HP’s Color Laser Printer

This
color laser printer is meant for workgroups of up to 50 people with high volume
color printing needs. The printer comes loaded with 128 MB RAM (upgradeable to
512 MB) and a 3.2 GB hard disk. So, it can easily handle large graphics files.
It has a 300 MHz microprocessor–the fastest in the CLJ8550 series. It can
print at a resolution of 600x600 dpi, with a speed of 24 ppm for black-and-white
and 6 ppm for color printouts. The printer has a network card, and can be made
available on your network easily. It has four paper input trays with a combined
capacity of 3,100 sheets. The printer supports various kinds of media, like
envelopes, labels, cards, and A3-sized sheets. It also has a duplexer with which
you can print on both sides of a paper simultaneously.

The printer performed well in our tests. In the speed tests,
it was able to churn out 24 pages a minute of black-and-white and six pages per
minute of color prints, matching its rated specs. The other tests for quality
gave equally good results. In printing curves and lines, it gave smooth curves
and line prints were pretty sharp. It also managed smooth fountain fills–a
smooth gradient of shades of gray–as well, without any banding. The color
printouts were equally sharp and clear.

Overall, the printer’s a good buy, given its performance.