Printers have evolved quite so rapidly over the past few years that the consumer is literally spoilt for choices! Though there coexist a multitude of brands to choose from, it is a safe bet to back upon a tried and tested old war horse – especially if you are one of those kinds who want least hassles in the after-sales performance.

I have been using HP for well over a decade now, starting from the ever so robust 840c Inkjet Series, then moving on to the new fad of “All-In-Ones” with the PSC 2400 which cost me an exorbitant 14,000/- rupees at that time!

The latest in the trend is low cost printers that promise to provide you all, or at least most of the relevant features of those far more expensive predecessors. I recently got my hands upon the HP Deskjet F2418 as a replacement for my 2400 and would have to say, its a great deal! My initial skepticism was obvious when I heard it priced at under Rs 3,500/-!! The usual thinking that has been fed into our systems is that a low cost product is bound to be substandard. Well, in maximum cases that does in fact turn out to be quite true – essentially when the brand is unknown. But with a front runner like HP, you can at least be rest assured on that aspect.

So how does it then achieve to be so competitively priced if the quality is not compromised? The answer is easily inferred in drawing a comparison with the expensive counterparts that once existed. If we put it out in simple terms – HP does away with “useless” features that matter nothing to the majority users (or more specifically, the targeted audience), and thus comes up with an affordable and value for money product. To start with, F2418 is a “Print-Cop-Scan” device, which means, it drops out the “fax” option. To be honest, none of us usually ever go out to use fax, specially with the advent of internet and email. This is a feature best relevant to offices and companies and there are specific devices which already cater to them! Second in line, the printer has done away with the LCD Display on the panel and also the assortment of number keys that you would expect with a fax machine. Those basically were meant for the fax function where you need to dial numbers, and with that feature gone, it was only logical to let go of these as well. This has only a minuscule effect on the usability that now if you need to make multiple photocopies for instance, you cannot feed in the number of copies upfront but would have to keep generating copies manually with the copy button after each copy. Its only a small price for the bargain you get, and to be honest, its no issue at all!

Its amazing how by a small remoulding of the product, HP has come up with a winner on is hand! What’s more, the new printer utilizes cartridges that won’t cost you a fortune each time you need to replenish them! The printer is a very compact and easy-to-handle machine unlike its bulky heavy counterparts of the past. And not to forget, it is aesthetically quite appealing with the black-grey combination that gives it a fresh appeal as compared to the silver-blue jazzy all-in-ones.

HP manages to keep it simple this time. No unnecessary clutter with this product – two simple keys for black and color printing and you are set to go! The installation CD that accompanies it has some useful installs like the HP Support Center in case you need to find a product or service support, an application that shows the level of ink in your cartridges and if you need to replace them and a widget for your Windows sidebar where you could just drop in your pictures and have the printed in a jiffy!

If you intend to buy a printer, this is an option one must consider while exploring other choices. I am sure you won’t be disappointed.

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