HP’s one of the latest offering for businesses, the Officejet 6500 was put to test earlier this week. It’s a multi-function printer that acts as a copier, scanner and a faxing machine as well as a printer, duh! The company claims that the printer is capable of replacing high end laser machines as the features available on it outsmarts the former.

Printing quality definitely matches laser prints. Prints are precise, sharp and dark. We doubt if anyone could identify a laser print from an Officejet 6500 print. Colour printing is top notch as well with no visible banding. One positive of inkjet printers over lasers is the ability to print photographs. This printer is aided by four ink cartridges and produces life-like images.

Print speed claimed by the manufacturer is 13 pages per minute for monochrome prints and 10 pages per minute for colour prints. You would be advised not to pay attention to it as the reality is way off. Laser printers trump printing rates by a long distance.

Cost of printing is not bad either. A monochrome print was estimated to cost around 2.6p including the price of paper at 0.7p. Colour prints are a touch expensive at 8.8p. Yet, for monochrome prints, it’s the cheapest we have seen thus far, for a printer of such good quality.

HP Office 6500 is a printer to possess. However, the lack of wireless networking along with the option of automatic duplex printing might play spoilsport. But, at the end of the day, a printer costing under £100 along with reasonable printing costs is an asset.

You can buy the cheapest HP Officejet 6500 ink in the UK from Cartridge SAVE.