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Hewlett-Packard's PhotoSmart 1218 provides a versatile solution for printing photos and text.
Multipurpose printers are like most soap opera actors: They can try their hand at any role, but they aren't likely to win Oscars for their performance. That holds true for the HP PhotoSmart 1218 printer, which Hewlett-Packard asserts can do double duty as a photo and document printer, for the reasonable price of $499. We found that, while the PhotoSmart 1218 did not perform any single task exceptionally well, it's pretty good at most.
The sleek 2400-dpi printer can be attached to a PC by either the Universal Serial Bus port or the parallel port, which are both on the rear of the printer. Notebooks and handhelds equipped with an infrared port can connect through the infrared sensor on the printer's front, with the included software driver.
Installation was trouble-free. HP ships the printer with a driver CD, PhotoSmart imaging software, and utilities required for printing from a notebook to the infrared port. The paper tray holds...