Wireless printers are becoming more and more popular both in the home and in the office, and the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 wireless printer is one of the highest rated among a growing crop of competition. It gets high marks for speed and versatility, but do these things make the high price tag worth it for the average consumer?
Top Features of the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 Wireless Printer
Coming in at around $270 the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 is a little pricey for all but the most demanding home users, but small offices and businesses will benefit from the professional features that it packs in its small package. For starters, users with a WiFi wireless laptop computer can print to the Pro 8500 without having to connect a cable or share the printer through a wireless router or print server.
In terms of convenience this is huge, but the OfficeJet Pro 8500 does not stop there. In addition to the wireless print server built into the unit it also boasts an impressive collection of additional features:
- Automatic duplex printing (print on both sides of the paper without manually flipping it over)
- 50 sheet automatic document feeder
- 3.4 inch touchscreen LCD display on the control panel
- 2400x4800 pixel scanning resolution
- Media card reader built in
- Four ink cartridges (helps save money over units that have all ink in one large cartridge)
- Up to 35 pages per minute (black) in draft mode
- Up to 11 pages per minute (color) in laser quality mode
- Scanning, copying, faxing, and printing all in one unit
Issues That Detract From The HP OfficeJet Pro 8500
The reviews from professional technology organizations such as CNET and even from consumers on sites like Amazon show give the OfficeJet Pro 8500 some of their highest marks (CNET even gave it the Editor's Choice Award).
Still, there are a few things that detract from the overall effectiveness of the OfficeJet Pro 8500, and that may give a potential buyer pause. First, several users have reported that the unit is unacceptably noisy and often emits a loud, high pitched whine while printing. Of course, for an inkjet printer that can print up to one page every two seconds some degree of noise must be accepted.
A few other users have complained that the OfficeJet Pro 8500 is not very friendly to printing on envelopes, requiring the user to remove all paper from the printer and use the main tray rather than being able to print from the manual bypass. This is perhaps the most significant of the complaints as other issues (including the noise complaint) have not been reported by all users.
For the home office or small business looking for a useful, high quality all-in-one multifunction printer, scanner, and fax unit the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 certainly appears to be a unit that justifies that rather high price tag. For use in these environments or in any situation where easy, wireless printing and scanning is desired the 8500 should be considered a top contender.
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