|
Tour/Components
Tour
Front
The HP Photosmart C5180 has an ivory glossy finish on the front with light gray highlights at the bottom edge and along the top of the printer’s front. At the bottom and just left of the center are the paper trays that measure 10.25 inches wide and are stacked atop each other. On the far right edge of the front are 4 slots for memory cards: CompactFlash and SD/MMC cards fit in the top slots and xD and Memory Stick Duo media fit into the bottom slots. The top edge of the front is rounded and has a control panel that seems to wrap from the top to the front. The HP Photosmart C5180 All-in-One brand logo is emblazoned here along with a row of buttons that extends about 10 inches across the front. The buttons are all square-shaped and similarly sized. They are organized into groups according to their function and are distinguishable because there are printed gray lines and more space between some of the buttons. On the left side, there is a group of 4 buttons: Preview, Setup, Help, and Rotate. Just above this is a multi-selector and a "back" button, represented by a curved arrow. A gray line separates these from the next 4: Photosmart Express, Photo Fix, Reprints, and Print Photos. Another line runs between these and the next two: Scan Menu and Start Scan. After yet another gray line, three more buttons: Copy Menu, Black, and Color. Above the Black and Color buttons is a printed label, "Start Copy." On the far right is the circular power button.
Back
Much of the printer’s back is taken up by a plastic door that opens to the paper’s path on the inside. This door has a plastic lock on the back to keep it in place. The HP logo is also molded into the back. The color of the C5180’s back is mostly light gray with the glossy white finish of the scanner door wrapping around from the top edge a little. Below this on the right and left are the hinges for the access door and a seam that shows where the access door folds upward. On the left side of the printer’s back is where it connects to everything. From the top to bottom, there are ports for Ethernet, USB, and the power cable.
Left Side
This side doesn’t have any major features on it, but shows the slightly peaked shape with the tallest portion at the back. The top part of the left side separates from the bottom as part of the access door, and the entire left side is a light gray color.
Right Side
The right side looks nearly identical to the left with the peaked shape and the seam near the top separating the access door from the main body of the printer.
Top
The top of the HP Photosmart C5180 consists mostly of the glossy ivory colored scanner door with the HP logo in the center on a chrome plate. Around the edge of this top panel is the dark gray color of the scanner platen housing. There is a square cut out of the left front corner where the LCD folds down flush with the printer body. The front edge of the printer below the LCD display is rounded and has a few controls on it. A square-shaped multi-selector is nearly centered with a zoom lever on its right and a cancel button on its left.
With the door lifted, the scanner platen is visible. The 8.5 x 11.75-inch scanner glass is surrounded by this dark gray plastic housing. Embossed into the plastic along the bottom of the glass are the scaled document measurements—A4, LTR, 4x6 inch (10x15 cm), and in the corner, a symbol indicating that the edge of the paper should be placed into this corner face down. To the top left of the scanner glass and above the display is an open area of gray plastic serving no function but to advertise HP’s support web page.
Interior
When the access door is lifted from the front, the interior of the printer is revealed. The door is notched to leave room for the paper trays, which sit at the bottom of the interior. Just above it is where the ink cartridges are loaded. The larger black cartridge sits all the way to the left with the five smaller color cartridges peeking out in a row to its right: yellow, light cyan, cyan, light magenta, and magenta. Above the cartridges is the ever-important HP support web site address molded into the plastic shell. Near the back of the interior is an opening the size of a king-size candy bar where users can view the paper path and fix paper jams if necessary.
Components
LCD (6.50)
On the left side of the printer’s top closest to the front is a 2.4-inch LCD display that folds upward to a 90-degree angle. The LCD clicks into 11 different positions between its upward-most angle and its flat resting place within the printer body. It stands up and shows a colorful display of menus and print previews. The resolution is good and the screen can be seen from side to side pretty well, although the colors wash out. The screen is unusable when viewing from above or below eye-level. Of course, it is best viewed straight on where its colors are brightest and most accurate.
 Paper Trays (7.50)
The HP C5180 has three paper trays stacked atop each other on the front of the printer. The output tray sits on top, and it has a capacity of 50 sheets of US legal paper, 10 transparencies, 10 sheets of labels, 10 sheets of photo paper, 25 cards, or 10 envelopes. An extender slides out from the front for use with paper larger than letter-sized. Barely noticeable below this except for the square plastic window on the front right of the output tray is the blue-colored dedicated input tray for 4 x 6-inch paper. This tiny tray can handle 20 sheets of 4 x 6-inch photo paper at a time. The legal-sized input tray sits on the bottom and can handle 100 sheets of US legal-sized paper, 30 transparencies, 30 sheets of labels, 30 sheets of photo paper, 40 cards, or 10 envelopes. Taken all together, these trays can handle media sized anywhere from 3 x 5 inches to 8.5 x 24 inches.
CD Burner (0)
This printer does have plenty of other functions, but does not burn CDs.
Power Supply
 The printer is powered by a cable that runs out the back and an external separate adapter that connects it to the wall. Both the power cord and adapter are included in the box. This HP printer uses 100 to 240 VAC (+/- 10 percent) and 50-60 Hz (+/- 3 Hz).
Internal Memory (7.00)
The HP Photosmart C5180 has 64MB of RAM, which is plenty for this type of printer. It is enough to save a few photos and have plenty of memory to digitize scans and copies and such.
Multi-tasking (6.00)
The C5180 can cue print jobs and edit photos using the on-unit menu, but it cannot perform multiple jobs, such as scanning and printing, at once.
Hard Drive (0)
The HP C5180 does not have an internal hard drive, common for printers in this class.
Accessories (6.50)
There isn’t a bevy of accessories available for this HP printer. The C5180 doesn’t come with a USB cable, but most computers and digital cameras include those so it shouldn’t be a problem. If it is, HP sells them for about $20. The ink cartridges are where the money’s at: each black cartridge costs $17.99, while each color costs $9.99 on the HP web site. The black cartridge has 10 ml of ink and can yield about 450 pages, while the color cartridges have about 4 ml of ink and can print about 350 pages.
|
