PhotoSmart C6180

HP's PhotoSmart multifunction devices may have photo printing in mind, but the C6180 has one foot firmly placed in the office, too. Some of the more business-friendly features include the 33.6Kbps (kilobits per second) fax modem, full networking facilities for wired and wireless networks.

The HP has an automatic document feeder built into the top which supports 50 sheets allowing for versatile page handling. This is integral to the C6180's clean design and is complimented with separate paper trays for regular paper and photo paper. The dedicated photo tray is capable of holding up to 20 sheets of photo paper. While this is a nice touch, it means that the facilities are a little cramped.

Other photo features include nicely integrated and extensive memory card readers and a PictBridge port. The HP's onboard system is very easy to use, although we were rather irked by the printer's regular internal checkups. As a result, the C6180 can be when not in use and could often be heard churning away to itself - particularly in the few minutes following a print job.

As a general printer, the HP works well. It showed itself to be easily one of the fastest multi-function devices we've seen yet, producing mono and colour at rates of 15ppm and 11.5ppm (pages per minute) respectively. Even the HP's lowest quality mode still produces very attractive prints in both mono and colour. We quite liked the quality of the colour photographs in normal mode - hitting a very respectable 2.8ppm - while clean and dark text output was available at the rate of 6.3ppm. In addition to its printing capabilities, the HP also has some very decent scanning facilities.

Exclusive business users might find a laser printer more to their liking but, for a home office with a need to mix faxing and decent text output with a desire for eye-catching photographs; the C6180 is a decent option.