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