HP smartens up its multi-function printer act with the Envy 7640
Whenever I see inkjet printers designed for business and incorporating fax technology, I age visibly. Inkjet technology simply isn’t appropriate for the high-volume printing that businesses often engage in, and fax needs to be consigned to the same historical bin as hand semaphore. The fact is that people still buy these products, so a market exists for devices exactly like the Envy 7640.
What struck me first about this design was how much nicer looking this is than the rather old-Volvo-inspired Officejet designs HP produced a few years ago. Sharp edges have given way to sweeping curves, while retaining the robust functionality.
The styling, however, contributes to the overall scale, and a good chunk of desk space will be annexed to deploy its 454 x 410 x 193mm bulk.
The capabilities on offer are a four colour (two cart) inkjet with 4800 x 1200dpi printing, 1200 x 1200 scanner with 25-sheet feeder, a 125-sheet paper tray and a touchscreen for combination jobs like copying and faxing.
There’s nothing especially great about the print quality, the speed of output or scanning, but it’s a workman-like operator that’s quick to power up and exceptionally accessible.
HP claims that the Envy 7640 can print at nine pages a minute in colour, but in my testing it was closer to six pages in normal quality. You can achieve the nine pages only by using low quality, which realistically most customers wouldn’t.
That pointed out, this isn’t a slow printer by any standards, and I’m sure most customers would be reasonably pleased with the overall performance.
Lantastic
Connection to the digital world beyond is definitely a strong point, as HP empowered the Envy 7640 with USB, LAN, 802.11n wi-fi and even NFC. You can also print or capture scans to media on a USB key or an SD card, and it supports direct printing over the internet that doesn’t involve a PC at all, as per HP ePrint and Apple AirPrint.
These are all wonderful and useful features for the technically minded to exploit, yet they seem strangely out of sync with the faxing and copying mentality.
What I really liked was the really good quality touch panel that’s mounted on this printer, which puts to shame numerous horrible ones I’ve suffered over the past few years. It’s bright and clear, and the touch senor was very responsive, allowing me to put my wi-fi password in correctly first time, without accompanying expletives.
The interface behind the screen is also rather well considered and guides the user through each operation with animated explanations of what is about to happen.
My only regret is that HP didn’t offer an ‘expert mode’ that you could activate after a few months' use, when you don’t really need the same level of hand holding.
Inky Fingers
Traditionally this is the part of the review where I slam HP for the cost of its ink, and putting all the colours in a single cart that you’re forced to sling with unused ink left in it. These criticisms are still valid, because two replacement XL size carts for the Envy 360 cost about £43.
However, this is one of the first printers that HP has added to its new HP's Instant Ink service that delivers ink ordered by the printer itself to you for a monthly fee. HP says that for a business this service could cut their ink costs by a whopping 70% annually, and because the printer primes the replacements, you shouldn’t easily run out at a critical time. There’s a tripletiered price plan that allows you to print 50 (£1.99), 100 (£3.49) or 300 (£7.99) pages per month, so you can customise it more precisely to your needs.
Personally, I wish HP would stop pandering to the customers that have a secret stash of slide rules and ditch the fax, but in other respects, the Envy 360 is a rather useful piece of equipment.
There are better photo printers and better scanners available, but this combination for any business that generates less than 1,000 pages a month seems quite optimal. Mark Pickavance
A multi-function printer tailored for the small business customer.
Specifications
Type All-in-one Inkjet
Function Print, Copy, Scan and fax
Connectivity USB 2.0, Ethernet, 802.11n (Apple Airprint and HP ePrint), SD Card slot
Print Resolution 4,800 x 1,200
Scanner Resolution 1,200 x 1,200
Average compatible cartridge yield
Black: 200 pages
XL Black: 600 pages
Tri-colour: 165 pages
XL Tri-colour: 415 pages
Controls 3.5" colour touchscreen
Paper formats A4, A5, B5, DL, C6, A6, Custom: 76 x 127 to 216 x 356 mm
Pages Per Minute B&W 14 ppm, Colour 9 ppm
Double sided print Yes
Paper Input Tray 125 sheets
Scanner Input 25 sheets
Output tray 25 sheets
Dimensions 454 x 410 x 193 mm (H x W x D)
Weight 7.67 kg
Warranty 1 year