Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I have used only Hewlett-Packard printers since I bought my computer a decade ago, in 2001. My choice was simple, as these printers earn high ratings year after year. I print out a lot of photography for both family photos and magazine photos, and also regular printing. I also write and print an abundance of family history pages and articles for a collectibles magazine. I use my printers heavy duty and I am on my second printer since 2001. My HP printers have a life span of around 5 years, which is unheard of, as the average printers lifespan is around 2 years. My printers have always been the HP Ink Jet Photosmart models as they give me the best quality photographs, both color and black and white, on my favorite HP soft gloss paper. Laser ink doesn't come close in comparison to the rich saturated colors of Inkjet ink. Photographs, Art and Pictures come to life with an Inkjet printer. The only thing the average person should know is that inkjet ink runs if it gets wet, so for shipping labels always cover them in clear tape. For more permanently protected photos, go to an arts/crafts store and buy a can of photo protectant spray. The extra covering gives you a lifetime of protected treasures.
This is the first time I have tried a non-photo printer, using this HP Officejet 6500A All In One model. If you are wondering what the difference is between a photo printer and an office printer- it's the colors. With my Photosmart, I have 2 extra light ink colors- cyan (blue) and magenta (pink) shades. These 2 extra ink shades give you a full array of even the slightest color variations. Working in art and photography, I noticed a slight color difference in certain shades. For a professional artist making photographs or great color prints, this is not the printer for you. For the average office or home use, non-professional photo prints or just needing a regular printer, this printer is superb.
This HP Officejet 6500A All In One machine includes 4 devices- a printer, copier, scanner and fax machine. What you get for the money is one great machine. This machine has earned the Energy Star, which means it will save you money, since it met the Energy Star program's test method criteria. Energy Star's savings rating on this machine, states you will use 40% less energy than on any comparable laser machine. I look for Energy Star's ratings whenever I buy any appliance, as saving energy means saving both fuel and money. Another big money saver is buying the HP inks in the XL sizes. I've been doing this since HP came out with these extra large ink sizes with my HP Photosmart, and it is a huge money saver.
I've been using this machine every day for a while and I will rate each of it's 4 devices separately so the consumer can see if this fits his/her needs. To begin with, this machine works with the supporting operating systems of Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP (with SP2) ,Mac OSX v 10.5, 10.6 and Linox. The machine itself measures 18.75 inches x 16.11 inches x 10.13 inches. It weighs almost 18 pounds. Inside the box is your 4 in one Officejet machine, the power cord, phone cord, booklet and cd software and all 4 ink jet cartridges- black, yellow, cyan and magenta. Not included is the USB cable. Installation took mere minutes with the cd software on my Windows XP. As with all their printers, HP includes a limited 1 year warranty. Now I will rate the 4 devices.
PRINTER- 5 Stars- You can print anywhere with this machine using your computer, mobile phone, laptop or mobile device. The tray supported paper sizes are letter, legal, statement, executive, 3 x 5, 4 x 6, 5 x 7, 5 x 8, 4 x 10, 4 x 11, 4 x 12, 8 x 10, envelopes no. 10, monarch and envelopes DL. The input tray takes up to 250 sheets with a duty cycle of up to 7000 pages. Maximum printing speeds are up to 32 pages per minute with black ink and up to 31 for color- speeds equivalent to laser printers. This does not have duplex printing features (2 sided). It does have borderless printing options. You can use your memory cards for direct photo printing. You can by-pass your PC by inserting a memory card in one of the slots and use the 2.36 inch touch screen to print. The memory cards supported are secure digital- also high capacity, multimedia and secure multimedia card, reduced size multimedia card, mmc mobile and mmc micro mini (adapter not included), memory stick and memory stick duo and pro. The 4 inks used are the HP 920 cartridges and you can definitely save when you buy the XL sizes. With the regular HP 920 Black ink cartridge, you get approximately 420 pages. With an XL black ink cartridge you get up to 1200 pages. With all the XL color cartridges of yellow, cyan and magenta, you can get up to 700 pages. The cartridges are recyclable. This is not a wireless machine. When printing in color from your computer, using a good brand of paper, you will get the best resolution of up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi. You can get up to 600 from black ink. The printer, although not as good as my Photosmart when it comes to endless color variation, is extremely superb in printing both pages and photos.
COPIER- 4 1/2 Stars- You can copy in color up to 31 cpm and in black up to 32 cpm. The maximum number of copies is up to 100. The copy scaling is from 25 to 100%. The copier is quite good and rates above average.
SCANNER- 4 1/2 Stars- I am quite spoiled with always owning an Epson Perfection Photo Scanner for the last 10 years. So I am comparing a truly perfect scanner with this HP one that is included in this All In One machine. This Scanner type is a Flatbed 8.5 x 11.7 and also an ADF 8.5 x 14. These are good maximum document sizes for general use and office use scanning. It does have real life technologies with a 48 bit scanner depth. The scanner resolution for optical is up to 4800 dpi. This scans above average, but not quite as sharp as my Epson Perfection scanner. I notice tiny minute details from spending decades fixing old photos from the late 1800's, so the average person might call this scanner excellent, where I consider this above average as I am used to much more pixel detail I get from my Epson Perfection.
FAX MACHINE- 5 STARS- This Fax Machine has a transmission speed of 3 seconds per page. The Fax resolution is up to 300 x 300 dpi. The incoming fax memory is up to 100 pages, with fax speed dials up to 100 numbers. You can fax fast at up to 33.6 kpbs. The connectivity is a standard built in ethernet with a USB 2.0. There is no wireless capability. You can quickly fax or scan to a PC or Email. With this built in ethernet, you can stay connected and share resources. The speed and smoothness on this efficient fax machine give it a high 5 star rating with me.
Overall, this HP Officejet 6500A All In One gets a 4.75 STAR rating from me, with it's usual great printer, super fast fax, and better than average copier and scanner. Many of my friends have some of the latest All In One Machines that I have heard complaints about, from the bugs and how non smoothly they run. This machine is unbelievably smooth and fast and when more people use and review it, it will definitely rank high on the Hewlett Packard website. It is actually better than some of their other models I've heard about, and may prove to be their best model to date. Add to this Hewlett Packard's great support and web site that helps you with any problems, downloads, drivers and manuals, and you have a great 4 in one printer, copier, scanner and fax machine for the money.
Click Here to see more reviews about:
HP Officejet 6500A e-All-in-One (CN555A#B1H)Print professional color business materials for the lowest cost per page vs. in-class inkjet all-in-ones with the HP Officejet 6500A e-All-in-One, which delivers maximum prints speeds of 32 pages per minute black and 31 ppm color. Print, fax, copy, scan-this Ethernet-ready all-in-one does it all and saves you money with individual inks and high-capacity cartridges and by using up to 40% less energy than comparable laser products. WHY BUY?
Click here for more information about HP Officejet 6500A e-All-in-One (CN555A#B1H)
