Customer Reviews
As Always - HP Has A Winner 
2005-02-28
Impressive printer, this is. When my late husband and I were looking around, this printer was one of only a few that offered tabloid sized printing at an affordable price.
He was an artistic person and often created portraits for people. Once done, we would print them out using archival watercolor paper. WOW!! Perfect results. The printing was soft and professional!
Now, since I'm a widow, I've also used it numerous times and gotten the same successful results.
It hooks up to the computer with a simple USB cable. Easy to operate. Large? Yes for a desktop, but a necessity if you want a large printout. The ink replacement costs about $58 from your local office supply outlet. It's extremely quiet. In fact, if you walk away from it the only noise you'll hear is the 'click' when it finishes, pushing the remainder of the paper out from the rollers.
This was a great investment. The price is even lower today than when we bought it, so I don't hestitate in giving this great printer a 'THUMBS UP' review.
Gail Gupton, Author: 'The 31-Day Diet of Spiritual Enlightenment', and 'Seekers of Truth'.
Best printer purchase I ever made 2004-06-27
I have used this printer for four years and it still works perfectly. I prints photos on photo paper beautifully. I love being able to print 11x17, and friends and family ask me to print for them. I use this printer heavily but have only bought new cartridges once in four years. I often print using the print quality of 'Fast'. The 'Fast' option looks like 'Normal' for most printing except photos. This printer was worth the expense. I also have an HP LaserJet 4L that is still working after more years than I can remember, and it's still fast compared to many newer printers on the market.
Works great....but only with light weight paper! 
2004-02-23
This printer does not load paper properly if it is anything thicker than 6 mil. All of the nice Photo Papers that are a bit thicker and produce wonderful color, do not feed into the roller properly, and the top portions of the photos don't appear. The color is fantastic, but who cares if your missing part of the photo?
You need a JetPrint Server for the tool box to work...(an additional $200 item)and the drivers are very poor. Standard paper feeds properly, but after spending $400 for one that can "do it all", I can't afford another for my photos!
Can't feed anything except regular paper 
2003-12-21
This printer would be great if we could use anything other than regular paper in it. It chokes on photo paper. It chokes on anything thicker than regular paper. You end up wasting as much paper and ink as you use on good prints. The rear feed is a joke. You can't even get regular paper to feed straight. Also, as with most inkjets, the ink costs are ridiculous. I'm buying a color laser (maybe QMS magicolor) and will order my photo prints online (it's cheaper and better).
Don't waste your money on this printer 2003-07-29
Like other HP printers, this one is no different. It works for a few months and then will not feed paper properly. It has three paper feed paths, none of them feed the paper straight. If you are only printing 8.5x11 text documents this would do you just fine, otherwise dont waste your money.
18 Months Product - and then its bye, bye 2003-04-26
Nothing has the impact of crisp, clear printing. The HP DeskJet 1220C Professional Series printer delivers brilliant colors, more natural skin tones and outstanding image quality without sacrificing speed. It achieves fast, professional results on a wide range of plain and specialty media. Specially formulated HP color inks are designed for bright colors and optimum fade resistance. Plus, the quality and clarity of every image is automatically enhanced with HP SmartFocus.The HP DeskJet 1220C Professional Series printer handles special projects or daily jobs, such as letters, proposals and spreadsheets, at speeds up to 11 pages per minute in black and 9.5 pages per minute in color. Don't let your big business ideas be stifled by your printer's small-format limitations. The HP DeskJet 1220C Professional Series printer can handle all your business documents, from 4 x 6 inch postcards to 13 x 19 inch posters, with superior results on all types of media. Easy-to-use media input paths allow effortless switching between media types and sizes. HP's extensive smart software features help you create business pieces in-house, including booklets, handouts, manual duplex reports and 4-foot high posters for maximum impact.
Pleased for the most part 
2002-12-11
I am very pleased with the quality this printer does with photos and other printing projects. However, It does not print well with thicker photo paper. The paper gets jammed even when using the feed in the back of the printer like your supposed to. It is very frustrating and wastes a lot of paper doing this. Other than that its a great printer.
LOVE IT! 2002-10-17
I love this printer. Finally, a printer that can handle large format. I can do an 11 x 17 poster or you can even go larger if you have the paper. I'm also able to print pages to my 11 x 17 leave behind piece that I leave with clients. The visuals are crisp and clear and it's faster than any printer I've ever had in the laserjet category. But I couldn't afford a color laserjet that handled 11 x 17. So for the price, this one is awesome. I used to have my leave behinds done at Kinkos but now I do them myself. Even with the ink costs, I save a bundle. And with the double ink cartridge, I don't have to change it all that often.
planned obsolescence? 2002-10-11
This printer prints beautifully, but unfortunately just a few weeks after the warranty ran out, it won't turn on anymore. From what I've heard this has happened to a lot of people who bought this model. So only buy it if you intend to throw it out in less than a year. Thanks a lot HP.
Good Photo Printer 2002-10-03
I bought this printer mainly to print larger scale photos for personal use. I originally considered at the Canon S9000 and Epson 2200 but was mortified when I learned the cost of operating them. Even though the in tanks are small, I've printed about 25 full color 8x10 photos and 5 11x17s and the ink tanks are still about 45 percent full. That makes it a lot more economical than photo services and the other printers. I was skeptical about it only having three colors, but it has provided good results thus far. I'm certain that if you did a side-by-side comparison with a magnifying glass, you could see a difference, but at a normal viewing distance, the photos turn out beautifully.
On the downside, I spent the best part of the first weekend I owned this printer trying to get their XP driver to work, only to find out on Monday when their tech support is in that they are aware that their XP drivers are deficient, and as a work-around, I should use the XP mini driver. The XP mini driver works ok, but doesn't give you full functionality and with the graphics program I use, doesn't print precisely the size that the print dialog box says it is going to print.
The unit sells off the shelf as being able to print 13x19 format, and its carriage is certainly capable, but whoever did HP's WEB page says it is an 11x17 printer and only list up 11x17 paper in the supplies section for this printer. After a bunch of searching, I was able to find 3 types of 13x17 photo paper in their business pages, but these do not specify compatibility with the 1220cse.
Fortunately, I will not be using card stock, or I'd probably have another thing to gripe about.
Bottom line, if you are looking for an economical large format printer for pictures on your wall at home, this one is less expensive up front, ...
