Recently I’ve had a run in with Amazon whom failed to deliver my Epson printer, which I patiently waited 10 days for. I did get a refund, but in disgust of the wait time, I ran over to Best Buy to try to pick up the same printer. Instead I find another.
Over the years, I’ve had a couple of various home printers in my time. I couldn’t help but think that these machines were just cheap hollow pieces of bulky plastic. Until the HP Envy 100, I have to say is beauty in design and innovation. The marketing materials I found on this device could not, and does not express how sexy and elegant this machine truly is. You have to see it in person, and actually interact with it. I’m surprised this machine lacked a talking female voice, like the one in scifi movies where the on-board computer talks to the captain because it was so ahead of its time. The reviews weren’t as nice, but relatively fair. As a designer, I can appreciate the details that were placed in this gadget. The hard top, heavy glass, and metal scanner hood. The touchscreen access. The robotic arms and display. The cute bing*bong sounds it plays when in goes into action. The case is a jump ahead of all other printers and scanners. It’s takes up very little space, and can sit up there with the rest of your home entertainment system for the living room.
It’s a good time to pick one of these machines, as the prices have gone down, and firmware upgrades helped fix the bugs that were prevalent in its debut last year. I do have to warn you that setting up was not pretty. I spent a day of frustration trying to get it up and running. HP’s support site was kinda helpful, but irritating. And by helpful, I mean, it provided me with a link to download drivers as the bundled CD was already out of date. It was a risky purchase decision to make as everyone, with mediocre reviews, and staff members at Best Buy egging me to go with the Epson.
I’m glad I didn’t go with the Epson, because the Envy 100 is a machine truly built for someone like me. I don’t need a sporting jet fast device to run a 60 page booklet in a minute. Most of my work and computing is digital, but every now and then, I need a good quality designed print. Printing on the wifi network from my iPad and laptop was a breeze. I want something that takes up very little space, and looks good doing it at the same time. This is that machine.