink, not the generic stuff that they put in the remanufactured cartridges. HP even promises that if you use the 98 and 99 cartridges with the HP Premium Plus paper, your photos will last 105+ years. Check out the machine and hopefully HP will get the needed updates for Windows Vista soon instead of just the generic drivers.

I call poor man printer reason...because with this kind low price and very good quality who could you ask for?

I really like this printer. Works great. The print comes out very clear. The only thing i don't like about this product is the paper tray, it seems small and a little flimsy. But for compactness, I see why they did it that way. Overall a good product I feel I got my moneys worth.

Gave it to my granddaughter during her senior year in high school. She absolutely loves it. That gets it 5 stars from me. :)

Have been looking for deals on all-in-one printer and after browsing/comparing in a a local shop figured that this printer is the smallest and sleekest (ipod white look/feel) in its category; wonder why no one highlights that in reviews or comparisons with other new printers. Size is important since all other printers hog a lot of desk space that people forget when purchasing printers. Preliminary results of copy and scan were pretty good. The LCD menu is very easy to navigate and so are the big functional keys. Even though the product is not the latest...Overall impressed.

I purchased a C4180 after my previous printer suddenly ceased all functioning - the day before a large research paper was due! I was impressed immediately by how easy setup for this printer was, as well as with all the options it provides controls for directly on the printer. The speed of printing was lightning-fast, and I was thrilled.
Unfortunately, I did run into problems - my photos printed in strange shades of purple (even when I set the print settings to black and white and to print in grayscale only!), the unit started to issue "paper jam" messages every time it was turned on, and shortly after it stopped printing altogether - the print cartridges were strangely stuck on one side of the printer, and no longer returned to their "home" position. I contacted HP's Customer Service via e-mail, described the problems in detail, and recieved suggestions promptly on how to possibly solve it. A few days after that, I recieved a follow-up e-mail, inquiring as to whether the strategies had worked. Although the suggestions unfortunately had not, because of the warranty HP provides on all of their products, they shipped me a different printer (same model) within about 5 days. This printer arrived with a prepaid shipping label so that I would not have to incur charges in mailing my own printer back to them as a return. I have been very satisfied with that C4180, and friends and family members are amazed at the quality with which photos print. Although yes, I did have some problems with my original C4180, I am giving this product five stars for the affordability, quality, and excellent customer service HP provides for their customers.