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Hewlett-Packard recently introduced a new series of printers that promise both
high speed and high quality. For this report, I looked at the Photosmart 8250
which features letter size output and six ink colors.
What’s New
This is the first desktop printer from HP to feature individual ink cartridges—six
in all. This is a feature that’s been available from Epson and Canon for
quite some time, and HP has recognized the advantages of only replacing the
color that’s empty rather than placing three colors in one cartridge and
wasting the remaining ink when one color goes dry. Although the cartridges look
tiny, the page output is very impressive.
Also impressive is a new monitoring system that checks to ensure enough ink
is remaining before allowing you to print, thereby avoiding a wasted partial
print. The print head holds a small reservoir of ink; when this is all that
remains an alert to change cartridges is shown. This is a nice touch that prevents
you from wasting ink by replacing the cartridge before it’s really necessary.
In another change for HP, the print head is pre-installed in the printer. This
enables HP to deliver some really amazing print speeds. I was able to verify
HP’s claim of 4x6 prints in only 14 seconds! For text, HP claims 32 pages
per minute, and I have no reason to doubt that. If you print a significant amount
of text, an optional duplex adapter is available. The 8250 uses
a larger black ink cartridge to handle text and black and white photos. The
new print head has 3900 nozzles and outputs 4800x1200dpi for super fine resolution.
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The
new HP Photosmart 8250 delivers impressive speed and image quality,
an oversized color LCD, and rich, vibrant colors.
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Oversized Color LCD
In a welcome trend that seems to be gaining in popularity, the Photosmart 8250
includes a high quality 2.5” color LCD and a full set of memory card slots
(Compact Flash, Microdrive, MMC, SD, xD, and Memory Stick) for printing without
the need of a computer. HP also offers an optional Bluetooth adapter for wireless
printing with camera phones and PDAs. You can also connect any PictBridge compatible
camera directly to the printer. On-board editing features include crop, zoom,
rotate, redeye reduction and image enhancement for common exposure problems
such as backlight. To print from the computer, you’ll need an available
USB port.
The 8250 has a standard paper tray as well as an additional photo tray dedicated
to 4x6 paper. This comes in handy for keeping two sizes of paper loaded at all
times. When printing directly from a memory card, a single button push will
start the process.
New Paper Type
The Photosmart 8250 is the first HP printer to use the new AutoSense technology.
Combined with the new Advanced Photo Paper, you don’t have to worry about
selecting the proper paper type or size. The printer reads a bar code on the
backside of the paper and makes the appropriate settings automatically. The
printer also supports the other HP paper types including Premium Plus Photo
Paper and Matte Photo Paper.
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The
new Photosmart 8250 is the first model to use HP’s new AutoSense
technology which, in combination with the new Advanced Photo Paper,
makes settings automatically.
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Other Special Features
Along with printing photos directly from memory cards, you can also print video
frames, watching them on the LCD and freezing the frame for enhancement and
printing. You can also print a proofsheet of the images on a memory card. Fill
in the circle and quantity you want next to the thumbnail, and the printer will
scan your proofsheet and print the desired images.
HP Image Zone software lets you easily create, edit, and enhance photos and
print projects, and with HP Instant Share you can let your friends and family
choose which images they want to download.
The Bottom Line
The Photosmart 8250 did an excellent job with everything I threw at it. Portraits
displayed good skin tones and landscapes had rich vibrant colors.
The blues in particular were richer than most other printers I’ve used.
Black and white prints didn’t show the same beautiful neutral tones that
are possible with the Photosmart 8750, but considering there is only one shade
of black that’s not surprising. Printing in gray scale with the HP driver
delivered acceptable results.
In short, if you’re looking for a new printer and need speed along with
quality, the HP Photosmart 8250 should be high on your list. At $199, the quality
is as good as anything I’ve seen to-date. For more information, contact
HP at (800)752-0900, website: www.hp.com.
System Requirements
To print from a computer:
• Windows 98 or higher
• Macintosh OS X 10.2 or higher
• Available USB port
Image Quality
Overall image quality is very high, with nicely saturated colors, especially
blues and greens. Along with the HP Vivera inks, print life has approached that
of pigment ink printers—over 100 years when used with HP Premium Plus
photo papers.
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