HP940c Printer Quality
Hi,
I'm a newcomer to the Mac world, so maybe my problem isn't a problem it's just how things are done here.
Anyway, when I bought the iMac I bought a HP940c printer. The printer box says "up to 2880dpi on photoquality paper".
So I was expecting something vaguley similar to the PC world where in Print Setup I can choose the quality of printing dependent on circumstance - draft, normal, high(photo).
Well, I can't see anywhere to make these changes, so I wonder if it always prints at 2880dpi, or whether I'm missing something. I often print out pictures, so high quality matters to me (I am happy with the output, but if it can be better then I'd like that!).
I downloaded the full driver from HP, but that didn't seem to help. The manual that came with it makes no mention, and help in Appleworks or Finder didn't help me.
So, can someone tell me if it is normal not to be able to change, or whether I am in fact missing something and I can play with the print quality settings somewhere.
Cheers!
David
I'm a newcomer to the Mac world, so maybe my problem isn't a problem it's just how things are done here.
Anyway, when I bought the iMac I bought a HP940c printer. The printer box says "up to 2880dpi on photoquality paper".
So I was expecting something vaguley similar to the PC world where in Print Setup I can choose the quality of printing dependent on circumstance - draft, normal, high(photo).
Well, I can't see anywhere to make these changes, so I wonder if it always prints at 2880dpi, or whether I'm missing something. I often print out pictures, so high quality matters to me (I am happy with the output, but if it can be better then I'd like that!).
I downloaded the full driver from HP, but that didn't seem to help. The manual that came with it makes no mention, and help in Appleworks or Finder didn't help me.
So, can someone tell me if it is normal not to be able to change, or whether I am in fact missing something and I can play with the print quality settings somewhere.
Cheers!
David
Comments
If you're in X, then I'd say it's completely possible that the drivers aren't fully functional at this point. If you're in 9, I came across an article on HP's support site that states that the printer's ink pens must be aligned before printing at 2400+ dpi.
<a href="http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/cposupport/get_doc.pl?SNI=hpdeskjet934009&LC=printers&Tfile=b pm06506" target="_blank">click</a>
The alignment can be achieved by using the printer's HP DeskJet utility application. If you can't find the application, try either searching for it through Sherlock, or look for some sort of maintenance option under the Page Setup dialogue under the file menu.
I hope this helps. If you're happy with the print quality, then, honestly, I wouldn't sweat it if you can't get it working.
good luck.
thanks for the comments, but still no joy.
under the Print menu the only thing that could refer to quality is a pull down menu item called Presets, but the only item on the pulldown menu is Standard.
There is no deskjet utility on the Mac, nor on the disk that came with the printer.
I am using OSX - my next task will be to run the Mac under 9 and see any differences.
Thanks,
David
what i usually do is select "paper type/quality" from the print menu and reduce the ink settings and quality settings. i find that i get great looking text using draft and keeping the ink on the first segment marker. (the default settings were spitting out too much ink and oversaturating my plain paper.)
also, the printer is supposed to be fully automatic, and it senses the type of paper you are using and adjusts the dpi accordingly. you can always force the computer to use a specific setting by selecting a fixed paper type and not leaving it up to the auto sensor. try selecting plain paper, even if you are using something better.
i'm not sure how much different your print menu options are than mine, being that the 960 and 940 are not that different. if all else fails, try asking steve 666. i understand he works for HP. good luck.
I did notice that on my mom's iMac with a 990cse (my printer's an 812c), I could get that panel, but no quality and ink settings. It seemed to want to figure everything out automatically. This may also be a case of an old driver, though. It looks like some other features are missing as well, and probably simply needs an update.