This machine is fully duplex and printing the same document as a 10-page duplex print gave 6.9ppm. On the 20-page test, we saw another slight increase, to 13.6ppm, the fastest speed we saw, but still only two thirds of the headline speed. In draft mode, the speed rose to 12.5ppm, with little noticeable difference in print quality. The black text test was a best case measurement and in the worst case, the first sheet didn’t move out of the paper tray for 32 seconds after we’d clicked Print. We saw a speed of 9.1ppm on our five-page black text document and 8.3ppm on the black text and colour graphics test. This is something the ISO standard doesn’t call for, but which customers will have to include most of the time. HP claims the HP Officejet Pro 8600 print speeds can achieve 20ppm for black and 16ppm for colour print, neither of which looks very realistic when you take into account pre-processing time. Software includes ReadIRIS OCR, through the HP Scan application, as well as drivers for scanner and printer. Sockets at the back cater for USB and Ethernet connections, though most will opt for the wireless link, since this provides full ePrint, AirPrint and Wi-Fi direct printing from mobile devices such as the iPhone 5, iPad 3 and Samsung Galaxy S3. The front cover of the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus folds down to provide access to the permanent printhead, which takes four, separate ink cartridges, with a double-width black cartridge which, in the XL version, can print up to 2,300 pages. If you’re used to printing on foolscap or American legal paper, the printer can also support these sizes, though then the output tray extends from the front by nearly 300mm. There’s no multi-purpose tray, but a second 25-sheet tray is available as an option. There’s a single, 250-sheet paper tray, which projects from the front of the machine by around 100mm. Come to think of it, these things are all good reasons to buy this machine, rather than a laser. There are two memory card readers at the bottom of the HP Officejet Pro 8600’s left-hand side of the front panel and a single socket for a USB drive. Then, it’s modestly sized for the things it can do, with a deep, 50-sheet Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) and a large, 109mm LCD touchscreen, which is very easy-to-use and is supplemented by six dedicated touch buttons. Instead it’s a sort of bronzy brown colour, with inlays of dark brown very tasteful, nothing too garish. Well, for a start, it’s not black, white, cream or grey, staple colours of most laser-based machines. So why doesn’t everybody go for the inkjet?
In pitching the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus, the company points out that it costs less than half as much to run as a typical laser and it’s also, or course, around half the price to buy.
HP has something of a delicate balancing act to achieve, as it sells both laser and inkjet all-in-ones for small business use.
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