The office workhorse - Review HP Officejet Pro 8500

For the past couple of years my mother has been using a multi-function printer. But the tangle of the USB cable, running from her laptop to the printer, is a hassle in a wireless home. This problem can be answered by a network printer with a wireless option, though the cost of such a machine has always been a put-off for buyers. But even if you were willing to pay the price, most such printers wouldn’t be ideal for scanning from multiple PCs or support Web Scan.



But the recently launched HP Officejet Pro 8500 is different. HP claims its cost per print is half that of normal colour printers and has a lower energy footprint than laser printers. I did not really check the energy efficiency, but I know it was getting power from a small UPS and did not complain. It also churned out about 60 colour photos at an amazing speed—the printer took about 10 minutes to do the job at 10 pages per minute.

I was not very happy with the photo print quality, especially since I was using Mondi High Weight Inkjet Paper; but this is not supposed to be a photo printer. However, its black&white printing left me impressed for its speed and sharp text. Though I have used it to take about 50 prints every day over the past three weeks, the printer has consumed just a third of the ink cartridges, making me agree with HP’s lower cost per print claim.

Finally, here was a printer which could install on Linux, Mac and Windows without a problem. There are some added features like a tray which can hold 250 sheets, and the duplex function which means you can print on both sides of the paper automatically. The printer uses a four-cartridge system and the console shows the level on each cartridge separately. However, the cartridges used in this HP series are best left to be changed by the dealer, self installation could be tricky. The printer supports a 1200x1200 dpi black quality as standard, and 4800x1200 dpi enhanced colour, but only on HP Photo Paper.

A great feature is the Web Scan, which allows you to scan documents off the printer’s webpage, without loading drivers on to the PC. It also has a scan-to-memory device that lets you scan documents as PDF, JPEG, or text directly on to memory cards or a pen drive. These features alone makes the MFP worth its price for me.

The scanner is both flatbed and Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)—the ADF can automatically scan 50 pages into single or multiple files. The scanner supports a maximum resolution of 4800 dpi with a 48-bit depth, but I was happy with the PDFs created as the images, at 200 x 200 dpi, were both small, readable and reprintable.

The printer comes with an Ethernet (wired) port, plus the option of buying a wireless port. I would suggest an Ethernet wired port, in case you have an Ethernet switch or a port available on your broadband router. The printer supports print-from and scan-to on different memory types—compact Flash 1 and 2, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Secure Digital (SD) cards, High Capacity Secure Digital (SDHC), Multimedia Card (MMC), XD Picture Card and USB pen drive. Micro SD, Mini SD and RS-MMC are supported through an adapter which you will need to buy separately.

I did check out the fax and found that it works like any other with lost of features thrown in.

However, for the price tag it carries, the printer misses a colour LCD screen which would have been helpful in previewing documents on memory cards or USBs. Moreover, weighing around 13 kg, this not so ideal for home use. It comes with a one-year warranty which you can extend up to three years for an additional cost.

The wired network printer has a price tag of Rs 20,681 while the wireless version can be yours for Rs 22,899. The price is indeed a bottleneck, but if you have a very high print load, this is one cost you can pay for the features the HP Officejet Pro 8500 offers you.

For More Information on HP's website, click here.
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The above article / review appeared in the Indian Express, on Sunday 7th June 2009