HP Deskjet F380 is a low-cost all-in-one printer designed for light home use. It combines printing, scanning, and copying into one reasonably compact device for about $80. Its slow speed and mediocre print quality will disappoint users who need high-volume printing or high-quality photos, but it will suffice for anyone who just wants to print the occasional Mapquest directions or a casual snapshot. If you need more features, such PictBridge compatibility for printing directly from a digital camera or a built-in media card reader, invest a bit more money for something like the Canon Pixma MP450.

The adage “you get what you pay for” applies to the Deskjet F380. The body of the light-gray-and-white printer is boxy and made of more lightweight plastic than HP’s more expensive printers, such as the HP OfficeJet 5610 or even the basic Deskjet 6940. The printer measures 16.8 inches wide, 10.2 inches deep (with the paper tray folded in), and 7 inches tall, and weighs a light 10.3 pounds. Still, it feels well-enough constructed, though the glossy white scanner lid is a bit wobbly and flimsy. The scanner lid’s hinges don’t lift to accommodate thick materials, and A4-size paper (slightly larger than letter size) is the largest that fits on the platen, or scanner bed.

Picture-takers won’t find any flash-memory-card slots or PictBridge port to plug in a digital camera, nor an LCD screen to preview photos. Shutterbugs can, however, make borderless 4 by 6-inch prints, and also step up from four- to six-color printing by replacing the black ink cartridge with a photo cartridge (not included).

None of that, however, should disqualify the Deskjet from finding a home with families or dorm-room dwellers who want sharp (if slow) high-quality printing plus occasional copying or image-import or optical character recognition (OCR) scanning.

One exception to the HP Deskjet F380 All-In-One’s minimalist approach is that the scanner has an optical resolution of 1,200 pixels per inch, which is high enough to let you scan a photo and enlarge it. Combined with the reasonably good photo output, this makes it a potentially good choice if you’re interested primarily in scanning and printing photos, but it’s hard to recommend it otherwise.