User guide
What You Should Know
Hands-On Test Report
HP Officejet 4500 All-in-One Printer
March 2010 Wirth Consulting, LLC Denville, New Jersey USA www.wirthconsulting.org
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RECOMMENDATION
With its starting $99.00 list price, Hewlett-Packard’s Officejet 4500 All-in-One Printer Series is a very
effective entry point for small business and home-offices users that require a fully capable color All-in-One.
In contrast, we’ve observed that competitive vendors tend to cut corners in this segment—leaving out an
automatic document feeder and fax, for instance, and incorporating minimalist control panels and software.
Instead, the Officejet 4500 is a fully functional “four-in-one”—with color network print, color copy, color
scan and color fax—that will handle business-class applications, and, at the same, also provide the great
image quality provided by other more expensive Officejets but at an entry-level price. Throughout testing,
Wirth Consulting also found that the Officejet performed without a hitch, from the easy setup we’ve come to expect from
Hewlett-Packard, to device reliability, and top-notch image quality.
First-Rate Image Quality And Media Handling
- Wirth Consulting has observed in testing that some competitive systems in
this price range, while also low priced, don’t always produce acceptable image quality, for instance, when producing text. We
were instead pleased to see that the Officejet 4500 produced image-quality samples as good as higher-priced Officejets—
whether producing black text documents or very attractive photos on glossy media.
Indeed, in both print and copy modes, the Officejet 4500 produced crisp black text (down to 4 pt. font size), good resolution,
and excellent line and dot control for excellent text readability. The system also produced very good color photographic
quality: ISO raw TIFF test photographs produced in testing displayed very good detail and color saturation, no banding, and
very realistic flesh tones. Photos displayed a very pleasing, professional-quality appearance—especially when printed on HP
Advanced Photo Paper. Contributing to the system’s photo-printing capabilities is the fact that it uses dye-based color inks.
Along with these image-quality capabilities, media-handling is versatile enough to handle graphic-arts applications, for
instance, for printing brochures in-house (avoiding the expense of outsourcing such jobs to commercial print shops). The
system can print on up heavier stock (up to 110 lb. index), and can produce borderless output in photos sizes and up to
8.5”x11”. It can also be used to print on custom media up to 8.5”x30”—useful for instance when printing signs, banners,
larger presentation materials, etc.
Easy, Painless Installation And Officejet Software Functionality
- HP has perfected easy installation for even
inexperienced users. On the hardware end, setup required only about 18 minutes of our time, and required just a few steps--
remove protective tape from the system, plug in the power cord, and install the two ink cartridges. There’s no guessing about
what to do, and everything installs correctly the first time.
Network and software installation was also easy and intuitive. Following the installation utility’s prompts, it took just about
five “mouse clicks” to install the system on our wired network, and four clicks to install software. A utility is provided for
configuring fax (specifying fax header information, assigning speed-dial numbers, etc.) and is particularly easy to use, as is the
utility for setting up digital fax for conveniently receiving faxes in electronic form at the computer workstation.
HP’s Solution Center software, which it bundles with its higher-priced Officejets, is also included. It provides the same scan
and PC fax functionally from the computer workstation, as well as easy device-management capability, via an intuitive user
interface. As with other Officejets evaluated, Solution Center also includes a link to HP’s In-House marketing Web site,
which provides resources for creating marketing materials such as flyers, brochures, posters, etc., all of which can help small-
business owners produce this materials more cost-efficiently themselves versus outsourcing to print shops.
We also liked the fact that although this is one of the lowest-priced Officejets, HP includes its Document Manager document-
management software, OCR software, and a utility for more effective printing and layout of Web pages. The included OCR
software is an easy-to-use solution for converting scanned files into several editable formats, including searchable Adobe
PDFs and Microsoft Word files.
Low Acquisition And Operational Costs, And Green
– Starting at $99.00, the Officejet 4500 All-in-One Series enables
even the most budget-conscious end-users to enjoy a color All-in-One without sacrificing reliability, image quality, or
effective, easy-to-use software. For users who would prefer WiFi wireless connectivity, the Officejet 4500 Wireless is also
affordably priced at $129.00.
One often neglected operating cost is power consumption. The Officejet 4500 Series consumes a maximum of 17 watts of
power when operating, or less than half that of a 40-watt light bulb. This is lower than that of most ink-jet All-in-Ones, and
considerably lower than laser All-in-Ones’ power consumption—in fact, the Officejet 4500 Series consumes approximately
less than 10
-
percent the energy of color laser All
-
in
-
Ones (the system is also Energy Star
-
certified
,
consuming just 7 watts in