HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One Printer Software and Driver Download-The HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One Printer ($ 179.99) offers a wealth of features, including an auto-duplexing automatic document feeder (ADF), which many of its competitors lack. Should you opt for HP's Instant Ink ink subscription service, it delivers competitive running costs. These perks, along with good output quality for text, graphics, and photos, elevate the OfficeJet Pro 6978 to our new Editors' Choice midrange all-in-one printer (AIO) for low- to medium-volume printing in small or micro offices and workgroups.
Setup and Software
For the most part, installing the OfficeJet 6978 is straightforward. It's light enough so that getting it out of the box is easy, but it's large enough that it will fit comfortably on only bigger-than-average desktops. At the beginning of the software installation, you're asked whether to accept the software included on the optical disc or to download the latest version from HP's support site. I chose the latter. During the process, the installation program checked the printer for the latest firmware version (there was none available), and offered to download and install I.R.I.S. OCR, a pared down version of Readiris, an industry-standard optical character recognition (OCR) program. At the end of the setup process, the OfficeJet 6978 printed a calibration page that I in turn scanned to align the print heads and complete the installation.
Aside from the printer drivers and help files, the only other bundled software is I.R.I.S. OCR mentioned in the previous paragraph. It allows you to convert scanned document pages to searchable/editable text. Available also are downloadable apps for both Android and iOS that allow you to print from and scan to your mobile devices.
If you purchase the highest-yield ink cartridges for the OfficeJet 6978 outright (as opposed to the company's Instant Ink program), compared to its competitors, this AIO's per-page ink costs are a bit high. Using HP's estimated yields and advertised prices for this printer's "XL" ink cartridges, we calculated the monochrome cost per page at 3.2 cents, and color pages run about 10.4 cents. The Canon MB2720, on the other hand, delivers running costs of 2.7 cents for monochrome pages and 8 cents for color, and the Brother MFC-J985DW (as well as Brother's other INKvestment line business-oriented printers) print at 1 cent for monochrome and just under 5 cents for color.
If, however, you opt for HP's highest ($ 9.99 per month for 300 pages) Instant Ink subscription, you'll pay 3.3 cents for both monochrome and color pages, which is especially a good deal if you print a lot of color pages. In addition, as I was writing this, HP was offering the first three months of Instant Ink-- a $30 value-- for free. A drawback to Instant Ink, though, especially if most of your printing is monochrome (as most small-office and small-business printing is), is that after the first 300 pages, the cost goes up to 4 cents per page, but, again, if the bulk of your printing is color, 4 cents per page isn't such a bad deal.
Conclusion
The HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One Printer prints well and at a competitive clip, and if you print and copy many color pages, HP's Instant Ink subscription service will help keep ongoing operational costs down. If, on the other hand, the bulk of your printing is monochrome, the Canon Maxify MB2720 might be a better choice, as might the Brother MFC-J985DW (or perhaps a higher volume INKvestment AIO, such as the Brother MFC-J5830DW), but the Brother model doesn't print photos as well as the OfficeJet and the Maxify do. The OfficeJet 6978 also comes with an auto-duplexing ADF, which is, if you scan a lot of two-sided originals, a huge time-saver. Automatic two-sided scanning, excellent print quality, competitive print speeds, and potentially low color printing costs are enough to make the OfficeJet Pro 6978 our latest Editors' Choice for low-to-moderate print volume in a small office or workgroup.
HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One Printer Specs :
- Print speed black ISO laser comparable: Up to 20 ppm.
- Print speed color ISO laser comparable: Up to 11 ppm.
- Recommended monthly page volume: 200 to 800 pages (print), 50-150 pages (scan).
- Paper handling input, standard: 225-sheet input tray, 35-sheet ADF.
- Paper handling output, standard: 60-sheet output tray.
- Scanner type: Flatbed, ADF.
- Scan resolution, optical: 1200 dpi.
- Copy reduce/enlarge settings: 25%−400%.
- Fax resolution: Black (best): Up to 300 x 300 dpi; Color (best): 200 x 200 dpi; Black (standard): 203 x 98 dpi; Color (standard): 200 x 200 dpi.
HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One Printer Software and Driver Download
| Operating System | Download |
|---|---|
| HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One Printer series Firmware Update MCP2CN1648AR | Download |
| Application-3rd Party/Readiris Pro 14 for HP 14.2.1 | Download |
| HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One Printer Driver Download for Mac OS, Mac OS X v10.12, v10.11, v10.10, v10.9, v10.8, v10.7 HP Easy Start 2.5.0.144 |
Download |
| HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One Printer Driver Download for Windows Server 2012, 2008HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One series Basic Driver - IT Professional Use only 39.2 | Download |
| Order Physical Media-CD/DVD/USB/Software and Drivers for HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One series | Download |
| Utility-Diagnostic Tools/HP Print and Scan Doctor for Windows 5.0.0.081 | Download |
| Software/HP Easy Start for Windows Printer Utility Software 5.0.3133.35 | Download |
| Firmware/HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One Printer series Firmware Update MCP2CN1648AR | Download |
| HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One Printer Driver Download for Windows 10, 8.1, 7 (32&64bit)/HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One series Full Feature Software and Drivers 39.4 | Download |
How to install the driver for HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One Printer:
- First, you need to click the link provided for download, then select the option “Save” or “Save as”. Clicking “Save” is for downloading the file. Meanwhile, if you choose “Run” or “Open”, the file downloaded will be automatically installed after the downloading process is completed.
- For your information, the driver file that you download will be saved in a certain folder that you have set before, especially in the self-extracting form or (.exe format).
- The last step is double clicking the downloaded file that has the format EXE file for the decompress process. Then, the installation will be automatically started.
How to uninstall the driver by using Control Panel.
Note: The following steps are for Windows 7. The different versions may have the different settings.
- Come to the Start menu, then you need to choose Control panel --> choose the driver and click “Uninstall a Program.”
- Wait until a page appears with the list of the installed program. Then you need to double click the program that you want to uninstall.
- At last, choose “Yes” and “Ok”. The uninstall process is completed.
However, the step-by-step of the installation (and vice versa), it can have differed depend on upon the platform or device that you use for the installation of HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One Printer. The above mentioned, the installation is occurred using Windows 7, for windows XP or windows 8 is not the much different way.
