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The HP Envy 100 is actually designed using a fresh innovative platform for HP. It does not have attributes such as exposed paper trays as well as a large display which generally identify printers from various other electronic devices. You might very easily mistake the low profile, rectangle-shaped Envy style for a high-end modern Blu-ray player. The dimensions measure 16.8 inches wide, 13.2 inches deep, and 4 inches tall, and in addition at 20.23 pounds, the Envy 100 is considerably lighter when compared to the majority of of the all-in-one machines in our catalogue.

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The exterior of the Envy 100 is cloaked with mirrored black and matte silver, plus the scanner top is finished with a dotted layout for show.

The rear of the unit is equally spare having simply a USB connection on the left as well as a thin electric power cord on the right - there is not any wired Ethernet port available. Instead, HP offers a USB port intended for a wired link to a host personal computer, or you can alternatively link up wirelessly making use of built-in 802.11b/g/n print server inside that becomes necessary for you to use both the ePrint function, in addition to HP's ePrinterCenter application store.

To attenuate the Envy 100's footprint, HP decided on a drawer-style paper tray just under the display that will merely store 80 sheets of plain 20 lb. paper, or anywhere up to 10 envelopes.

The front of the Envy 100 is actually free of buttons in place of a foldout rectangle-shaped control panel together with a little 3.45-inch touch screen within. The Envy 100's home screen has a number of scrollable icons available for your chosen applications along with four shortcut buttons at the bottom to bring up controls meant for photograph printing, copy, scan, and fax.

The ePrinterCenter is basically an internet based control centre to help you search applications and download them onto the Web-connected unit. It's also possible to add more software straight from the Envy's home screen using the "Get More" icon.

The other prong of HP's connected printer program is ePrint. The Envy 100 will work with just about any up-to-date Windows or Mac computer, yet ePrint also lets you print with mobile devices such as tablets or even smart phones that do not contain a USB port to connect with a conventional printer.

We're frustrated that the Envy 100 uses precisely the same paltry two HP Envy 100 ink cartridge strategy as much cheaper Deskjet D2660. Dual-ink cartridges cannot make photographs as vibrant as those coming from a five- or six-ink printer, and you'll wind up paying more cash refilling the colour cartridge as it bundles three colours in to one container.

Finally, the overall print quality also suffers as a result of the tricolour cartridge. Outbound prints, especially graphics-intensive examples are marred by different line patterns that run throughout the pictures, in addition to collared bars look washed out as well as blotchy even in the best-quality print option. 4-inch-by-6-inch snapshot pictures are the greatest culprits, and it does not take a printer editor to notice the colour disparity as well as the general lack of vibrancy.

We would anticipate this kind of general performance from a low cost single-function inkjet, however, not from a flagship machine which claims to contain the latest in printing technology.

HP Envy 100 ink cartridges are available here.

Theodore Beach is a member of the Cartridge Concept team which specialises in printer cartridges.