HP Deskjet 842C OK? 932C worth the extra $50 spacebucks?

[JellyBaby]

I've got my eyes on an HP 842C inkjet. There are very few online reviews I can find which surprises me as HP's new lineup is at least 6 months old now. The 842C looks good and at $150 it's affordable. I'm wondering if spending a bit more for the 932C (which I think is the equivalent of HP's older 812 which was priced less...damn HP!) is worth it. This models looks to be faster, has more memory and possibly better output.

Any recommendations?

EDIT: 842C, not 832C! Thanks.

 

[ColdTech]

The 932 is deffinitly worth it with the increase in photo quality. Also the 832 has been discontinued. You can see the diffrences on hp's web sight as www.hp.com.

 

[Digobick]

HP DeskJet 842C -

• Resolution: HP PhotoREt II, 600 x 1200 DPI
• Speed: 8ppm Black, 5ppm Color
• Duty Cycle: 1,000 pages/month
• Memory: 2MB

HP DeskJet 932C -

• Resolution: HP PhotoREt III, 1200 x 2400 DPI
• Speed: 9ppm Black, 7.5ppm Color
• Duty Cycle: 2,000 pages/month
• Memory: 4MB

 

[JellyBaby]

ColdTech, yep I was referring to the 842C not 832C. My bad.

Digobick, I don't trust the speeds provided by HP. I read one review that claimed the 842C is much slower in real-world testing than the 932C yet your figures certainly don't reveal that.

 

[slipperyslope]

Ok on weekends I work as an HP rep. and the 932 is a MUCH better printer. The print speeds that you see are the best possible speed. I.E. When everything is perfect. You won't see those print speeds. I would say you would get more like 6-7 pages/minute black out of the 932.

As someone already posted the 932 has twice the resolution but even at 600x1200dpi the 932 puts the 842 to shame. all the 800 series and 700 series offer equivalent quality more or less and the whole 900 series offer 2400x1200.

for $50 more you get a lot more printer.

Jim

 

[Digobick]

<< Digobick, I don't trust the speeds provided by HP. >>

Yeah, I know they're not real world benches, but I put them up there anyway to show you that the 932C is somewhat faster. I sell HP printers and can guarantee you you'll be very happy you spent the extra $50. The speed is a minor issue (although with the extra 2MB or RAM you will notice a difference), but the difference in quality is amazing. Do you have a Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, OfficeMax, Office Depot, or Staples in your area? See if you can go and have them print out a sample on both of them for you; you'll immediately notice the difference.

Hope that helps.

 

[JellyBaby]

Well thank you fellas for your responses. I believe I will shell out the extra $50 for the 932C. There are several Best Buy stores near me and I do indeed plan to waste some of their paper making some samples. Speaking of paper, how does the 932C perform using regular stock? I sure hope it doesn't need the premium stuff all the time just for decent output.

Any thoughts on USB vs parallel? I've heard the ECP interface is the fastest, most reliable way to print but this was back when USB was still young.

 

[icculus]

I believe the usb spec is superior to parallel in speed. Personally, I prefer my scsi enabled ALPS MD-5000. I love this printer. It's slower than anything you'll see but rightfully so for the process it goes through to produce a printed image. (4 color, 4 pass plus 2-3 more for glossy finish, photo finish, silver, or gold foil) .. weeEee!!!

 

[PCAddict]

Spend the $50. If you get an 842, you'll spend alot more on cartridges. The 842 uses lower-capacity cartridges. HP considers it a &quot;budget printer&quot; for &quot;light use&quot; and they designed different cartridges for it which hold less ink than the cartridges that the 932 takes. It is similar to the 812C I bought for my sister last January. It's fine for her because she does very little printing. I regret not getting her the better model.

 

[ColdTech]

Ok If Ya gotta Ask Anything more Than yer Stupid Because by my count now you have 3 people that work with these printers all telling you to for the 932.

PCAddict > Your Full of it on the cart. Both the 942 &amp; 932 come with &quot;economy&quot; Cartriges. &amp; Both Also Have Full cart avail. They Take the same Black cart wich is a 51645a (full) or 51645d (economy). But the Color cart are diffrent &amp; the 932 are more expensive.

Another thing that you have to look at when making your purchace is that the 842 comes with a 90 manufactures warranty &amp; the 932 has a 1 year manufactures warranty

As Far as parallel or usb goes: The sppeds are going to be equal due to limitations of the printer itself. Usb Is Less Prone to communication issues &amp; ounce installed has less that can go wrong with it. But Usb Can also be a royal pain to get installed.

Personally I have a 952 installed usb

If you have any other questions feel free to email me. I Guarantee I can tell you more than anyone else who wants to comment.

 

[PCAddict]

I'm full of it? Here ya go, tough guy:

HP's part numbers for the 842 ink cartridges:

C6615DN - black
C6625AN - color

HP's part numbers for the 932 ink cartridges:

51645A - black
C6578AN - lower capacity color
C6578DN - higher capacity color


I have BOTH of these printers at work. If you put a 51645A into an 842 it does not recognize it and will flash the amber error LED. It will not print (I've tried). They are NOT interchangeable. I didn't look at the part numbers when I tried to use the cartridge from the 932 in the 842. When it didn't work, I looked at them. Once I saw the different part numbers, I then asked my friend who works for HP what the deal is, and he is the one who explained to me what HP did regarding the different cartridges.

Next time, don't be such an obnoxious prick when you want to attempt to challenge information that someone posts on here.

 

[PowerJoe]

My experience with USB has been great. I have Win2K, and an HP815, now connected through USB. During installation, Win2K found the printer automagically, installed the driver, and I didn't have to do anything. Works great.

-PJ

 

[Warrenton]

I used to be an Epson fan when thier photo quality was better. But HP is way better now, and they don't make that AWEFUL RACKET like the Epson. Those Epsons are LOUD.

 

[PCAddict]

I agree with Warrenton. HP is generally a more user-friendly printer than an Epson and tends to be more reliable. I'd rather have an Epson over a Lexmark though.

 

[Finality]

Go to a local B&amp;M staples store and use a $40 off $150 coupon

You get it at a B&amp;M store and you can pick it up for $159 + tax.

 

[JellyBaby]

Well I bought the HP 932C though the sales fella tried to sell me a Lexmark, heh. Damn nice printer! With that premium glossy photo paper, pictures look really, really good. HP included low capacity ink cartridges and I went through about 1/4 of the tri-color cartridge just doing test prints! But I did print quite a few pages. Anyway, I would definitely recommend this printer. Thanks all for the help. Much oblidged.

 

[PCAddict]

Effective September 30 there will be price cuts from HP on almost their entire current line of printers as they have some new models coming out. On top of that, starting October 1 there is a $50 rebate on most of these same printers if you buy it with a PC. I know that doesn't help most of us here though.

So, hopefully the place you bought it has a low-price guarantee. For example, if you buy something at Staples and the price drops within 30 days, take your receipt back and they will refund you the difference.

 

[nEoTeChMaN]

Believe me, get the HP 932c because I work for a technical college where they have 15,000+ computers and most of them used HP 932.

There was some clients who used Epson over HP and they regret it. LOL

 

[slipperyslope]

PCADDICT, not like i needed to tell you but you are correct on the cartridges. With the 842c you get the shaft in the long run. the black ones only contain 25ml of ink for the 842c and the 932 black cartridge holds 42ml(both cost around the same price). As for when you buy the printer, the 932 will come with economy cartridges so off the start you might consider picking up an extra black. I would suggest getting cartridges at Sam's wholesale. They have much better prices for cartridges.

Jim

 

[PCAddict]

Yep, Sam's Club is the place to go for cartridges. They always seem to have the best prices in my area as well.

I am really fond of the 932. At work, we have the 842, 932, 952, and 970. Most people don't need anything higher than the 932.

 

[ColdTech]

PC ADDict

HP INKJET PRINT CARTRIDGES - NEW SIZE FOR HP NO. 20 AND HP NO. 15 INK CARTRIDGES


In this document:
Introduction




SECURITY: Public
___________________________________________________
Introduction
Why did HP increase the amount of ink offered in the HP No. 20 and HP No. 15 inkjet print cartridges?

Products are being purchased by a variety of consumers with varying usage needs. By increasing the ink level, HP is able to reduce the intervention rate for cartridge replacement, while maintaining a competitive cost per page and providing a better value for our customers.

Contact HP?


Phone Support for my product
E-mail Support for my product
Community Forums

Find the nearest service center
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Software and Drivers


Copyright (C) Hewlett-Packard Co. 2000
This information is subject to change without notice and
is provided &quot;as is&quot; with no warranty.
Hewlett-Packard shall not be liable for any direct,
indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages
in connection with the use of this material.


This Doc can be found on hp's web sight at www.hp.com

 

[PCAddict]

That's a great thing if HP's increased the ink capacity of the cartridges. But it still doesn't mean that the 842 uses the same 51645 cartridge as the 932 which is what you were trying to feed us before. Nor does it say that the #15 cartridge holds the same amount of ink as the 45A. The little tidbit that you posted doesn't even say how much they increased the capacity by. The bottom line is that they are still different cartridges, which is what my original point was.

I wasn't trying to be obnoxious nor start a flame war, but if you're gonna tell someone who is trying to answer a question that &quot;they are full of it&quot; you better have the stuff to back it up. I jumped down your throat because you acted like I didn't know WTF I was talking about, and said that both printers used the same cartridges, which they do not.

Bottom line is that a 932 is the better printer, worth the $50 more because no matter what, you will save on ink. The hi-cap color cartridge still holds more.

Peace.

 

[ColdTech]

PCAddict Just to let ya know the 45a holds 40cc of ink as does almost all other &quot;a&quot; cart. I know this because I am tech support for deskjet 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, &amp; 900 series printers. I work with these things for 8 hours a day 5 days a week. &amp; i could tell you every bug flaw, &amp; trick to making either of them do what they are supposed to (&amp; sometimes alot more)