The Prince of Multifunction Printer Devices Take Two

Author's Rating:

Pros: NETWORKABLE!! Full unit functionality over the wired network environment; shared scanning, printing and copying.

Cons: Software is still a little burdensome.

The Bottom Line: 
If your home office needs a scanner, copier, (photo) printer and fax, the HP Officejet L7860 should be given serious consideration.

Author's Review
The effort to accessorize the modern home office with the latest, or even near-latest, technology can be an expensive and daunting one. Technology seems to move at a lightening pace, and waits for no man to keep pace with the innovations that appear almost monthly. Now admittedly I did not need a new multi-function printer for my home office, but I in the interest of “research” I decided to jettison my old HP Officejet 7310 and pick up a new Officejet L7680.

Hewlett Packard with its Officejet line of All-n-One (AIO) units has long established itself as the leader in multifunctional printing devices. The HP Officejet L7680—and its higher priced sibling, the Officejet L7880 are the latest in a line of multifunction devices that can share their functionality over a wired and or wireless connection. I recently purchased an Officejet L7680 for use in my home office to replace an aging Officejet 7310, whose warranty has long since expired.

The Product

The Officejet L7680 AIO is a multifunction printing device (compatible with PC as well as Macintosh) that allows you to print, scan, copy, and fax all from one unit. The Officejet L7680 has the added capability of printing photos directly from the unit and will accept input from all manner of removable and or portable memory devices including SD Media, Multimedia Card (MMC), Compact Flash (I, II), Memory Sticks, Smart Media, xD-Picture Card, and USB port for connecting directly to a digital camera. All of these connections are situated on the front of the unit, wherein there is also a USB connection.

Make no mistake this is a big unit, indeed the OJ L7680 AIO is larger than the OJ 7310 it replaces but not by much. Despite the units size I am able to easily lift it with little effort. Anyone familiar with the earlier HP AIO’s will be right at home with the front panel controls, and I especially like the bright 2.5” color display. Those not familiar with Officejet functionality should have little trouble becoming acquainted with the unit.

One notable difference here, unlike its big brother, the OJ L7780, the OJ L7680 AIO does not ship with an extra 250 sheet paper tray; nor does the OJ L7680 AIO offer wireless networking. The lack of these features was not an issue to me, since I do not need large capacity printing, and I can live without wireless networking since the printer is attached to a Linksys WRTAP-54G Wireless-G router/access point/hub.

Wired networking is built into the OJ L7680 AIO; the machine has built-in 10/100 Ethernet port. Once set up, computers speak directly to the printer abrogating the need for a dedicated print server, or sharing via Windows. Note: the OJ L7680 AIO can also be connected directly to a PC via a USB cable (not included), in which case its printer functionality can be shared via Windows.

The OJ L7680 AIO also features an automatic document feeder, copy collating, two-sided print, fax, copy and scan; copy, scan, and print up to legal size; and 150-sheet total input paper capacity. The OJ L7680 AIO offers print and copy speeds up to 35 pages per minute (ppm) black, and up to 34 ppm color, with up to 4,800-optimized dpi color and laser-quality text. Finally, the OJ L7680 AIO can fax in black and color and scan with resolutions of up to 2,400 x 4,800-dpi (48-bit) optical.

Un-Packing

As I stated above, the OJ L7680 AIO is a large unit, and as such it ships in many different parts and had to be put together before use. It took me a little over 30 minutes to completely assemble the printer, including the duplexer unit, automatic document feeder, face plate, paper tray, and removal of all of the tape. Final assembly consists of the installation of the two print heads (one for black ink and the other for color ink), and the insertion of print cartridges (one each for black, yellow, magenta, and cyan). There are of course courtesy cartridges with limited ink; new No. 88 cartridges will cost $14.99 each for the color kits, and $19.99 for black, each rated at some 620 pages. Extra Large (XL) cartridges are available as well.
In the box:
o HP Officejet L7680 All-in-One Unit
o HP 88 Black Inkjet Print Cartridge (21 ml);
o HP 88 Tri-color Inkjet Print Cartridges (14 ml);
o HP Auto Two-sided Printing Accessory (Duplexer Unit);
o HP Image Zone Photo and Imaging Software on CD-ROM;
o User’s Guide;
o Network Guide;
o Setup Booklet;
o Power supply & Power cord;
o Phone cord;
o Ethernet cable

Network Setup

Before connecting the OJ L7680 AIOto a computer (USB), or network (Ethernet), the decision must be made to utilize one or the other communications medium, but not both. I installed the OJ L7680 AIOon a network utilizing the standard 10/100 Ethernet port provided in the back of the unit. I connected the unit to a standard 10/100 Ethernet port tied to my home network via a Linksys WRTAP-54G Wireless-G router/access point/switch.

As I mentioned above, unlike other network-bound printers, the OJ L7680 AIO does not have to be setup on a printer server in order for client computers to print to it, or utilize it capabilities (more on this later). It does however have to be assigned an IP address, along with a Subnet Mask, and Default Gateway. Once I assigned these parameters to the Ethernet card via the front panel controls, I was able to ping (find it on the network) the printer and move to the next step, the software installation. During the software installation process (discussed in more detail below), the printer is sought and found on the network and a one-to-many relationship set up between the Officejet 7310 and attached workstations.

Software Installation

Be prepared, this installation will take a while to accomplish (up to 35 minutes on older machines) and could take up to 733MB of hard drive real estate. And while it involves very little end user interface, the installation plows through several steps before it accomplishes its goal of tying the client workstation(s) directly to the OJ L7680 AIO.

Note: it is recommended that you actually start the software installation process while you are assembling the printer. Once the print heads and cartridges are installed a rather lengthy (30 minutes) setup process takes place inside the printer. It is during this phase that the software installation should be started.

Once the software installation is complete, three devices will be placed in the Printers and Faxes: HP OJ L7680 AIOSeries (used to print), and OJ L7680 AIO Series Fax (used to send and receive faxes). The HP Director will also be placed in the Windows 9.x/Windows XP system tray as well as on the desktop. HP Director offers you the following functionality:

o Scan Picture
o Scan document
o Send A Fax
o Make Copies
o Hp Image Zone
o Document Viewer
o Transfer Images

With the software is installed the workstation (via the network) will be able to print, scan, fax, and copy from the OJ L7680 AIO. Once the software is installed on a particular workstation, the OJ L7680 AIObecomes aware of it and places it’s (the workstation) name on a list accessible via the front panel of the printer. This can be utilized when you want to scan or copy material and send it to your computer, or another computer on the network. Gone is the need to set up the printer on a print server, assign it a port, and install drivers; the OJ L7680 AIO and workstations now speak directly to one another as if there were connected via USB cable.

Printing

Pretty straight forward; the software installation process installed a full set of print drivers on each workstation, which in turn give you complete control over the printing process, including two-sided printing. As mentioned above, printing to the OJ L7680 AIO is accomplished via the HP Officejet L7680 Series print device in Printer and Fax.

Scanning

Initialing the scanning process always has to start at the OJ L7680 AIO control panel. Once an item is placed either on the automatic document feeder (maximum 50 sheets), or directly on the scanner glass surface, you can push the Scan To button on the front panel, at which time you choose Computers from the list of choices, and then select the name of the computer you wish to send the scan to. You can further denote which applications you want to scan into.

Note: during the install process, a list of applications will be transferred from your workstation to the OJ L7680 AIO for this purpose. After choosing an application you push either the black or color scan button to begin the process. At this point a dialog box will appear on your computer screen relaying the progress of the scan. When the scan is complete, the application you choose will initialize and the scan dropped into it. It’s that simple!

Alternatively, you can choose to scan into a file, and after the scanning process is complete the HP Director will allow you to save the scan is one of several different formats, including .DOC, .PDF, .TIFF, .JPG, and .BMP.

Copy Process

This process, like printing is pretty straight forward; both color and black & white copies can be made, up to 99 at a time. Because there is a duplexer installed two-sided copies can be made in a number of different configurations, including 1-side original/ 1-side copy; 1-side original/ 2-side copy; 2-side original/ 1-side copy; 2-side original/ 2-side copy. Copies can also be enlarged up to 144%, or reduced down to 25% of original.

Faxing

Faxing from the OJ L7680 AIO can be accomplished one of three ways; at the OJ L7680 AIO; remotely via HP Director; or through an application on your workstation utilizing the HP Officejet L7680 Series Fax device installed in Printers & Faxes. The last two methods provide the most control over the look and feel of the fax, including the ability to draw addresses fro a shared address book. The OJ L7680 AIO is capable of sending and receiving both color and black & white faxes at a speed of 33.6Kbs, and speed-dial preset are avail via the front panel of the printer.

One new feature the OJ L7680 AIO brings to the table is the ability to block incoming faxes. This can be set up via the front panel of the software.

Working with Photos

As stated above, the OJ L7680 AIO will accept input from a number of commercially available portable memory storage devices, slots for which are located on the right hand side of the printer. Simply insert the memory card and the photos it contains are displayed on the small 2.4” 256 color display in the middle of the OJ L7680 AIO’s control panel.

Using the square control button that sits to the right of the display, pictures can be scrolled through and then printed on borderless or regular paper. Pictures can also be shared between users as long as the HP Instant Sharing utility is set up.

Conclusion

One quibble: the memory card slots panel is black like the rest of the printer; this makes the writing very, very hard to read. The silver background of the OJ 7310 AIO makes the card slot much easier to reader. I think this falls in to the “what were they thinking” category.

The OJ L7680 AIO represents a further advancement in the All-n-One functionality arena; finally we (the clamoring, demanding public) have hassle-free scanning and fax sharing across the network at a very reasonable price-point.

Built-in wired Ethernet capability make the OJ L7680 AIO a versatile, flexible unit that is ideal for a small workgroup setting; I wouldn’t install the unit on a floor with more then ten users, the user listing might grow too large and confused to manage. If you or your small workgroup need a scanner, copier, printer and fax, the OJ L7680 AIO should be given serious consideration.