HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless review
HP's Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless is far more expensive than the other inkjets here, but it's designed to compete with colour laser MFPs.
It has a comprehensive web interface, automatic duplexer, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11b/g wireless, a 250-sheet paper tray and a 3?in touch screen. It's the only inkjet here to provide a duty cycle figure; at 15,000 pages, it's on a par with more expensive laser printers.
Its separate print heads reduce costs, as headless ink cartridges are cheaper to produce. The heads are easy to replace if they become blocked. The first time it's switched on, the printer takes about half an hour to charge its ink reservoirs, align its print heads and auto-initialise. Irritatingly, we couldn't find a way to switch the default Letter paper size to A4 using Windows' printer preferences or the printer's onscreen menus and web interface.
The Officejet produces mono text prints that rival those of most laser printers. It prints at 15.6ppm, and its colour print speed of 5.2ppm exceeded every colour printer here except for Lexmark's X544dn laser. Colour print quality was outstanding, even on cheap 80gsm paper, while thicker media produced even better results. However, photo prints suffered from poor shading and visible dithering.
The scanner's software interface is poor, with key settings buried several mouse clicks away. Fortunately, you can configure it to scan files to a designated format and location at the touch of a button on the device itself, which is far more convenient.
HP claims that the 8500 can print at half the cost of a colour laser, while producing prints of a similar quality. Print costs are indeed among the lowest we've seen, at just 0.9p per sheet of mono A4 and 3.5p per mixed colour page. It's also power efficient, as it draws just 35W while active. It's expensive to buy but cost-effective to run. With brilliant document quality, fast printing and low ink costs, the Officejet Pro 8500 is an ideal Business Buy.
Basic Specifications | |
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Rating | ***** |
Maximum native print resolution | 4,800x1,200dpi |
Max optical resolution | 2,400x4,800dpi |
Output bit depth | 48-bit |
Quoted Speeds | |
Quoted speed, mono A4 | 35ppm |
Quoted speed, colour A4 | 34ppm |
Tested Print Speeds | |
Time for two 10x8in photos 1.0 | 6m 5s |
Time for six 6x4in photos 1.0 | 9m 50s |
Physical and Environmental | |
Standard printer interfaces | USB, PictBridge USB, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11b/g wireless |
Optional printer interfaces | Bluetooth adaptor (Q6273A), £15 |
Size | 331x494x479mm |
Weight | 12.7kg |
Noise (in normal use) | 59dB(A) |
Duty cycle | 15,000 pages |
Power consumption standby | 5W |
Power consumption idle | 7W |
Power consumption active | 35W |
Paper Handling | |
Maximum paper size | A4/legal |
Maximum paper weight | 250gsm |
Standard paper inputs | 1 |
Standard paper input capacity | 250 |
Maximum paper inputs | 2 |
Maximum paper input capacity | 500 |
Duplex (code, cost if option) | Yes |
General | |
Printer technology | thermal inkjet |
Supported operating systems | Windows 2000/XP/XP-64/Vista/Vista-64, Mac OS X 10.4.11+, Linux |
Other inkjet features | 3.5in touchscreen, automatic print head alignment |
Other inkjet options | 250 sheet paper tray CB802A, £TBC |
Buying Information | |
Price | £308 |
Consumable parts and prices | HP 940XL 2,200 page black C4906AE, £20, HP 904XL 1400 page cyan C4907AE, magenta C4908AE, yellow C4909AE, £12 each, HP 940 print heads black & yellow C4900A, cyan & magenta C4901A, £35 each |
Price per colour A4 page | 2.6p |
Quoted life of supplied black cartridge | 1000 pages (ISO/IEC 24711) |
Quoted life of supplied colour cartridge(s) | 900 pages (ISO/IEC 24711) |
Quoted life of supplied photo cartridge(s) | N/A |
Warranty | one year RTB |
Supplier | http://www.hp-sales.co.uk |
Details | www.hp.co.uk |
Print Quality | |
Number of ink colours | 4 |
Number of ink cartridges | 4 |
Maximum number of ink colours | 4 |
Maximum number of cartridges | 4 |
Tested Scan Speeds | |
Full scan area preview | 15s |
A4 document at 150dpi | 11s |
A4 document at 300dpi | 36s |
6x4in photo at 600dpi | 42s |
6x4in photo at 1200dpi | 3m 20s |
Tested Copy Speeds | |
Time for single A4 mono copy 1.0 | 22s |
Time for single A4 colour copy 1.0 | 26s |
Time for 10 A4 copies using feeder 2.0 | 2m 8s |
Photo Features | |
PictBridge support | Yes |
Borderless printing | up to A4 |
Direct (PC-less) printing | Yes |
Supported memory cards | CF, SD, SDHC, MMC, Memory Stick Pro, xD |
CD printing | No |
Copy Features | |
Maximum number of copies | 99 |
Max mono copy resolution | 1,200x600dpi |
Max colour copy resolution | 1,200x600dpi |
Fax Features | |
Max mono fax resolution | 300x300dpi |
Fax memory (maximum mono pages) | 125 |