HP Officejet J4580 All In One Printer

I can't think of how I could be more pleased with my HP Deskjet J4580. When I bought mine (10/7/08), Amazon was offering it at an awesome special price (with one of those "click to see price" links) with Super Saver Shipping... Even on the SSS the printer was delivered only 3 days after I ordered it (10/10/08)! When I clicked to see the price markdown, I was so flabbergasted my first thought was that maybe the low price was because this printer is not "wired" for wireless, and and/or because it didn't come with the USB cable included (a packing lack which quite a few buyers noted not being pleased with). I decided I didn't need a wireless printer anyway, thinking I might have trouble with installation since I know nothing about wireless protocol (I barely know the word protocol). (I did buy a wireless mouse and love it! Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 - Slate ) It appears my instincts were right, at least for me, because I just read some of the reviews for another HP printer, a model number up from mine (J6480 instead of J4580), and it sounds like quite a few people have had trouble getting the drivers to work with wireless protocol. And most of these reviewers were tech savvy ethers beyond me, a person who always thought protocol arrived into reality with my beloved nephew Lonnie, an ex marine who described what protocol means in that branch of the military. They know how to apply that word to its Nth degree. As a clumsy dyslectic, I admire anyone who can shine in any branch of the military. With my J4580, I easily, quickly, and successfully followed the instructions which came in the box, all the while thanking the other reviewers of that model who reminded purchasers to buy a separate USB cable. I bought the Belkin Pro Series USB 2.0 Device Cable (USB A/USB B, 10 Feet) which I'm absolutely pleased with, and was again helped by the reviews posted on Amazon's buying page. Everything on the printer works with a slick ease which has me feeling like a sort of semi-pro myself. This is the first time I've had a simple FAX machine which works either separately from or with my PC. With my previous HP (which I also loved and it still works but I wanted to upgrade for speed, capacity, and general purposes), I had tried repeatedly, unsuccessfully (phone bills to prove it), to use FAX programs within my PC, so this new setup is a joy! Of course wouldn't you know it that I would wait to get this FAX setup about the time I might consider changing to cell phones only, without a land line, which would make this FAX non functional... OH! So that's why the wireless FAX capacity is becoming the thing now! Oh well, by the time I get rid of my land line, if I do, maybe the wireless FAX All-in-One machines will have fixed the driver snarls. And maybe I'll know more about wireless protocol by then... if I'm still alive. For now, I have just what I want, and am thankful for that link on the buying page from the printer I had been looking at to this one I bought. The link said that a newer model was now available. And that newer model (due to the Amazon special price then) was $40 cheaper and several ways better than the older one! Even at the current discounts available on this printer, which (at the time of my review post) weren't as good as the discount I got, I would purchase this printer again. Another similar printer, non-wireless, which I would also consider, is the HP Officejet 6310 All-in-One Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier (Q8061A#ABA) I enjoy shopping on Amazon, cruising for those specials offered regularly. That research takes a bit of time, including reading reviews, but I enjoy that type of browsing, so I'm a satisfied customer every-which-way. A writer without protocol (living in a town with pity), Linda Shelnutt Author of several books on KINDLE and Amazon Shorts

I purchased my J4580 about a month ago for 60.00 plus shipping off of an amazon seller (not directly from amazon). I expected the worst from this printer although I am very happy with this unit. I have it hooked up to 2 Mac's and I haven't had a single problem with it. Everything works as it should and it prints relatively fast (in draft mode only). I purchased this as I needed a printer at the time but I have to say I've been using the scanner almost daily for work and the copier works like it should. My last setup was a inkjet + separate scanner and that took forever to make copies. This unit is relatively fast. Also, I did not install the extra HP software that another reviewer warns on this page warns about. I installed the drivers and the basic software (Which is super easy to use). I would definitely recommend this unit. Remember to purchase the USB cable although I can't complain. Its a 60.00 printer....

I chose this product largely because of its small footprint. Space is at a premium in my house, and I needed a printer that fit on a 12" by 19" surface. Unlike some compact printers, this one has a flat glass (in addition to document feeder), so bulky objects like books can be copied. I am both amazed and disappointed. Amazed that for only $70 I can get a product that prints, copies, scans, and faxes -- and in addition is easy to install and use and fits on my desk. Disappointed because the cost per page is rather high, thanks to the fact that HP seems to have mastered the art of monopoly-pricing of cartridges. Installation was easy. I used the custom-install, and turned off just those options that would allow automatic exchange of data with the HP website, since I'd rather have control of such exchanges myself. There was one hitch -- I kept getting "Printer is offline" messages when I tried to print -- finally figured out the reason was that the installer had not made this my default printer, in spite of its being the only printer on the system. I went into the Windows control panel and made it my default printer, and that fixed it. Curiously, the printer did not come with a user manual. Fortunately, I have not yet needed a manual, as everything works pretty intuitively. And I did find a manual on the HP website in case I ever need it (PDF 182 pages). Biggest annoyance is that the 2-line LCD display is very hard to read. It really could use some built-in illumination. Keeping a flashlight handy to read it would be a good idea. Another annoyance is the delay (about 15 seconds) from the time you give the print command to the time it starts printing. I do mostly black-and-white printing and copying. I did try scanning a photo and sending a fax -- both worked fine. The big downside of this printer is cost per page. The extra-large black cartridge costs $30 and prints 700 pages according to HP (a claim which users dispute -- see the Amazon reviews of the HP 901XL cartridge). Even assuming this is correct, and assuming that the printer dies (as my last HP printer did) only after you've been through 4 cartridges, this comes to a per-page cost of almost 7 cents. By comparison, Consumer Reports estimates a black-and-white per-page cost of 2.1 cents for the $200 HP OfficeJet Pro 8500. To save on cartridges and paper, I suggest using the following print options: (1) print in gray-scale (no color), (2) use Fast Draft mode (allegedly uses half the ink of Normal mode), and (3) select Duplex mode (prints odd pages first, then prompts you to manually reverse them before printing even pages). One very nice feature is that after setting these options, you can define a short-cut, that will make these options available thereafter with only a couple of clicks. Also available is an option to print multiple pages (2,4, 6, 9 or 16) on a single sheet of paper. Also, for printing web pages HP has a free download "Smart Web Printing" that lets you cut and paste portions of web pages for printing (currently available for Internet Explorer but not Firefox). A big dilemma, which I experienced with my last HP printer, occurs when you have persistent problems of being unable to print because the "Check cartridge" light comes on. After trying the recommended remedies without success and suspecting the printer is bad, you have to decide whether to blow $20 on a new cartridge just to make sure -- or go out and buy a new printer. (In my case I got a new printer.) HP could do a big service to users if they made it easier to diagnose cases like this. **** UPDATE 12/16/09 **** I had a bad experience with the document feeder. In the middle of copying a 3-page document, the feeder came to a stop with the 2nd page halfway through it. There was no error indication in the LCD display -- even after turning the power off and on. I finally had to manually tug the paper through the feeder to get it out -- which took me about five minutes. Fortunately, the page was intact -- there did not appear to be any physical jam. I don't use the feeder much, so I don't know how often this might occur. As a result of this, I changed my rating from 4-stars to 3-stars, which may be too generous. **** UPDATE 5/24/10 **** I encountered another annoying quirk of the software. I was using Manual Duplex mode, in which the printer first prints the odd pages, then prompts you to reinsert the pages and then hit Continue to print the even pages. Only this time the prompt message did not appear. The print job seemed to be hung. There was no way I could kill the job without responding the the prompt, but the prompt window was nowhere to be found. What I finally discovered was that my Windows XP computer had another user logged on, and when I switched users to work as the other user, there was the prompt window! The window had popped up in the wrong user's space. I then hit Continue and the job finished. What was most distressing about this was that there seemed to be no way to kill the job if I wanted to. Even powering off the printer did no good. Thinking there might be a software update to fix this problem, I went to the HP website to look for a software update. Here I hit another impasse. I was hoping they might have some feature like Windows Update that tells you exactly what updates you need. Instead all I was able to find was a fairly long list of programs which I could choose to download, but no indication of which one I really needed. So I gave up on trying to update.

I have had this printer for at least 3 years, and it is the workhorse in my home office. Reviews by previous owners helped my make my decision about the Officejet 4580 and I have not been disappointed. To save ink, I have set the printer to print in fast draft. The black and white documents look quite good; however, a document with color is a bit faded. This not a real problem since I can reset the printer in the properties menu to print in fast normal and the color becomes acceptable. Even though this in not a photoprinter, I really can not tell the difference between photos printed on my former photoprinter and this one. I love the scanner program, HP Solutions. It gives me a wide range of possibilites for scanning documents and pictures or both. The one part of this printer that I was really looking for was all control buttons on the front where I can see and access them when I am sitting down. This printer has every button right where it needs to be. In the three years I have owned this printer there has only been one problem that with several days of tinkering, looking up manuals and help information, I finally was able to solve on my own. A 1 inch piece of static brush had broken loose from somewhere near the cartridge carriage. It became stuck in the carriage and was bleeding the black cartridge and depositing yucky splotches of ink all over my documents. Once I removed that pesky piece of brush and cleaned the carriage and tray, all went back to normal. I was even able to use the black cartridge that the brush was bleeding for several more pages until it was bone dry. In this process of discovery and "repair" I found myself wishing that the top of the printer would open wider so I could easily clean the carriage and tray. It is hard to hold a flashlight and try to use cotton swabs dipped in distilled water to access a dark space through a three inch wide opening.

I am not happy with this machine. To start with, the setup instructions are vague (which is fairly common anymore), now lets move on to the functions. Copying - plain old 1 to 1 copy, no problem, but the onscreen copying menu is not clear at all. Copy quality is normal. Scanning - here's what makes me want to toss it through the window. Whenever I try to scan, I get an error message telling me to go through all these steps before calling cust. service, one of which is to uninstall and re-install the software and then clean up my desktop (insert blonde joke here). After about an hour and a half - I can make one scan (sometimes - doesn't always work) It would be faster and less frustrating for me to get in my car and drive to my office and do the job there. So, even if I am able to make a single scan, if I try to do it again, before using my computer for anything else, I get the same error message and the same circus all over. I have not tried the fax because the only time I fax is when I have a hard copy of something that needs to be sent and that would require scanning. Not gonna happen! Printing - prints okay, except I get an annoying solution center page that pops up on my screen every time.