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HP Photosmart Plus B210 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £100
inc VAT

Although it's cheaper to run, this printer is outclassed by Epson's PX720WD.

HP’s multifunction printers prove that Canon doesn’t have a monopoly on stylish devices at the moment. We particularly like the look of the Photosmart Plus B210, finished mostly in smart matte black and livened up by a glossy top. The scanner lid’s tessellated hexagon design is attractive too.

HP Photosmart Plus B210

HP packs this MFP in a re-usable bag that’s probably too big for general shopping, but is excellent for students or anyone else who wants to keep it handy for protecting against scratches in transit. The device comes festooned with blue tape, but removing it all is a good way to familiarise yourself with its many features. Generally the Photosmart Plus has the same major interfaces, memory card slots and features as the Photosmart Premium C310, but it’s missing an automatic duplexer and has a smaller touchscreen.

Other than the tape, this is an easy device to set up. HP ships its ink cartridges in more minimal packaging than most and they come with a card to help you replace them with compatible ones. The printer makes a succession of intriguing sucking and whirring noises as it prepares to print, giving you something of a distraction while you sit through the incredibly slow software installer, which crashed on our Vista test PC.

When we began our print tests, we found a basic Windows print settings page rather than the user-friendly interface we’d normally expect with an HP device. We uninstalled all the software, rebooted and re-installed, only to find the same page. We were able to continue our normal print tests, but a more limited scan interface prevented us from testing the preview or 150dpi scan speeds as normal.

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Basic Specifications

Rating**
Maximum native print resolution9,600×2,400dpi
Max optical resolution1,200×2,400dpi

Quoted Speeds

Quoted speed, mono A432ppm
Quoted speed, colour A430ppm

Tested Print Speeds

Time for two 10x8in photos 1.08m 22s
Time for six 6x4in photos 1.09m 57s

Physical and Environmental

Standard printer interfacesUSB, 802.11 b/g/n wireless
Optional printer interfacesnone
Size452x401x199mm
Weight7.5kg
Noise (in normal use)69dB(A)
Duty cycle2,500

Paper Handling

Maximum paper sizeA4/legal/panorama up to 360mm long
Maximum paper weight280gsm
Standard paper inputs1
Standard paper input capacity145
Maximum paper inputs2
Maximum paper input capacity145
Duplex (code, cost if option)No

General

Printer technologythermal inkjet
Supported operating systemsWindows XP/Vista/Vista-64/7/7-64, Mac OS X 10.5+
Other inkjet features8.9cm colour touchscreen, automatic print head alignment, replaceable print head, HP web printing, customisable apps
Other inkjet optionsnone

Buying Information

Price£100
Consumable parts and prices£13
Price per colour A4 page4.9p
Quoted life of supplied black cartridge250 pages (ISO/IEC 24712)
Quoted life of supplied colour cartridge(s)300 cyan, magenta, yellow pages (ISO/IEC 24712)
Quoted life of supplied photo cartridge(s)N/A
Warrantyone-year RTB
Supplierhttp://www.amazon.co.uk
Detailswww.hp.co.uk

Print Quality

Number of ink colours4
Number of ink cartridges4
Maximum number of ink colours4
Maximum number of cartridges4
Quoted photo durability108 years
Quoted photo durability sourceWilhelm Imaging Research

Tested Scan Speeds

Full scan area previewN/A
A4 document at 150dpiN/A
A4 document at 300dpi38s
6x4in photo at 600dpi41s
6x4in photo at 1200dpi2m 32s

Tested Copy Speeds

Time for single A4 mono copy 1.016s
Time for single A4 colour copy 1.030s
Time for 10 A4 copies using feeder 2.0N/A

Photo Features

PictBridge supportNo
Borderless printingUp to panoramic
Direct (PC-less) printingYes
Supported memory cardsSD, MMC, Memory Stick Duo
CD printingNo

Copy Features

Maximum number of copies30
Max mono copy resolution600x600dpi
Max colour copy resolution600x600dpi

Fax Features

Max mono fax resolutionN/A
Fax memory (maximum mono pages)N/A