Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 950C review

Gallery

Verdict:

Sturdy, curvy and quick, but the quality that impressed us 6 months ago is no longer cutting edge.

Review Date: 1 Jan 2001

Price when reviewed: (£175)

Reviewed By: David Dorn

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

HP printers seem to go on forever.

They're built like tanks, and deserve their reputation for reliability - with the odd exception. The DeskJet 950 slots neatly into HP's mid-range - at £149, a lower-cost alternative to the flagship 990Cxi.

Design

The DJ950c is dark grey and curvaceous, with controls at the top right of the fascia. Opening the lid brings forth the print carriage, ready to install cartridges. At the back, you can add an optional 'duplexing' unit for automatic two-sided printing. Installation is simple, with a comprehensive 'Getting Started' poster included. Loading paper into the front-mounted tray is straightforward, as is collecting printed sheets. It's also very quiet.

Print Quality

Quality is not as good as we've seen these days, there being evidence of large dots in the flesh tones and a decided lack of contrast. A poor show overall. The driver had a good stab at the headline in the newsletter test, but couldn't quite cope. Text quality in this test, though, is good. The same can't be said of text on plain paper, which is more of a charcoal, with very little contrast.

Performance

Quite a speedy little mover, the 950C produced some good timings for the text and report tests, and for the newsletter, but, strangely, not for the photo.

Overall

The 950C is a mixed bag. It's fairly quick but the quality we found impressive last May is uninspiring by today's standards. It's quite cheap to run, but for £149 we expect better.

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