Polaroid PP46d Digital Photo Printer
Polaroid has its brand history from the year 1920s. The Polaroid cooperation is a multinational consumer electronics and eye ware company. Polaroid is especially famous for its instant film cameras that reached the markets in the year 1948. The following review is on the PP46d photo printer of Polaroid.
Toaster like design:
At the very first look at the printer, you will mistake it for a toaster. The Polaroid PP46d features a unique, compact vertical design. The design is very interesting. The device is sleek and has a black and silver theme. It takes up very little space on your desk, by measuring just 7.4 x 4 x 9.4” (H x W x D) and weighs just 4.5 pounds. The facia of the printer has a LCD preview or status display which is very petite. This kind of a very small display is very irritating and you will be needing a lot of patience to browse through the large set of images from the memory cards.
Buttons and slots:
Panels on three sides of the PP46d Digital Photo Printer open to reveal a range of slots. The top has a slot for the four colour thermal printer ribbon cassette. On the left side, you get access to the paper cassette and when you pull the front of the printer down, you will find the 2-inch LCD. This part also sports the various controls that include power, mode, print, quality, and select. There are two memory card slots, one slot for CompactFlash, and another slot for Memory Stick, SmartMedia, SD Memory Card, and Multi-Media Card.
The front of the printer sports a paper slot and a print output slot. The printer’s dye-diffusion thermal transfer printing method applies each of its four colors one at a time, which means the printer slides the paper in and out of that front slot. The finished picture pops out of the print output slot and into the included paper tray.
Set-up and usage:
The set-up and usage of the Polaroid PP46d Compact photo printer is very easy and straight forward. All that you will be needing is a supply cable. But still, you can connect the printer directly to a windows PC through its USB 1.1 interface. When you login to the Polaroid website, they give you a good video resource that allows you to visually see the process of setting up the printer, changing the papers and even trouble shooting a few of the common problems.
The menus in the printer are very intuitive and logical. They are very easy to understand and the options are very simple.
Compatibility:
The Polaroid PP46d Compact Printer also allows you to print directly from Memory Stick, CompactFlash Type I, Memory Stick Pro, Secure Digital/MMC or SmartMediacards. The other formats such as the xD, Mini SD and Memory Stick Duo are supported, but they require an optional adapter. The printer works with all the digital cameras with all removable media.
Image formats and operating system supported:
The image formats supported by the printer are, DCF Exif Ver. 2.1 JPEG (baseline), TIFF(non-compressed) and DPOF (Version 1.0). And, the operating systems with which the printer is compatible with are, Windows Me, Windows 2000 andWindows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP.
Digital Print Order Format feature:
Polaroid has employed the Digital Print Order Format (DPOF) which allows you to create a list on the camera, before you put the media card into the printer and then printing from that list. This feature also allows you to tag the images to enable them for batch printing. As you are working your way through the images, you can mark the shots you would like to print, and then you can print all of them in one batch. Not only does the PP46d has single print and batch printing modes, it also prints a 25 image index sheet or even the numerous multi image formats like the ID or passport print formats.
Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 software:
Polaroid has added the Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 software as a bonus software to the PP46d. This allows the sharing and organising of your prints to be done in a snap. This software also allows you to fix the problem of red eyes, lighting and some other common flaws just in a couple of clicks. With the help of the Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 software, you can create custom slide shows with background music, captions, cards, calendars and more.
No serious editing:
The features of the Polaroid PP46d Dye Sublimation Printer allows you to adjust the settings of brightness and sharpness of the images before they are print. But that is it, if you need to make some serious editing, you will have to make it before you send the photo to the printer.
Main features and performance:
Polaroid PP46d has a resolution of 300dpi. It uses the four pass dye diffusion thermal transfer system (CMY + overcoat) that generates high quality borderless 4″x5″ photos in just 90 seconds. The prints are specially optimized to be viewed under office lights. The flesh tones look really cool in daylight. The photos look the best when they are seen in florescent lighting. The quality of the photos are really stunning and look like real pictures. The colours are reproduced accurately.
PP46d Package:
The package contents include, the Polaroid PP46d photo printer, AC Power Cord, Paper Guide, Driver CD, Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 and Printer User Manual.
Warranty:
The Polaroid PP46d photo printer comes with one year standard warranty.
Verdict:
Though it has lot of features that relates itself to a home photo printer, it still has the capability of sitting over a corporate desk. It is a very competent photo printer but the main disadvantage is that, its prints are super expensive. The passport or ID printing support is the major plus of the printer but the cost per print is whooping. The Polaroid PP46d photo printer also lacks many of the features that is supported by the other printers in the same price range. Since the cons of the printer seem to lie on the most important areas of a photo printer, we do not recommend this for the home photo enthusiasts.
Check Latest Photo Printer Reviews, Specifications, other Polaroid Photo Printer Models in this website.
Polaroid PP46d Colour Photo Printer Specification Table
| Manufacturer | Polaroid |
| Model Name | Polaroid PP46d |
| Printer type | Photo printer |
| Printing Technology | Dye sublimation - Colour |
| Dimensions (H X W X D) | 7.4″ x 4″ x 9.4″ |
| Weight | 4.4 lbs |
| Colour/Finish | Black and silver |
| Display | 2″ LCD display |
| Connectivity | Wired |
| Interface | USB |
| Max Resolution | 300 dpi |
| Operating System Supported | Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition |
| Media Sizes | 4 in x 6 in |
| Expansion Slots | 1 x CompactFlash Card - Type I 1 x Memory Stick Pro 1 x SD Memory Card 1 x SmartMedia Card |
| Number of USB ports | One |
| Compliant standards | CE, UL, CCC, CUL, EMC, FCC, NOM, BSMI, C-Tick |
| Power Consumption Operational | 50 Watt |
| Power Device | Power adapter - External |
| Software bundle | Driver, Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 software |
| Warranty | One year |
Leave a Reply