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HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £308
inc VAT

Specifications

colour inkjet MFP, 35ppm print speed, USB, PictBridge USB, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11b/g wireless, 331x494x479mm

http://www.hp-sales.co.uk

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

Rating *****
Maximum native print resolution 4,800×1,200dpi
Max optical resolution 2,400×4,800dpi
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