We like the page cost, too and the positive response from the touchscreen. We like the twin paper trays and the machine’s convenience in powering the photo tray.
While the black page costs are very similar to the other two machines we’ve mentioned, the colour page cost is between 1.5p and 2.0p cheaper, – a worthwhile saving.įor just under £90, including the revised VAT rate of 17.5 per cent, this is a very capable all-in-one.
#INK FOR HP PHOTOSMART PLUS B209A M ISO#
The four cartridges are the only consumables in this machine and using the higher yield XL versions produces page costs of 3.07p for an ISO black page and 7.71p for ISO colour. Where necessary, the machine can produce vivid hues on HP’s own Advanced Photo paper. Colours are natural, though, and colour gradations smooth. Photo prints are also good, though as with many machines we’ve reviewed, some detail is lost in darker areas of images. A colour copy also reproduced well, though colours are a little light. Business graphics are bright and generally smooth, with no signs of dither patterns and only slight fuzzing of black text over coloured backgrounds. Black text shows very few signs of ink run and even at small point sizes characters are well formed with only slight jaggedness. Even so, a minute a print isn’t out of order. The HP machine takes around a minute, irrespective of source, while recent tests of the PIXMA MP990 and Stylus Photo PX710W produce print speeds of about 30 seconds. The 5-page text and graphics print produced a speed of 5.08ppm.ġ0 x 10cm photo print speeds are slower than from some of the machine’s rivals, particularly all-in-ones from Canon and Epson. Our 5-page text print returned a speed of 7.69ppm and the 20-page test increased this to 9.92ppm. Leaving aside the erratic delays at the start of print, which occur maybe once every five prints or so, print speeds are pretty good for this class of machine. We have no idea why the printer has to take this long fidgeting around. That’s very convenient, as it gives very much a best case result. The ISO speed standard says timings can be measured from the start of the paper moving from the input tray, which excludes preparation time. During our tests, it took 79 seconds before starting to print one five-page text document. It can take a long while for a print job to start, as the printer checks itself and primes its engine. The biggest snag with the working of the Photosmart Plus B209a is the same as with the Photosmart Wireless. This can be awkward if you’ve bought the machine because you have space restrictions on your desk. The printer can be connected via USB or Ethernet, but also offers wireless connection, though you have to connect temporarily via USB (a cable is supplied) to set up the link.
#INK FOR HP PHOTOSMART PLUS B209A M WINDOWS#
In addition there is the usual mix of HP utilities, including Solution Center, and a copy of Windows Live Photo Gallery. The cartridges, which look oddly similar to Canon consumables, clip into the print head and the machine then completes an alignment page, which has to be scanned back in, before the first prints can be made.ĭrivers are provided for Windows and OS X and Linux alternatives using the CUPS protocol can be downloaded from the HP site. This is a four-colour printer, which can take either standard or XL cartridges in the CMYK inks. Pages feed out to the top of the paper trays, though you have to extend a support and paper stop, considerably increasing the overall footprint of the Photosmart Plus. The photo tray automatically powers into the printer when you select to print on this media. There are two paper trays integrated into the front of the machine, a 150-sheet one for plain paper up to A4 size and another for up to 20 sheets of photo paper. There’s also a PictBridge socket that will also read USB drives. Its position makes the screen very easy to use, as does the sensitivity of the panel itself.īelow the control panel are two memory card slots, which between them can take SD, MemoryStick and xD cards. Like its stablemates, the Plus is decked out in textured and high gloss black and has a raised panel sticking up in front of the flatbed scanner lid, which contains a 61mm touchscreen with dedicated touch buttons down either side. It’s designed as a home machine, with a leaning towards photo print. There are three Photosmart all-in-ones in HP’s range: the Photosmart, the Photosmart Wireless and the Photosmart Plus, which sits in the middle and is the subject of this review. (centre) Best Home Office Printer (/centre)
0 kommentar(er)
