An excellent inexpensive all-in-one device, March 31, 2010

By 

S. Lionel (NH USA) – See all my reviews

  

  

  

I’ve been a user of HP printers for many years now, most recently a Photosmart C7250 All-In-One. The new HP Officejet 4500 Wireless has many of the capabilities of the C7250 for a much lower price. Both are inkjet printers, of course, both are color fax machines, both can copy in black-and-white or color, both have a high-resolution scanner with document feeder and both have wireless connectivity.

Of course you do give up some things for the lower (by about half) price: the 4500 has only a black and a tricolor ink cartridge with integrated print heads (the C7250 has six independent ink tanks), the 4500 lacks automatic two-side printing, lacks “photo printing” (though it does a decent job at printing images), and doesn’t have a built-in card reader. The 4500 is also considerably smaller, which can be an advantage in a small or home office.

Setting up the 4500 is easy. Even if you are going to use it wirelessly, you must connect it by USB to a PC (or Mac) for the initial installation. After it is set up, you can disconnect the USB and run wireless-only. A 3-foot USB cable is provided, which I consider too short, but at least it’s there, unlike with many other printers. The software installed smoothly for me, which was a novelty – I’ve had a lot of trouble with the latest HP software for my C7250. In addition to the standard printer software, HP includes a basic I.R.I.S. OCR capability. I tried the OCR and it did a good job of capturing the text, but it lost all formatting. OmniPage it ain’t.

I was pleased to find that the network setup was handled through the PC (or Mac) software during the initial install – I was not looking forward to having to enter network keys on the printer’s keypad. I use WPA2-AES wireless and the HP 4500 had no problem with it.

When you install the ink cartridges the printer spits out an alignment sheet which you then scan in so it can see how the print heads line up. Clear prompts appeared on the lighted LCD panel on the printer and this was easy.

I tried a variety of printing tasks and the 4500 handled them all well. Text was clear and colored backgrounds showed no banding. Although this is not a photo printer, it did a passable job printing a photograph on plain paper. The scanner worked well too, both using the glass and the document feeder. Printing is quiet and fast.

Faxing I thought a bit awkward – you use the left-right arrow buttons to select color or b+w fax, enter the number (or use the address book), then press the green start button. It then asks you to press 1 if you’re scanning from the glass or 2 from the feeder, which I found annoying. However, the faxing worked well, and when the number was busy, it automatically retried after one minute and then five minutes. HP includes a special phone cord which you are supposed to use for the fax connection. I don’t know what is special about it, but if you use a regular cord you must use a small adapter that HP also provides.

HP claims that the 4500 meets EnergyStar requirements, so I tested power consumption. When the 4500 was turned off, my meter read zero (the meter does not register tenths.) When on and idle, 2 watts; when actively printing, 10-15 watts and when in standby mode, 1 watt. I thought this exemplary.

The only real gripe I have is a minor one – the paper feed tray (which doubles as the output tray) sticks out from the front quite a bit. It does have a retractable output catcher, so it’s not as bad as it could be. However, I understand this is a trade-off for the box being so small.

The “901″ ink cartridges are not insanely expensive, but I don’t know how long they last. HP claims that cost-per-page is lower with the HP Officejet 6500. If your usage is modest, the HP Officejet 4500 may be just what you need at a very reasonable price. If you print a lot, you may want a model with a higher-capacity paper tray, and of course if you print photos, there are better choices. All in all, a very competent and modestly priced all-in-one device. Recommended.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

>Report abuse
| Permalink

 Comments (9)

HP lost its touch, May 10, 2010

By 

N. Hundt (Westchester County, NY) – See all my reviews

  

I traded in a perfectly good HP All-in-One (circa 2001) for the convenience of wireless printing from a laptop. I’ve had the printer one month; am I sorry I bought the 4500 Wireless. Other than the wireless feature, I can’t say anything positive about this device. It has frequent paper jams; the scanner turns white paper backgrounds into an ivory color background (making it difficult to paste scanned images like signatures into other documents with white backgrounds); it’s very slow; black text often comes out gray, or worse yet, light green (!). This is about the worst printer I’ve ever purchased. I was a longtime HP supporter until I purchased this device. HP, you lost my loyalty.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

>Report abuse
| Permalink

 Comments (8)

All in One, April 20, 2010

By 

Rachel B. Ramey “a2jc4life” (Winchester, VA USA) – See all my reviews

  

  

This product is an upgrade from an older OfficeJet all-in-one machine (5610v). It definitely has both pros and cons.

The folks at HP have thought of every detail, right down to the unpacking. The plastic the printer is wrapped in is actually a BAG with handles, so there is no wrestling to get it out of the box. Everything needed to get set up is included in the box, right down to the ink cartridges and telephone cable. Both ink cartridges are the same number (one is then labeled “color” and the other “black-and-white”), making it easier to remember which cartridge you need. The machine is fairly compact, the controls are very intuitive, and it was very easy to install (even with an uncooperative computer which, for reasons completely unrelated to the printer, shut down four times during the brief installation process). I was a bit thrown by the fact that there is only one paper tray, rather than separate trays for input and output. It will, apparently, also print “borderless,” for brochures and such. I have not yet tried this feature.

Unfortunately, not everything about the OfficeJet 4500 is this peachy. The biggest selling point of this machine, for me, was that it can be used wirelessly, which would make it much easier for us to print to it from our two separate computers. I was never able to successfully set up this feature. When the “wizard” fails to set up the wireless network, there is no other option or information given – no clue as to what went wrong, no alternate method for entering the information, etc. It just doesn’t work. This is a bigger problem than one might think, as the included USB cable is rather short. At the moment, I can’t print to this printer without putting the printer in my desk chair and hooking it up. (And then I have to unplug it between uses.)

Receiving a fax is unnecessarily difficult, as well, for users without a dedicated fax line. On my old OfficeJet, the fax and my telephone could easily share a line. When I answered the phone and heard fax signals, all I had to do was punch “1,2,3,” and hang up after I heard the fax machine click on. It never interfered with my regular phone usage, but I didn’t have to fuss with controls on the machine to receive a fax, either. I’m not sure why HP couldn’t do the same thing with this machine. Installation of the ink cartridges was not intuitive, in my opinion. And the plastic the printer is made of looks chintzy. (It may not be; it just has this look. A more matte plastic would have appeared sturdier.)

All in all, it’s a good machine; it just has its quirks. The wireless difficulty is a real issue, but everything else is mostly a matter of familiarity.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

>Report abuse
| Permalink

 Comment

Printer that works everytime, November 29, 2011

By 

S. Heard “Rockingchair” (Missouri) – See all my reviews

  

Purchased this printer to replace another HP printer that had served it’s usfullness. This printer obviously is a work horse and prints out quality prints and photes without hesitation. Have tested it on almost everything without a glitch. Was easy to set up and meshed into our wireless system without hassle. Set up menu has been designed for folks like me that are not experts in the field. You won’t go wrong with this purchase. Highly recommend. So far this has proven to be a quality product. Using for iphone, ipad and wireless computer printing.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

>Report abuse
| Permalink

 Comments (3)

My iPad Printing Buddy!, December 21, 2011

By 

Vincent E. Martin “Darkbard” (Aurora, IL United States) – See all my reviews

  

One of the major complaints about the iPad when it was first introduced was that one could not print from it. Apple heard us and with the release of IOS (iPhone Operating System) 4.2 the company included Apple Air Print a technology that allows, or is supposed to allow the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch to print wirelessly from the device to an ever-increasing number of Hewlett Packard printers like the “HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus Inkjet Printer.”

Hewlett Packard upped the ante with this All-n-One (AIO) unit by including wireless and giving the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus Inkjet Printer an e-mail address (@hpeprint.com address) from which one can print from any computer, iPad–or other mobile device–via a technology called “HP e-Print.” One can also print wirelessly to an Apple mobile device like an iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone etc. via Apple Air Print.

Un-Packing

Make no mistake the “HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus” is a hefty printer checking in a 21 pounds. And while the unit does not require a two-man lift, it will require some finesse to get it out of the box and onto a flat surface. One unboxed it took me a little less than 15 minutes to completely assemble the printer including the duplexer unit. Thankfully the power supply is built-in, so no heavy power brick to find a place for.

Network Setup

Before connecting the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus network via Ethernet (RJ-45), or Wireless the decision must be made to utilize one or the other communications medium, but not both. USB can be utilized with either configuration. Since I wanted my iPad to “speak” to the printer and print I installed the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus utilizing wireless and USB and I can print either way as well as utilize the scanner to print-to-computer. Wireless set-up was effortless using DHCP; all I needed to know was the network WPA2 passcode.

Wireless Printing & e-Print

One of the selling points of the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-AIO is of course the ability of the iPad to print to the device either wirelessly (Air Print) or via e-Print. I am happy to report that both work!

As I stated above Apple IOS version 4.2 shipped with Air Print, which allows the iPad to wirelessly “talk” to Air Print enabled printers like the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus. Once the printer was set up on the wireless network I could see the printer on the iPad from Air Print enabled applications like Safari, select the printer and print. G that was it, no setup needed on the iPad.

HP’s e-Print also works like a charm, most of the time. With e-Print the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus is assigned a customizable e-mail address to which one can forward e-mail’s to be printed from iPad, iMac, iPod, or PC as long as the printer is connected to the Internet. This feature works reasonably well; it is supposed to be able to print attachments, but this is a hit or miss proposition; i.e. sometimes it works, sometime not, sometimes it print half a page. However, overall, I am pleased with e-print.

Software Installation

My HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus is connected primarily to an Apple iMac 2.7GHz machine with 4GB RAM, 1TB hard drive running OS X Lion Version 10.7.2. Out of the box the software disc will not work with Lion 10.7.2, so I had to download a software update from Apple and another from HP, but both worked seamlessly and I was able to get up and running with full functionality (including scan-to-computer) in under 15 minutes. And I have to say for the record I like the iMac interface for the printer better than the Windows 7 interface.

Printing

Pretty straight forward; the software installation process installed a full set of print drivers which in turn give you complete control over the printing process, including two-sided printing. The HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus can also print from inserted USB flash drives and or MMC/SD Media cards.

Scanning

The HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus offers up both a 50-sheet ADF and flatbed scanner for use. Initialing the scanning process can be accomplished from the included software, inserting a page(s) into the ADF, or the units control panel. Once an item is placed into the ADF or on the flatbed scanner glass surface, you can push the Scan button on the front panel, at which time you choose where to scan to: Computer, USB Flash Drive, or Memory Card. Once a destination is chosen, you can then chose to scan to file (.PDF is an option), e-mail, or photo.

Copy Process

This process, like printing is pretty straight forward; both color and black & white copies can be made, up to 99 at a time. Because there is a duplexer installed two-sided copies can be made in a number of different configurations, including 1-side original/ 1-side copy; 1-side original/ 2-side copy; 2-side original/ 1-side copy; 2-side original/ 2-side copy…

Read more

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

>Report abuse
| Permalink

 Comments (10)

works well with Mac OS X Lion, after an initial hiccup, December 15, 2011

By 

Brandon St Amant (Baton Rouge, LA United States) – See all my reviews

  

I purchased this printer to replace a Brother MFC 7820N multifunction laser printer, which was a great printer that interfaced well with my Mac for years. I was initially skeptical of purchasing the HP because I have had problems with other HP printers. I also read reviews on other sites saying the printer was not fully compatible with Mac OX X Lion. But I decided the feature set was too irresistible not to give it a try.

I received the printer from Amazon quicker than I expected and was excited to set it up. Unfortunately, the setup was a nightmare from the moment that I turned the printer on. The printer has a really nice touchscreen but no physical buttons other than the power button. When you plug in the printer, the first thing that the setup program prompts you for is a language. I pushed what I was thought was English but apparently my finger actually activated another language nearby and from that point forward I could not read any of the setup screen prompts. I fumbled through a few buttons that I thought might work, but finally the process ended in an error message in a foreign language that I couldn’t exit out of. I called tech support, who tried to help me do a factory reset, but they actually couldn’t figure out how to make the printer return to factory settings! Apparently previous models had a combination of key presses that could factory reset the machine, but the touchscreen makes this process more complicated. There is supposed to be an area of the panel that you push four or five times to bring up a service menu, but my touchscreen was completely unresponsive.

So, HP sent me a replacement. I was much more careful to select the language that I was familiar with this time. Setup went smoothly this time. As instructed in the package insert for Mac users, I used the Software Update on the Mac to get the latest driver. I was up and running quickly, printing both from my Mac and also my iPhone and iPad via AirPrint. Very nice. This printer is fast and delivers high quality text and graphics.

I wasn’t totally out of the woods yet though–I tried to scan a document to pdf using the printer, and got an error message that my computer was not properly setup for this. When I tried to follow the onscreen instructions, I kept getting error messages. So back to HP tech support I went, this time with an online chat. I was guided through an uninstall and reinstall of the HP utility, which worked flawlessly. I am now able to scan to pdf from the printer, and it also has a really cool feature that lets you send an email directly from the printer with the scanned document attached. I have read reviews on other sites that these scanner functions are not supported in Lion, but I can assure you that they are. If you are having trouble I would recommend contacting HP for a walkthrough.

All in all, excellent printer and would have given 5 stars if it weren’t for the issues I had with setup and needing to get a replacement sent. At less than 0 this is a lot of printer for the money. It has a larger footprint than the laser that it is replacing, but it isn’t grossly oversized and looks very nice on a desk.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

>Report abuse
| Permalink

 Comments (5)