- Up to 4,800 x 1,200 optimized dpi; HP PhotoREt Pro, 8-ink color
- Up to 21 ppm black, 16 ppm color in fast draft mode
- Directly accepts CompactFlash, SmartMedia, Secure Digital, Multi Media, Memory Stick, xD-Picture
- Large LCD to preview, edit, even remove red-eye
- 2 USB ports, PC and Mac compatible; 1-year warranty
Product Description
The HP Photosmart 7960 photo printer is HP’s best photo quality printer with 8-ink color or up to 4800-optimized dpi – for stunning color and black & white prints. The 2.5-inch color LCD preview screen makes editing, enhancing, previewing and printing photos a snap. You can even correct color with features like red-eye reduction! And you don’t even need a PC – direct photo printing is simple using digital camera memory cards slots and the color LCD or the HP Photo P… More >>
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I couldn’t decide between the HP Photosmart 7760 and 7960 so I bought them both, and I printed the exact same pictures from both pictures to compare quality. I found that I liked the coloring of the 7760 in most of the color pictures. The 7960 tended to have reddish looking pictures. For example, a person’s face would look redder in the 7960 pictures. But the 7960 did have more detail in landscape type pictures. Hands down, the 7960 did the best job printing black and white (used the 59 Black and White cartridge in both printers). For me, I only print black and white photos about 10% of the time.
I did like the slightly bigger LCD screen of the 7960, but found the menus and options exactly the same as the 7760. The 7960 is longer(20.9″) than the 7760, and it did not fit on my desk.
The 7960 comes with 4 ink cartridges – 56 (black for documents), 57 (tri-color), 58(photo ink), and 59(black for black and white photos). While the 7760 comes with 2 ink cartridges – 57 and 58. Buying the 56 and 59 is about an additional $40, which could be a consideration when buying the 7760.
In the end, I kept the 7760. I just could not justify the additional $100 for the 7960.
Rating: 4 / 5
I purchased my printer in Jan. and have just used my first ink cartridges. Please keep in mind I do not care about speed or space. I simply wanted a printer that prints quality prints. I generally print 8×10 and 4×6 prints. Here are the pros and cons:
PROS:
* I can not tell the difference between my professionally printed pictures and copies from my printer. No one can believe that they came from a home printer.
*Beautiful black and white prints. (I love black and white so having the photo gray was the decision maker for my purchase)
*Easy to use printer and easy to install software. Effortless to change and replace the ink cartridges.
*Coloring is excellent.
*I generally use with Camedia and Photoshop however it is nice to be able to print right from the printer when you are in a hurry.
*Prints regular documents quickly.
*I like being able to choose what quality ink output I want. If I am experimenting in Photoshop I like printing at a lower quality so I do not waste ink. For good prints I use the high end mode.
*This printer has never jammed therefore I do not waste costly paper. (I buy the HP premium matte)
CONS:
*Price. Expensive printer, ink and paper. (But worth it)
*I notice on some of my prints there are roller marks. (Faint lines that go through the pictures.) They only appear randomly and a lot of the time I have to look for them. When the ink is low I notice them more. I was aware of this problem prior to my purchase and still made the purchase.
*The ink takes a little bit to become completely dry and sometimes I smudge it.
Overall, Great purchase. I only buy HP printers and can not compare to other brands. I have always had good luck with them, why change?
Rating: 4 / 5
I’m very impressed by the straight forward design and navigation of the HP PhotoSmart 7960. Very easy to use and figure out, even if you’re a technophobe like myself. Out of the box it was easy to set up with the step-by-step poster that they provided. Right away I was printing vacation photos straight from my compact flash (with the printer’s default settings, without being hooked up to a computer) and I got really good printouts.
Pros: The LCD display is bigger than most digital cameras and is very clear, navagation is straight forward and easy to figure out, the color range is good (considering there’s “8 colors”), very easy to use.
Cons: It comes with color cartridges that combine colors (CMY, Light-CMY, Grey or Black) so if you run out of one color you have to replace the whole thing. On glossy photo paper the overall color tends to be a bit darker. And at the moment it’s a bit pricy compared with it’s competition.
Rating: 5 / 5
I received my new HP 7960 Photosmart printer 2 weeks ago. Set up is very easy and the printer is excellent at printing photos. This printer is wide (20″) so make sure you have room for it. The printer comes with a large viewing screen which makes it easy to view your photographs prior to printing. One drawback: You have to change out the grey photo cartridge to the black cartridge in order to print text, but I am using this printer strictly for printing photographs anyway. The printer accepts most memory cards and also has a USB port on the front of it. I highly recommend this printer!!
Rating: 5 / 5
This printer replaced my Epson 750 Photo Stylus. The print quality is breathtaking. Skin tones, transitions, etc. are all flawless. The dedicated grey cartridge performs wonders. The printer is relatively quiet, fast, paper handling decent (beware multiple sheets of glossy paper in the tray) and the design and quality sturdy enough. Bounces around a bit when printing, and it’s a big gizmo to plonk on a desk.
Problem 1) installing this thing can be a bit of a nightmare. My old W2K server with a 5 port USB2 card absolutely refused to play nice with the printer. Hours and hours with tech support was a total waste of my time (and theirs). Their final suggestion – to take it back to the store “because there might be an issue with the ports” – was blatantly ridiculous. Finally moved to another computer (also W2K, and tested on an XP machine with no problems), and all was well.
Problem 2) $70 for a set of replacement color cartridges?!? Do the math – someone on a site did just that, and found that they price this stuff higher than Chanel No. 5. Come on, HP, you’ve got us buying your “solid state” plastic, your paper, *and* your cartridges, could you at least price it all fairly? I’m getting the refill kits a.s.a.p. to see how they perform. I was really disappointed to realize that 8 color printing *does not* mean 8 individual cartridges – should have read the fine print, but this does mean you’re wasting pricey color when you ditch a half-empty cartridge.
Final issue I have is paying for all the crap I don’t need. I’m never connecting a camera or a media card directly to this thing, so the plethora of ports is wasted on me. Likewise the little 2″ screen – cute for info on progress etc. but total overkill. I’d much rather have saved that money on a no-frills version – or spent it on more ink.
All the same, I’m satisfied with the printer – the drivers work great on XP and 2000, transfer is fast, even via USB1, and again, the print quality is excellent.
Rating: 4 / 5