Pros: Color Display Screen is a cool feature.
Cons: Sometimes it doesn't respond.
The bottom line: Print, copy and fax in style. The HP PhotoSmart All-In-One Printer is not just a printer, it's an office necessity.
In the summer of 1998, I worked as a camp counselor at St. Matthews in Brooklyn, with kids ages 4 through 7 years of age. It was great experience and one that built my desire to work with children in my future.

During one of my lunch breaks, I walked over to Staples, which was not too far from it. The first thing that caught my attention was a coupon in their circular that was for $10 off of a purchase of $10 or more. Since then, Staples has become one of my favorite stores. I love office supplies and that has been my quest since then. To build a good office where I can make fliers, newsletters, business cards and all of my graphic design needs. I have gone through about 3 printers.

My first one was a Compaq IJ900. It was a great printer and had the ability to copy photos as well. The quality of the pictures that it printed was okay, but to scan something, I had to use a seperate scanner to do it. It started to take up too much space and that was when I decided to change everything in my office.

I started out with a Dell Intel Processor which came with a free Dell Printer and a Fuji digital camera. The Dell printer was a great tool for my graphic design needs. It printed about 20 color pages per minute, printed out quality photos and copied and scanned beautiful images. I started getting a little frustrated with the Dell printer because it could only be used when the computer was on, it printed out crooked and because the only place to get Dell ink from was through Dell. Being that I print a lot, it became really hard to keep up with my ink needs.

My problem was solved when my very handsome & strong boyfriend, gave me the HP PhotoSmart 2575 All-In-One Printer. I was not only shocked, but I was so happy to have gotten a printer that within 10 minutes of having it, it was set up and ready to print. It had a cool, neat look. The bass colors are silver and gray. It could print 30 pages per minute in black and 24 pages per minute in color. The HP All-In one printer is not just a printer. It is a printer, scanner and color copier which you can use on or off-line, with or without the computer on and has bluetooth capabilities for home office and networking. From the first usage, I knew that this was a high-tech module that might actually better my office experience.

It has a lid that covers a glass where documents are placed to scan and/or copy. You can scan or copy a photo onto the printer and the image shows up into the color graphic display. The color graphic display is cool because not only does it show the image or document which is copied or scanned, it gives you the ability to edit the image, change the dimensions and print the pictures in different sizes, and you can send the image from the printer without even having the computer on.

The printer has 4 slots:

1. X-D Picture Card
(I thought that was really good because the memory card that came with the free Fuji digital camera that I got with the computer uses XD.

2. MS - For memory sticks, magic gate memory stick, memory stick duo, (with user-supplied adapter) and memory stick pro.

3. CF - For compact flash

4. SD - For secure digital, multi-media card (MMC), Secure Multi-media card. SD was helpful to me because the Samsung T809 uses a transflash adapter and I can transfer pictures, videos or voice data onto it and download it from the port onto my computer.

The HP All-In-One supports the PictBridge mode that gives you the ability to connect a camera or storage device located next to the memory card slots. It's a basic USB slot.

Next to the memory slots and USB connector is the paper feed. I like the paper feed because I can add a regular 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper in it or change the size down to a 4 X 6 photo card. This is a great added feature because with graphic production, printing sizes vary with the job. You might use a piece of card stock paper that is 8.5 X 11 one minute and then have to change the paper size to print out wallet sized pictures or envelopes and this printer really helps with that. It also has a paper rest for larger sheets.

I really appreciate the control panel. Underneath the photo display screen is the on button, and 4 sets of arrows that surround an okay button. These are the main buttons to operate the All-In-One. Underneath these buttons which are silver keys on a black background, are the function keys. On the left is the setup key and on the right is the cancel key. Beneath these buttons is the HP Instant Share.

You can share your images and documents instantly without even having to access the computer, sent via e-mail or bluetooth. To use the bluetooth capabilities however, an added bluetooth adapter is required. You have the ability to zoom in and out of pictures and/or rotate them from your camera, memory stick or copied images displayed on the color display screen. Beneath that is the photo menu button.

Photo Menu

1. Easy Print Wizard: Here you decide what you are printing. 1 per page borderless, 1 per page with border, 2 sets per page, 3 per page and so forth.

2. Print Options:
- # of copies
- Layout/ image size
- Paper size
- Paper type
- Smart focus
- Adaptive lighting
- Date stamp -Video Enhancements
- Or Set new defaults

3. Special Features is where you can produce panorama shots, passport photos, or video action prints

4. Edit is where you can adjust the photo brightness, change the color effect, add a frame, remove red-eye, or flip horizontally. And remember, this is without even turning the computer on.

5. Transfer to Computer: Transfer the images from the memory card or camera onto your computer. This a good feature but if you open up My Computer on your computer, the card in the memory slot will appear as another drive on your computer, so it is not really necessary to transfer to the computer, because it is already there.

6. HP Instant Share

7. Slide Show: See a slideshow on the color display screen from the images on your memory card or camera.

8. Set as wallpaper: Sets any image you choose as the wallpaper on the color display screen until you turn the printer off.

The next button on the All-In-One is Proof Sheet where you can print photo proofs of up to the last 20 displayed images. Directly next to it is the Print Photos option.

Underneath that is the Scanner functions which give you the option to scan your photos to HP Image Zone, HP Document Viewer, E-mail, or onto the memory stick. Beneath that is the copy functions.

Copy Menu

1. # of Copies: Here you choose the number of copies you need to be made

2. Copy Preview: The All-In-One scans the image which you are copying and displays what you are about to copy on the color display screen. A great feature because it is important to know exactly what you are going to be using your expensive ink for. Helps to prevent copying the wrong thing.

3. Reduce/Enlarge

- Actual Size

- Fit to Page

- Fill Entire Page

- Set Custom size up to 100%

- Image Sizes
- 4 X 6 Inches
- 5 X 7 Inches
- 8 X 10 Inches
- 2 1/2 X 3 1/4 Inches
- 3 X 4 Inches
- 3 1/2 X 5 Inches

4. Crop: Take the image and while looking at it in the display screen, crop it down to what you need.

5. Paper Size

- Automatic

- Letter

- Letter Borderless

- 4 X 6 Inches

- 4 X 6 Borderless

- 5 X 7 Inches

- 5 X 7 Borderless

- 8 X 10 Inches

- 8 X 10 Borderless

- A4

- A4 Borderless

6. Paper Types: You can choose the type of paper you will be using to copy the image or document on to whether it be plain paper, glossy photo paper, brochure matte, or transparent paper.

7. Copy Quality: Copy your image fast, normal or with the best resolutions.

8. Lighter/Darker

9. Enhancements: Add text, photos or mixed enhancements to your copy.

10. Set New Defaults

The buttons directly next to the copy menu are the start copy buttons: one for black and one for color. This is also a good topic to discuss. It is easy to buy ink for this printer. At Staples, you have the ability to turn in old printer cartridges when done which they use to recycle and give you $3 towards your next ink purchase. This printer takes 2 different cartridges. I use 3.

98 HP Black Printer Cartridge prints nicely for written documents, letters and envelopes. The black cartridge ranges from about $25. and up depending on where you go. 95 Tricolor Printer Cartridge good for printing color copies. You can print documents that have color words, bright images and cartooned color stuff. The prints and copies do come out quite nicely with using the tri-color ink. For printing professional quality photos, I use 99 HP Photo Printer Cartridge. To use this cartridge, you simply put it into the black printer slot and print. The photo ink is about $30 dollars.

The printer came with a computer software called HP Image Zone. A great editing tool for graphic design. You can edit images, share images or work on projects like brochures, calendars and more. The printer also has the ability to be used for networking so instead of having to use 2 different printers in one household, you can use 1. The only problem I noticed it has is that sometimes it does not respond to the print jobs. I set an image to print and nothing happens. That though is a very rare occurrence.

I like this printer mostly because of the display screen. It is cool to be able to look at your images on the screen of a printer. I like the ease of using this printer and I like that I can get ink without having to access the Internet to get it. A great tool for printing graphic designs and a great tool for home offices. I would definitely recommend The HP PhotoSmart 2575 All-In-One because it is worth the printing experience.