HP Smart Tank 7603 Review: Cartridge Free Printing Worth It?

Printer ink drains wallets faster than almost any other home office supply. You buy a cheap printer, then pay for tiny cartridges again and again. The HP Smart Tank 7603 flips that math. It ships with refillable tanks and enough bottled ink to cover roughly three years of normal home printing.

This review looks at the real picture. I cover the print speeds, the scan quality, the setup process, the running cost, and the parts that annoy people. By the end you will know whether this printer belongs on your desk or whether one of the alternatives suits you better.

In a Nutshell

Short on time? Here are the key points from this HP Smart Tank 7603 review.

• Ink cost is the headline feature. The box includes one HP 32XL black bottle and three HP 31 color bottles. HP rates that supply at up to 6,000 black pages and 8,000 color pages, which works out to a cost per page near half a cent.
• It is a true four function machine. You get print, scan, copy, and fax in one body, plus a 35 sheet automatic document feeder and automatic two sided printing.
• Speeds suit home offices, not print shops. Expect up to 15 pages per minute in black and 9 pages per minute in color under ISO testing, with draft mode pushing past 20 ppm.
• Connectivity is generous. Dual band WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, WiFi Direct, and USB all appear on the spec sheet, so the printer fits almost any network.
• The 3 inch touchscreen keeps things simple. Menus stay shallow, and the HP Smart app handles scanning, mobile printing, and ink monitoring.
• Price sits in the mid range. Street prices typically land between $300 and $400, with frequent rebates. You pay more upfront and far less over time.

HP Smart Tank 7603 Overview

Last update on 2026-08-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

The HP Smart Tank 7603 is a refillable ink tank printer built for busy homes and small offices. HP places it near the top of the Smart Tank family, above the 6001 and just beside the older 7602 model.

The core idea is simple. Instead of cartridges, the printer holds four clear tanks on the right side. You pour ink from bottles into those tanks, and the printer prints for months.

The model number for this unit is D34F7A or 9B5D1A depending on the retail bundle. Both refer to the same hardware in white with light portobello accents.

HP loads the machine with useful hardware. A 250 sheet input tray sits at the base, a 100 sheet output tray slides out above it, and a 35 sheet document feeder sits on top of the flatbed scanner.

The printer measures about 16.8 inches wide, 14.3 inches deep, and 9.5 inches tall. It weighs roughly 17 pounds, so one person can move it without trouble.

HP markets the 7603 as an AI enabled printer. In practice that means smarter document detection in the HP Smart app, plus self healing WiFi that reconnects on its own after router hiccups.

The duty cycle reaches 6,000 pages per month. HP recommends a real world volume of 400 to 1,200 pages monthly, which tells you the target buyer clearly. This is a machine for families, students, and home businesses that print every single day.

What Comes Inside the Box

Unboxing the Smart Tank 7603 feels generous compared with cartridge printers. HP includes everything you need for years of printing rather than a starter sample.

Inside you will find the printer itself, one HP 32XL black ink bottle at 135 ml, and three HP 31 color bottles at 50 ml each in cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Two printheads ship separately in the box. One handles black, the other handles the three colors. These printheads are user replaceable, which matters because clogged printheads kill many inkjet printers.

HP also packs a power cord, a setup guide, a reference guide, an ink caution flyer, a regulatory flyer, and a warranty flyer. There is no USB cable, so buy one if you plan a wired connection.

The bottles use keyed nozzles. Each bottle only fits its matching tank, so you cannot pour yellow into the cyan reservoir by mistake.

Filling takes about five minutes. You lift the tank lid, press each bottle into place, and the ink flows on its own until the tank fills. No squeezing and no drips, which is a real improvement over older tank systems.

Replacement bottles cost far less than cartridges. A 135 ml HP 32XL black bottle prints around 6,000 pages, and each 70 ml HP 31 color bottle prints up to 8,000 pages.

Design and Build Quality

The Smart Tank 7603 wears a clean white shell with soft grey accents. It looks calm on a desk rather than industrial, which suits a living room corner or a spare bedroom office.

The chassis feels solid for a home inkjet. Panels flex a little under pressure, but nothing rattles during a print run.

The ink tanks sit behind a transparent window on the front right side. You can check levels with a glance instead of opening software, and that small design choice saves real annoyance.

A 3 inch mono touchscreen sits on the top left of the control panel. It tilts slightly upward for easier viewing while standing.

The screen is not a full color display. Icons stay crisp and readable, though the mono panel looks basic next to rivals that ship color screens at similar prices.

The paper path deserves praise. The 250 sheet tray loads from the front, so you never need clearance above the printer. That helps if you place the unit on a shelf.

The scanner lid lifts on hinged arms that rise for thick books. The automatic document feeder on top handles legal size pages up to 216 by 356 mm.

Cable ports hide at the rear. You get one Ethernet port, one Hi Speed USB 2.0 port, one fax line, and a USB host port for JPEG printing from a flash drive.

Build quality reviews from owners lean positive. Most complaints target software rather than hardware, which is a good sign for long term ownership.

Top 3 Alternatives for HP Smart Tank 7603

Not every buyer needs the full feature set of the 7603. These three tank printers cover the main alternatives at different price points.

Last update on 2026-07-01 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

The Epson EcoTank ET-4800 is the value pick. It offers print, scan, copy, fax, a document feeder, and Ethernet at a lower price. Speeds sit around 10 pages per minute in black, so it is slower, and it lacks automatic two sided printing.

Last update on 2026-06-09 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

The Canon MegaTank G3270 targets photo lovers. Canon includes up to two years of ink and quotes 6,000 black pages and 7,700 color pages. Photo output looks excellent for the price, though you lose the document feeder and fax support.

Last update on 2026-06-09 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

The HP Smart Tank 6001 is the budget option inside the same family. It prints, scans, and copies with two years of ink included. You give up fax, Ethernet, and the document feeder, but you keep the same low cost per page and the same HP Smart app experience.

Pick the Epson if fax and price matter most. Pick the Canon if photos matter most. Pick the 6001 if you only print, scan, and copy for a small household.

Setup and Wireless Connection

Setup follows the modern HP routine. You remove the packing tape, install both printheads, fill the four tanks, load paper, and let the printer prime itself.

The priming cycle takes roughly ten to fifteen minutes. Do not power off during this stage, because the printer is pulling ink through the printheads for the first time.

The touchscreen walks you through language, region, and date settings. It then asks you to download the HP Smart app on a phone or computer.

Wireless pairing uses Bluetooth to hand off your WiFi credentials. In most homes the printer joins the network in under two minutes.

The 7603 supports dual band WiFi on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, which is a genuine advantage. Many budget printers only see the crowded 2.4 GHz band.

HP calls its reconnection feature self healing WiFi. When the router reboots, the printer scans and rejoins on its own instead of sitting offline until you intervene.

Ethernet works as a plug and play backup. Small offices with wired networks will appreciate the port, since it removes wireless variables entirely.

One honest warning: the app pushes an HP account signup and offers Instant Ink enrollment. You do not need Instant Ink on a tank printer, so skip that step unless you want it.

Driver installation on Windows 11 and macOS runs through the same app. Chrome OS users can print without extra drivers.

Print Speed and Everyday Performance

HP quotes up to 15 pages per minute in black and up to 9 pages per minute in color using ISO measurements. Those numbers hold up reasonably well in normal use.

Draft mode moves faster. HP claims up to 23 ppm in black and 22 ppm in color when quality drops to draft settings.

First page out takes about 14 seconds for black and 16 seconds for color from ready state. The printer wakes quickly from sleep, which matters more than raw speed for short jobs.

A ten page text document finishes in well under a minute. That covers school assignments, invoices, shipping labels, and forms without a wait.

Two sided printing runs automatically. The sheet pauses, reverses, and prints the back, which adds a few seconds per page but saves half your paper.

Photo printing is slower by nature. A borderless 8.5 by 11 inch photo on glossy paper can take several minutes at best quality.

The 800 MHz processor and 256 MB of memory handle typical office files smoothly. Very heavy graphics files take longer to spool, which is normal in this class.

Copy speeds sit at 13 copies per minute in black and 6 copies per minute in color under ISO testing. Maximum copy speed climbs to 23 cpm in black.

For a household that prints a few hundred pages a month, the 7603 never feels slow. Heavy volume offices printing thousands of pages weekly should still look at a laser machine.

Print Quality for Documents and Photos

Text output is the strong point. Black text prints at up to 1200 by 1200 rendered dpi, and letters look sharp with clean edges at normal reading sizes.

Small fonts down to 8 points stay legible. Résumés, contracts, and reports look professional enough for client use.

Color graphics print at up to 4800 by 1200 optimized dpi. Charts, logos, and presentation slides show accurate color with good saturation.

Photo quality lands in the good but not outstanding range. The 7603 uses a four ink system, so it cannot match six ink photo printers for skin tones and gradients.

On HP glossy photo paper, prints look bright and detailed. Dark areas can lose a little shadow separation, and skies sometimes show mild banding.

Borderless printing works up to 8.5 by 11 inches. Family photos, greeting cards, and school projects come out well.

Plain paper color printing shows some bleed on cheap 20 pound stock. Moving to 24 pound paper cleans that up noticeably.

The pigment style black ink resists smudging on documents once dry. Highlighters generally do not smear the text, which is useful for students.

Overall the print quality suits home offices, students, and small businesses. Professional photographers will want a dedicated photo printer instead.

Scanning, Copying, and Fax Features

The scanner is a flatbed with a contact image sensor. Optical resolution reaches 1200 dpi, which is plenty for documents and decent for casual photo scans.

Scan speed runs about 8 images per minute in mono and 3.5 in color at 200 ppi. The flatbed handles letter size originals at 216 by 297 mm.

The 35 sheet automatic document feeder handles multipage jobs. It accepts legal length pages, so tax forms and contracts fit without folding.

The feeder is single sided. Two sided originals require manual flipping or software assembly, and that is a common complaint from owners of the Smart Tank line.

Scan file formats include JPG, PDF, PNG, and TIFF. The HP Smart app adds optical character recognition, so scanned pages become searchable text.

Copying supports up to 99 copies at once. Resize ranges from 25 to 400 percent, and an ID copy mode places both sides of a card on one page.

Copy resolution reaches 600 dpi for black text and 600 by 600 dpi for color. Copies look clean, though heavy color originals lose a little punch.

Fax remains fully functional and supports color. Transmission runs at 33.6 kbps, roughly four seconds per page, with memory for about 100 pages.

Up to 99 speed dial numbers can be stored. Medical offices, legal offices, and real estate agents still need fax, and this machine covers them.

Ink Tank System and Running Costs

The tank system is why people buy this printer. Four refillable reservoirs replace disposable cartridges completely.

HP includes up to three years of ink based on 180 pages per month of typical Smart Tank customer usage. That figure equals roughly 6,500 total pages for the average user.

Rated yields go higher for text heavy printing. The HP 32XL black bottle covers around 6,000 pages, and each HP 31 color bottle covers up to 8,000 pages.

The cost per page works out near $0.004 for black. Compare that with five to ten cents per page on cartridge printers and the savings become obvious.

A replacement black bottle typically costs under $25. Color bottles cost less. Printing 5,000 pages on this machine costs less than one full cartridge refill cycle on many rivals.

Ink levels appear through the clear front window and inside the HP Smart app. You never guess how much ink remains.

Refilling takes minutes and creates no mess thanks to the keyed bottle design. Ink does not spill because the flow stops when the tank fills.

One caution applies to all inkjets. Print at least a few pages every week to keep the printheads clear, because ink can dry in unused nozzles.

The good news is that both printheads are replaceable by the owner. If a clog becomes permanent, you swap the printhead rather than the printer.

Paper Handling and Duplex Printing

Last update on 2026-08-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Paper handling is a quiet strength here. The 250 sheet main tray holds half a ream, so you refill far less often than on 100 sheet budget printers.

The tray pulls out from the front and adjusts with sliding guides. It accepts letter, legal, A4, A5, A6, B5, envelopes, and index cards.

Custom sizes run from 88.9 by 127 mm up to 215.9 by 355.6 mm. That covers photo paper, postcards, and legal documents.

The output tray holds 100 sheets and includes an extension arm. Pages stack neatly instead of sliding onto the floor.

Automatic duplex printing comes standard. You can set two sided output as your default in the driver and cut paper use in half.

Recommended paper weight ranges from 60 to 105 gsm. Heavier card stock can feed, but results vary and jams become more likely.

Envelope printing works through the main tray. Load them face down with the flap positioned as the on screen guide shows.

Jams are uncommon based on owner feedback. Several reviewers specifically praised the 7603 after suffering multi feed problems on older HP models.

The rear access panel opens for clearing any jam that does occur. No tools are needed.

HP Smart App and AI Features

The HP Smart app is the control center for this printer. It runs on iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS.

From the app you can print documents and photos, scan to email or cloud storage, check ink levels, and run maintenance routines.

Mobile scanning uses your phone camera as a second scanner. The app detects edges, corrects perspective, and saves a clean PDF.

HP labels the 7603 as AI enabled. The practical benefits include smarter document cropping, automatic image enhancement, and better handling of web pages during printing.

Print AI features aim to strip clutter from web pages before printing. Ads and navigation menus disappear, which saves ink and paper.

Mobile printing standards are all supported. Apple AirPrint, the HP Print Service Plugin for Android, and WiFi Direct all work without extra software.

The app also handles firmware updates automatically. That keeps security patches current, though updates occasionally arrive at inconvenient moments.

Two criticisms are fair. The app pushes account creation and marketing offers, and some settings still require the older printer web interface.

For most users the app works reliably. If you dislike apps, the touchscreen and standard drivers cover everything you need for daily printing.

Noise, Power Use, and Maintenance

The Smart Tank 7603 stays reasonably quiet. Normal printing produces a steady mechanical hum rather than a harsh clatter.

The loudest moments come during startup priming and printhead cleaning cycles. Those events are brief and infrequent.

Power draw is very low. HP lists 0.1 watts when off and 1.10 watts in sleep mode, with typical weekly consumption around 0.20 kWh.

That means the printer costs pennies per year to keep plugged in. Leaving it powered on actually helps, because scheduled maintenance cycles run automatically.

Maintenance itself is light. The printer runs its own nozzle checks and cleaning routines when needed.

If print quality drops, the touchscreen offers printhead cleaning and alignment tools. Two cleaning passes usually restore clean output.

Keep the printer away from direct sunlight and heat. Operating temperature ranges from 41 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit with humidity between 20 and 80 percent.

Warranty coverage extends to three years when you register the printer with HP after purchase. That is longer than the one year standard on most consumer inkjets.

Registration takes a few minutes online. Do it immediately, because the extended coverage requires enrollment.

Pros and Cons of the HP Smart Tank 7603

Here is the honest balance sheet after weighing specifications, owner feedback, and real world value.

Pros

• Up to three years of ink included in the box, covering roughly 6,000 black and 8,000 color pages
• Extremely low running cost at about half a cent per black page
• Full four function design with print, scan, copy, and fax in one body
• Automatic two sided printing saves paper on long documents
• Large 250 sheet input tray reduces refill frequency
• Dual band WiFi plus Ethernet, Bluetooth, WiFi Direct, and USB connectivity
• Self healing WiFi reconnects after router restarts without user action
• User replaceable printheads extend the practical lifespan of the machine
• Three year warranty available after free registration
• Clear front tank window shows ink levels at a glance

Cons

• Higher upfront price than cartridge printers, often $300 or more
• The 3 inch touchscreen is monochrome rather than color
• Document feeder scans one side only, so duplex originals need manual flipping
• Photo output trails dedicated six ink photo printers
• Color print speed of 9 ppm feels modest for the price
• HP Smart app pushes accounts and promotional offers during setup
• Occasional firmware updates change behavior without warning
• Not a good match for very light users who print only a few pages monthly

The pattern is clear. Hardware value is strong and software polish is the weaker half.

Who Should Buy the HP Smart Tank 7603

This printer fits specific buyers extremely well and suits others poorly. Matching the machine to your habits matters more than any spec.

Home offices are the sweet spot. If you print invoices, contracts, shipping labels, and reports every week, the ink savings pay back the purchase price quickly.

Families with school age children benefit heavily. Homework, projects, permission slips, and study guides add up to hundreds of pages a month, and cartridge printers punish that volume.

Small businesses that still need fax will appreciate the built in fax modem. Real estate offices, clinics, and legal practices remain fax dependent.

Anyone who hates buying cartridges should look here. The frustration of running dry mid job largely disappears with 135 ml tanks in place.

People who print fewer than twenty pages a month should reconsider. Low volume users risk dried printheads, and the higher upfront price never pays back.

Photo enthusiasts should also look elsewhere. A six ink photo printer produces noticeably better prints for images.

High volume offices printing thousands of black pages weekly will still be happier with a mono laser. Speed and duty cycle favor laser at that scale.

Everyone in between gets a strong deal. Buy this printer if you print regularly and want predictable, low costs.

Final Verdict on the HP Smart Tank 7603

The HP Smart Tank 7603 earns a clear recommendation for regular printers. It solves the single biggest complaint about inkjet ownership, which is the endless cartridge expense.

You pay more at checkout and far less afterward. Three years of ink in the box is not marketing fluff, it is roughly 6,000 pages of real printing.

The feature list holds up under scrutiny. Automatic duplex, a 250 sheet tray, a 35 sheet feeder, fax, Ethernet, and dual band WiFi cover nearly every home office need.

Print quality satisfies for documents and pleases for casual photos. Text is sharp, color graphics look accurate, and copies stay clean.

The weak spots are real but minor. A mono screen, a single sided feeder, and a pushy app do not undo the value on offer.

Owner sentiment supports the score. Ratings across major retailers sit near 4.7 out of 5, with most praise going to setup ease and ink economy.

Against rivals, the 7603 wins on features. The Epson ET-4800 costs less but prints slower without duplex, while the Canon G3270 prints better photos but drops fax and the feeder.

Score: 4.5 out of 5. The HP Smart Tank 7603 is one of the smartest home office printer purchases available right now for anyone who prints often.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much ink comes with the HP Smart Tank 7603?

The box includes one HP 32XL black bottle at 135 ml and three HP 31 color bottles at 50 ml each. HP rates that supply at up to three years for typical users, or roughly 6,000 black pages and 8,000 color pages depending on what you print.

Does the HP Smart Tank 7603 print double sided automatically?

Yes. Automatic duplex printing is built in, so the printer flips pages internally without any manual handling. You can set two sided printing as your default in the driver to cut paper use in half.

Can the HP Smart Tank 7603 scan two sided documents?

Not automatically. The 35 sheet document feeder scans one side at a time, so you must flip the stack yourself for two sided originals. The flatbed handles single pages and books normally.

Does this printer require an HP Instant Ink subscription?

No. The Smart Tank 7603 uses refillable bottles, so no subscription is needed. The app may offer enrollment during setup, and you can decline it without losing any printing features.

What is the cost per page on the HP Smart Tank 7603?

Black pages cost about $0.004 each based on HP figures, which is under half a cent. Color pages cost slightly more but remain far below typical cartridge printer costs of five to ten cents per page.

Does the HP Smart Tank 7603 work with Ethernet?

Yes. The printer includes a built in Ethernet port along with dual band WiFi, Bluetooth, WiFi Direct, and a Hi Speed USB 2.0 port. Small offices can wire it directly to a router or switch.

How long is the warranty on the HP Smart Tank 7603?

HP offers up to a three year extended warranty when you register the product after purchase. Registration is free and takes a few minutes on the HP website, so complete it right after setup.