I must admit. My relationship with the PSC 1315 All-in-One printer from Hewlett-Packard has been more like a shotgun marriage. I can still remember when I bought the printer at SM Cubao's appliance center, one rainy September evening. It was too late to go to Gilmore, and I had to print the final draft of a training module that my wife and I were writing for a client, a development organization.

The client was expecting the document the following day. Having the document printed at an Internet café would have set me back by a couple of thousand of pesos. And my old printer had conked out, breathed its last, a couple of months earlier. So, my wife and I decided to instead spend a couple of thousand bucks more and buy a new printer. That was how we ended up with the PSC 1315, which was one of the two HP printer models being sold that fateful night at the appliance store.

Constant Presence

The HP PSC 1315 All-in-One does not have a pretty body. Even five years ago, the PSC 1315 would not stand out in a group of printers or other all-in-ones. Also, its overall performance might possibly not earn it a whole bunch of Hall-of-Fame points. But in its own way, this HP printing platform has been a printing, scanning, and copying workhorse for the past five years. It has served us well, meeting our printing needs more than adequately.

Setting up the printer, while not exactly idiot-proof, qualified to be a breeze. After loading the CD, installing the software, and plugging in the wires, the PSC 1315 was ready to go. For a printer priced below 5,000 pesos (2005 price), the HP all-in-one device prints, scans, and copies quite well. Combining good quality print output with adequately fast speed, the PSC 1315 has been producing prints, printing family pictures, and copying documents with consistent reliability. You could say, I have been taking it for granted.

Easy, Sturdy

One thing I like best about this HP AIO is how easy it is to install its driver and related software.

I have reformatted my old PC at least twice (virus attack and hard disk collapse) and my present computer once (hard disk failure), and on all those occasions I forgot to keep a copy of the printer's driver. I had to go online and download the applications required to make the PSC 1315 run.

The USB-compatible (1.1 and 2.0) AIO has also shown how sturdy is its built. It has joined me and my family when we moved to Bicol in 2006 and relocated back to the metropolis in 2008.

It also is on its second PC, having survived our old home computer (a Pentium III system) and is now mated to a Pentium IV-based, aging but still going strong PC.

Today, there is nary a sign of wear and tear, dementia, or any other age-related shortcomings on the part of the PSC 1315. It has become a constant presence in my family's computing and printing world, a silent witness to the daily adventure we call domestic life.

I expect it to stay with us for quite some time more.