HP Deskjet 940c Review

“Like many HP Deskjet printers before it (eg. Deskjet...”

Written on: 18/02/2006 by abdnray (4 reviews written)

Good Points
Front paper load and eject.
Reasonably quiet operation.
Can accommodate large capacity (around 40ml) ink cartridges, which help to keep running costs low.
Tried and tested technology that you can depend upon.
Parallel port or USB connection.
Free accessible support from HP website.

Bad Points
It is possible that an older Deskjet 940C can develop a mechanical fault with the paper pick-up, feed and eject mechanism, that results in it omitting a narrow print band at the foot of page (A4/letter size). This is likely to arise from operator misuse, where the print rollers have been forced round by hand.

General Comments
Like many HP Deskjet printers before it (eg. Deskjet 850C, 930C) and others following it (eg. Deskjet 3820) the Deskjet 940C uses HP's tried and tested technology to produce good quality prints economically.



The front paper-load-and-eject design makes efficient use of the printer's reasonably small desk-top 'footprint'.



The original HP ink cartridges are the C6578A tri-colour (38ml) and the C6615D black (25ml). The HP black ink cartridge is small by HP's usual standards for a machine that is rated for 2,000 pages per month. This is the only area where the DeskJet 940C really differs from the 850C and the 930C.



However, compatible replacement ink cartridges are available (eg. from Inkcycle) that will provide 45ml tricolour, and 42ml black cartridges (like the 850C and 930C), which are more economical to use. Print quality, even with compatible cartridges, is good.



The printer can produce around 12 pages per minute (ppm) at 300 dpi (draft), or around 7 ppm at 600 dpi (normal). Good quality images of 2400x1200 dpi are possible, but are slow to print.



For the average home user or small business, this printer will be capable of most tasks expected of it, working efficiently, and at reasonable cost when using compatible ink cartridges of around 40ml capacity.



The printer is reasonably quiet in operation, and it can be trusted to cope with a sizeable print queue.



By default, HP's software installs the HP 'Task agent' into the PC's system tray, which makes it easy to monitor printer performance or adjust printer settings.



The printer controls and indicator lights are mounted on the front of the printer body, and with the front paper load, this makes it easy to monitor printer operation.



An abused DeskJet 940C printer might develop a fault in the paper pick-up, feed and eject mechanism, which results in the printer omitting to print within the last 25mm (1") of an A4 or letter size page. This is not a huge problem if you are content to adjust the bottom page margin to 26mm.



For this reason, anyone looking to purchase a second-user DeskJet 940C is advised to check out the print margins before purchase.



To do this, create an A4 or letter size document in a word processing program (eg. MS Word, Corel WordPerfect, or Star Write). In page setup adjust the print margins (page borders) to 1.5mm (1/16") all round. The word-processing program will advise that the print margins are set outside the printer's capabilities, then automatically adjust margins to 1.8mm top, 3.4mm left and right, and 11.7mm bottom (or 0.18, 0.34, and 1.17cm, respectively).



Type a string of letters on the top two lines of the document. Work down to the foot of the document by hitting the 'Enter' (or 'Return') key. Type a string of letters in the bottom two lines of the page. Adjust the second top and second bottom lines of text to right-justified text (aligned with the right hand side of the sheet). Print out the page as a test page, then measure top, bottom, left and right print margins on the sheet. Compare these with the default margins given in the paragraph above. If any text is missing from the bottom of the page, the printer may be faulty. HP will only offer to supply a service-exchange (refurbished) printer as a replacement at a cost of more than £100 (around $170).



To avoid damaging the DeskJet printer, or any printer for that matter, do not force the feed-rollers round by hand.



The DeskJet 940C, like all HP products, is supported by HP from their website. Print software, user manuals, FAQ's and advice are readily available to support the DeskJet user and help get the most out of the printer.