HP DeskJet 6940 review

HP's DeskJet 6940 looks similar to the DeskJet 5940 in our 'Also consider...' list on page 26.

Both printers have an expensive-looking brushed metal trim, but the 6940 comes with a standard Ethernet interface. If you have a home or small office network, you can use the supplied cable to connect and share it.

Like other HP network printers we've reviewed, the DeskJet 6940 is very easy to set up. The printer leased an IP address on our Labs network, and HP's install software detected and installed it without any trouble. On other networks that don't use DHCP to allocate IP addresses, the installer can still detect the printer and will help you assign it an address.

This printer comes with HP's Photosmart Premier suite of photo-management and editing products. Useful software is always welcome when it comes free with a product, but the setup program offers a choice of only two installations, which take up 200MB or 450MB of disk space. Installing the Full option on our test notebook took around 10 minutes. We'd rather HP added a Custom option to its installer.

The 6940 is a formidable plain-paper printer. It reached high speeds on our mono print tests, particularly when printing black text. Our letter test printed at a respectable 5.6 pages per minute (ppm), but the 6940 breezed through our Draft Speed faster than any other inkjet we've reviewed. Printing in colour, the DeskJet 6940 managed a sound performance on our punishing Normal Speed test. Text was black and tidy, while colour graphics looked lively and solid.

This printer isn't aimed at photographers, but the speed and quality of our tests using its standard inks was fine for occasional use. We repeated our photo tests using an optional photo cartridge to print with six inks, producing better, but still slightly grainy, results.

This is the first DeskJet we've seen that comes with HP's high-yield black and colour ink cartridges as standard. These are comparatively cheap, but including them with the printer means that it could be some time before you'd need to buy more ink. The black cartridge is rated for 800 pages, and the colour for 450.

Aside from the software installation, the 6940 is a fuss-free and robust printer. Its 5,000 page-per-month duty cycle makes it suitable for a small office or a conscientious home worker. Best of all, the DeskJet 6940 has the lowest running costs we've seen from an inkjet, making it a Best Buy.