When considering the HP OfficeJet J4680, the main thing to think about is that you get a lot of functionality for the price. This multi-function office device will print, fax, scan, and copy, all at a suggested price of around $130.00 at the time of this publication. That’s a pretty good value for all of the features included, even if some of the functionality isn’t up to par with the more high-end appliances available.
The device’s network connectivity is an overall plus, as the J4680 supports 802.11 b/g wireless networking. Setup for this is pretty straightforward, and can be done through the HP Control Center software, or on the small control panel on the front of the device. This allows you to print wirelessly and share the printer with other computers on your network. Although if you don’t have a wireless router or hub and would like to duplicate this functionality with an Ethernet cable, you are out of luck. It also comes with a USB cable for connecting to a computer both for initial setup and in case you don’t want to use the wireless networking option.
The J4680 holds one black and one tri-color ink cartridge, which currently cost $15.00 and $25.00 respectively. This is about on par with other devices of this class. Although other HP printers allow for a photo color ink cartridge, the J4680 will not support one.
Set-up is a breeze, as all you have to do is attach the power cables and the USB cable, which are included, and then install the print cartridges and software.
The OfficeJet is advertised that it will print 20 black and white pages per minute and 17 color pages per minute, but several people have stated that the J4680 actually prints much slower during field tests. In addition, the J4680 only prints one-sided documents. One feature that is a plus; however, is that this device will print all the way to the edge of the paper, so if you’re printing a photo there won’t be that annoying white border.
The faxing capability of the J4680 is pretty standard – it will support speeds up to 33.6 kbps, and allows for delayed sending, auto redialing, and broadcasting to up to 48 different numbers. It will not send your faxes to you in an email though, so you’ll have to pony up for a more expensive all-in-one device for that functionality. The 20 page automatic document feeder makes faxing large documents nice, as you can just load the pages into it and dial the number.
As for the scanner, the J4680 has a 1200 dpi letter-sized scanner, which is what one would expect on a device of this price. This is just fine for normal everyday office work, although if it’s used in an office where legal sized paper is the norm, such as at a mortgage company, the size of the flatbed would be a problem.
Overall, the J4680 is a nice, solid multi-function device for the money. I wouldn’t pay much more than the $130 for this appliance, but for the price, it can work in both a small office or in someone’s home.
