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Printing on the go
(CNN) -- Remember that old Polaroid camera you used to have, and how much fun it was to take pictures with friends and then have them print immediately? Sure, they didn't look as good as the ones you had developed professionally, but they were still great, right? Well, HP is releasing a new-generation micro-printer that it hopes will give you that same instant gratification, producing professional-quality prints. This week at COMDEX, James Hattori spoke to Janice Chen, editor in chief of CNET Reviews and Computer Shopper magazine, about printing on the go. HATTORI: One of the fastest segments growing in terms of printers is trying to get to the serious photographer who wants to print his own high quality prints at home, right? CHEN: That's right. This is the HP Photosmart 230. And the cool thing about it as you can see is it's really tiny -- you can just take it with you. It only prints out 4-by-6 (inch prints), but that is what most people want to print out. If you think about taking your film to Walgreen's and printing out your photos, most people will print out 4-by-6. And the really great thing about this is you don't even need a PC. You can use a Mac or a PC with it, but you don't need it. All you do is you take your media cards out. HATTORI: Regular digital camera? CHEN: Regular digital camera. And the great thing is there are four different types of media slots, so there you have a Compact Flash, an SD card, a SmartMedia and even the Sony Memory Stick. Doesn't matter what kind of camera you have, you can use this printer. HATTORI: There is a little LCD screen there, you can look at what is on there. CHEN: Exactly. The LCD screen is also where the menu is ... so you can make some adjustments right here on the printer. Let's find this photo I took of you. We can zoom in and then I can move it up because we want to get you centered in the print. And just hit print. You know, it's not the fastest inkjet printer -- because it's miniaturized it's really small, so there are some trade-offs. It takes less than three minutes to print one image. HATTORI: It's almost like a new-generation Polaroid, but with more equipment. CHEN: Exactly. And the great thing that they are pitching (is) you can take it to parties with you because it's so small, it weighs three pounds. You can just take pictures and then just print them out as you go. This printer is actually available for about $249 on the street. And that is a pretty good price. It's not the cheapest inkjet printer out there, but it's got small form-factor and good quality prints, so it's not bad. HATTORI: What about the cost of the prints? CHEN: The paper can be pretty expensive. It depends on what packages you buy, but you can roughly spend about 45 cents a print. The good thing is that you can save money because you can print out an index print. So for example here, I printed out four images (on one sheet of paper). I can print out an index print and I can say OK, you know what, I only want to print that one. That is something that you can't do with your film cameras. You send in your film and you get all the prints, regardless of whether it's a dud or (a) good picture. HATTORI: Is the quality approaching that of what you get at a photo finisher? CHEN: Considering how small the product is and how quick it is to just stick it in your car and just print it out -- that is pretty good quality. HATTORI: And this paper is very similar to what you would get from a regular photo lab? CHEN: It is. It's photo paper, as thick as photo paper -- and it will last as long as a regular photograph, as well.
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