Hewlett-Packard has always been the leader in inkjet photo printers. We have always strongly recommended printers from HP because of their superior quality, design, and functionality. HP's latest desktop inkjet photo printer is their Photosmart D7360.
Like many of HP's latest Photosmart printers, the D7360 is rather large and bulky. It measures about 18 x 15 x 7-inches and the body is a very sleek grey and white body, which is the usual for HP's printers these days. At the top of the printer is a 3.5-inch LCD display that allows you to have total control over the printer without having to use a computer. The LCD allows you to print photos right from the card via the printer's built-in card readers. You can adjust the size and even do minor touch-ups right from the LCD display. The D7360's card readers accepts Compact Flash, Memory Stick, MicroDrive, MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital, and xD-Picture cards. If you have a PictBridge enabled camera, you can print right from the printer's front USB port. You can also purchase a Bluetooth USB adapter to print from any Bluetooth-enabled device.
The D7360 has the usual paper trays and photo trays. The paper input tray can hold as much as 100 sheets of paper and the photo tray can hold around 20-25 sheets. The photo tray accepts 4x6-inch photo paper that you can purchase at any office supply store. The already cut photo paper makes it really easy to print your own digital photos rather than having your photos developed at a store.
HP is known for its innovative ink technologies and the D7360 employs the latest in inkjet printing technology. This printer has 6 individual ink cartridges that are not part of the usual ink system. Instead, the cartridges don't move at all when printing, rather they feed ink to the print heads. This technology has been said to save money by preventing ink from being wasted. HP says on their Web site that 4x6 photo prints can cost as little at 24 cents if you use their photo value pack, which is a very affordable compared to other inkjet printers as well as photo development services.
The D7360 printed text at a surprisingly fast rate compared to similar printers. However, it did print somewhat slowly when printing photos and other complex images. The print quality of the D7360 was very acceptable and looks very nice when viewed with the naked eye. Text came out crisp and very readable. Photo prints were very vibrant and detailed, with very few flaws. There was, however, a slight grain to some photos, but nothing that lowered the overall clarity of the photos.
The HP Photosmart D7360 is the perfect choice for anyone looking for a new inkjet photo printer with superior features, quality, and style. If you're a casual photographer or even camera enthusiast, you'll surely love the D7360.
