The HP Photosmart 230 is a photo printer with convenient portability in mind. The Photosmart 230’s main strengths are indeed its small size and ease of use. The lunch box sized printer can connect to a PC or MAC; but it can also work standalone via its slots for all major memory cards, PictBridge support for directly connecting your digital camera, and a small LCD screen with minor editing features. The trade off for portability is somewhat in the prints. The Photosmart 230 can only print borderless 4 x 6 color photos at max 4,800 x 1,200 dpi with slightly less vivid colors than non portable photo printers, and does it at a decent 2 and a half minutes per 4 x 6 photo. The printer uses a single Tricolor HP 57 ink cartridge and its ink-intensive process of photo printing might lead to higher spending in the long run. Overall, if you view simplicity and portability over completely perfect printing, the Photosmart 230 is a decent buy.
