HP Officejet 4500 All In One

The HP OfficeJet 4500 is an entry level MFD aimed at small offices with low

to moderate printing needs. Hence it has all the basic features that would be

required by this audience, such as printing, scanning, fax and photocopy

functions. Being compact, it has a small footprint allowing it to be kept even

in the tightest of spaces. The 4500 sports a professional, fully black look,

which is a change from the dull grays that such devices used to come with

earlier. It has a monochrome 2 line LCD, which has a pretty rudimentary

navigation system requiring some time and practice to get used to it. Ethernet

connectivity is provided for network printing. The input tray has a capacity of

100 sheets supporting a 20 sheet automatic document feeder. Installation of the

cartridges needs to be done carefully, else you risk breaking the cartridge

clip, which we found to be a bit flimsy.

Printing speed was at par with other entry level MFDs. Full page graphics

printing averaged 2.5 pages per minute with text documents faring at 5 ppm in

normal mode. Graphics and photo printing could have done better though. The

prints weren't all that clear, with the finer details of colors missing.

Printing in best mode does fix this problem somewhat, but the overall result is

not worth the extra ink and time consumed. Copying and scanning speeds were

average taking over a minute per page with the maximum scan resolution being

1,200 x 2,400 ppi. Scan details were accurate and the saved images were nearly

identical to the original media. Photocopy and scanning can be done directly

from the printer without the need of a PC.

Bottomline: Recommended for budget conscious users requiring an MFD

with focus on document printing.

Ankush Mahajan