Geek Junk – The musings of just another Geek and his Junk

HP Deskjet D1530

Hewlett-Packard’s Deskjet D1530, is a low end personal printer that often gets bundled with their Slimline series of products. Despite being on the lower scale of home printers currently available for people who do not print too often and need a quick easy solution the D1530 is a decent fit. This would not however be a good printer for either someone who prints a lot, or needs a rich set of features.

Installation of this printer is fairly quick and painless, once you have everything you need that is. First, the printer only ships with color ink, that’s fine if all you want to do is print in color, but most of us require black ink for the majority of what we print. Thankfully, ink cartridges for this printer are not very expensive; just make sure you pick one up before heading home. Second, as with most printers these days they do not ship with the required USB cable to actually connect it to your computer. This is not something unique to HP, just a fact about most modern printers. So, along with the ink, make sure you pick up a USB A to USB B cable. If you have trouble finding one ask a sales associate, any store selling a printer will have these cables it’s just a matter of tracking them down. Try to get a cable at least 10 feet (3.1 meters) in length if not longer. It may seem like a lot up front, but trust that the extra length will come in handy if you need to route cables behind a desk or move the printer to a different location. Finally, if this is your first printer you will want to print up some paper as well as this printer does not even come with a sample pack. Multifunction paper works just fine, but pick up whatever your preference is.

Once you have the supplies in tow, setup as mentioned earlier is quick and painless. Follow the quick start guide, it has pictures and a step by step guide that unless there was a defect with the device itself should go off without a hitch. From there, you should be able to print away. While not the quietest printer, the D1530 is not obnoxiously loud, but it will click and clack around a bit, so if you are going to print on a regular or semi regular basis you may want to move the printer just a little further away. You did pick up the slightly longer cable right? Again, this is more a matter of preference that only you will be able to decide on after setting it up and hearing for yourself what it sounds like.

A few issues to keep in mind, the ink cartridges are fairly small, and the color comes in one unit, unlike some fancier models that split out the color cartridges. This means that if you print with any sort of regularity your ink will not last too long. As they are not too expensive if you find that you run out more often than not, it might be worth the investment to keep an extra on hand, at least of black ink, so you never get caught not being able to print. Also, the paper tray is not very large and double as both intake and outtake. Try not to print more than ten pages at once, or if you do stay close by and when they start to pile up carefully but quickly take the already printed pages and move them to the side.

With the limitations on printing larger jobs or printing regularly, this printer is ideal only for those that need only the occasional print job. Couple that with a little bit higher price, this printer is fine if you are getting it on sale or in a bundle, but for just a little more one can purchase a much more capable printer with better features and print handling. Still, for a cheap printer that is not going to be used heavily this manages to do the job just fine.

Specifications

•    1 Year Warranty
•    HP Tri Color Ink Cartridge 22 (Included)
•    HP Black Ink Cartridge 21 (Not Included)