HP Printers - HP Photosmart Pro B8850
It is generally true in the world the impression that if you need a printer to a heavy workload, you’ll probably need a printer heavy: A glance at the packaging that the Photosmart Pro B8850 reaches tells you immediately that you need two people to set it up.
Weighing in at 17.1 kilograms out of the box, you might think that the B8850 bears a remarkable similarity with the Photosmart Pro B9180, which is the first serious photographic HP printers use pigment inks Vivera. It has the same rectangular solid centre-forward thrust input and output trays, monitoring indicators and simple drop-down cartridge load compartment.
The coincidence, of course, is deliberate because it is actually a cheaper (£ 100), no-frills version of the B9180 which dispenses with two notable features to set prices. First, there is no LCD screen so that all printing parameters are handled directly by the software provided on your PC. Secondly, there is no Ethernet connection as it is assumed you will not need a network of entry. It is, however, usually the USB port to establish that all important link with the computer to help you get started.
Besides connecting power, your main task is to establish insert 8 print cartridges (photo black, matte black, gray, cyan, magenta, yellow, cyan and magenta clear bright) and 4 print heads, make - drag in HP provided advanced glossy photo paper, then leave the machine to calibrate for the next half an hour.
As it is a machine to process up to A3 + paper, it is the same specialty drop-down tray at the front as the B9180, and paper only feeds straight and back . The main difference with their predecessor is that the thickness limit has been halved from 1.5 mm to 0.7mm but this is only likely to be a problem especially if you use thick card stock.
The main input tray can hold up to 200 A4 sheets of plain paper and further improvement is that, next to HP that its own types of paper (you are given advanced photo paper glossy, professional photo paper satin, artist Canvas Matte and Smooth Fine Art Paper) you can now add other third personalized documents.
Others include a useful aid Photosmart Pro plug-in for Adobe Photoshop users and a printer diagnostic automatic check every 24 hours as long as food is left running.
Regarding the photo quality, the results speak for themselves. Even A3 + glossy production of strategy papers pointed an excellent tonal balance and true color reproduction and specialists in fine art and canvas surfaces will be extremely impressed by the exit to these documents heavy. In terms of life cartridges, each cartridge is holding 27ml - about double that of its competitors.
HP - Photosmart Pro B8850 characteristics - Verdict
If you do not already have the B9180, then pared down B8850 is the ideal choice for photographers working with large canvases that are on a limited budget.
