The HP M275 is a color laser multifunction printer that prints, copies and scans; but what sets this printer apart from most is it comes with an elevated, 8-megapixel camera. It makes taking images of a small three-dimensional object as easy as making a copy. If you think you need a printer that can take a photo in your home or office this may be the machine for you. Other machines usually have a slow-moving scanner head with a flatbed platen. The camera on this machine sits on an arm that rises about 8.5 inches above the capture stage. To use the camera you just place the object you want to take a picture of on the stage area and the camera quickly takes six images: three with flashes and three without a flash at different exposure levels.

The image-processing software then processes the image which takes a few minutes and the resulting composite image looks more three-dimensional than a single image would. One draw back is that the camera has a fixed focal length  meaning there is no optical zoom which makes taller objects appear larger than they are. Another problem is the scanning capabilities, the TopShot taks six shots even when scanning a letter on the bed even if you specify that the object is a document, seems to be a lot of unnecessary imaging work.

The TopShot is reasonably equipped for a single user or a very small office. the input tray holds 150 sheets and the output tray hold 50 sheets. The control panel is a 3.5 inch color touchscreen LCD that lights up when needed.

Speed is mediocre, 11 pages per minute printing black text on plain paper. Snapshot-size color photos printed at a slow rate of 2.2. ppm. The copying speed was very slow, a single page of plain text came out at a rate or 1.9 ppm. Print quality is reported as being better than average. The printer comes with introductory toner cartridges that yield 500 pages each. The toner itself is very expensive, a black cartridge cost $50.00 and lasts for 1200 pages or 4.2 cents per page. Each color cartridge cost $56.00 and lasts 1000 paged or 5.6 cents per page. This is assuming the industry standard of 5% page coverage. A page with all four colors would cost a whopping 21 cents. If you were printing on photo paper this would increase the cost to well over 21 cents a copy, CVS charges 19 cents for a 4X6 print.

For a price tag of $400.00 and taking into consideration the cost of the toners this machine will appeal to some users who see the imaging technology as a benefit to them and worth the high price tag of the supplies. If you need help in choosing a printer for personnel or business use give us a call, we can steer you in the right direction.