The HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 is the latest incarnation of HP’s all-in-one printer, scanner, copier, and fax machine. With an original price of $499, it’s close to the cost of a lower-end color laser printer.
Here are some of the major specs on the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 all-in-one printer:
- Up to 19 ppm for printing black and 19 ppm printing color (normal quality)
- 15,000 page monthly duty cycle
- 250 sheet input tray, 250 sheet second paper tray, 50 sheet automatic document feeder
- Up to 1200×1200 dpi output for black and 4800×1200 dpi for color
- 384 Mhz with 128 MB RAM (not expandable)
- Up to 4800 (48-bit) dpi scan resolution
- Memory card slot supports CompactFlash Type I and II, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Pro Duo, Secure Digital (SD), SDHC, MMC, miniSD, microSD
- 1 USB 2.0 port, 1 Ethernet port, PictBridge, 1 RJ-11 fax port, and 1 wireless 802.11 b/g port
- Total weight of printer is 33.8 pounds and power consumption of 55 watts
Overview & Summary
For those of you who do not want to read the entire review, I have written up a short summary of the positives and negatives of the printer.
Positives:
- Printing quality is of high quality, both color and black
- Scanning is fast and reproduces the original document very well
- Ability to scan legal size documents
- The double-sided printing works well and is decently fast
- Connecting to wireless network is quick and easy
- Software runs on both Mac and PC
- Memory card slots allows for easy picture printing and easy storage of scans
- Ability to scan and automatically store digital copies of documents and pictures to a network location
Negatives:
- Print speed is slower than advertised (around 9 ppm for black and white during my tests)
- Starting up printer for the first time takes a very long time
- Software takes up more than 600 MB on the hard drive and slows down computer
- Software includes many programs that can confuse the novice user
- Turning off and turning on printer takes several minutes due to self tests
- Power save mode has issues such as the printer not waking up when you send a print job to it, requiring a full reboot of the printer
- When copying documents, the printer routinely skips pages altogether. This happens when faxing too.
- Unable to choose color or black and white when scanning from front panel
Overall, I would give the printer a 3 star rating and a buy recommendation only if you get it for $269. It’s a good printer, but some of the flaws that it has are big enough to consider another printer unless fixed.
What’s in the box?
- HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One printer
- Automatic two-sided printing accessory
- Second 250-sheet paper tray
- Black/Yellow printhead, Cyan/Magenta printhead
- 2 Black ink cartridges, 2 Cyan ink cartridges, 2 yellow ink cartridges, and 2 magenta ink cartridges
- 1 power supply with power cord
- 1 phone cord
- 1 large setup poster
- 2 CD-ROMs (Officejet printer software and Readiris Pro 11)
Setting Up Printer
Getting the Officejet 8500 Pro out of the box and working wasn’t as fast as I would have expected. Unpacking the printer was easy enough and installing all the components, such as the double-sided printer accessory and the second paper tray, were simple and straightforward.
Installing the ink cartridges was also fairly simple and didn’t take much time. Just unpack and pop them into the slots. Though it did take a few tries to get the printheads into the slots exactly (top picture).
Once you get those installed, you load up the paper and plug in the printer. This is where the process got very time-consuming. When you power on the device the first time, it takes a whopping 20 to 25 minutes to calibrate and align itself.
Personally, I don’t think you should really have to wait that long for a printer to become functional! Either way, while you wait it says to go ahead and install the printer software.
Included Software
I was really not happy with the installation of the HP software. Firstly, it took almost half an hour to install the software and secondly, it was full of lots of programs that I did not really think I was going to use.
Overall, if you install the software using the default options, it takes up a whopping 600 to 800 MB on your computer! For me, that is completely unnecessary for an all-in-one printer.
If you install just the driver, it’ll still hit you back 270 MB. The software has become very bloated and will slow down your machine.
Wireless Setup
What I was happy about was getting the printer onto the wireless network. You can do it from the front panel on the printer and it was able to connect to my secure wireless network without any issues.
Also, once it’s connected, the software will try to find the printer on the network automatically and initialize it. That also didn’t have any issues, i.e. firewall problems, etc.
Other Features
Once the setup is finished, you’ll be presented with a menu where you can setup other additional features of the printer, such as Digital Filing, Digital Fax, and more. Once they are setup, you can email scans or scan directly to a network location.
Printing
Unfortunately, the speed of the printer is not as fast as I was expecting. Overall, though, it’s still pretty fast for an inkjet printer.
I printed out a 5 page document with just text and it took about 35 seconds to print. This translates into about 9 ppm, which is lower than the 19 ppm it is supposed to be able to print on normal mode.
If you print a longer document, the printing speed does go up a little to around 11 ppm. For color documents, it’s also lower than stated on the spec sheet, but this could be due to the type of color print tested.
Finally, double-sided printing is slow at around 3 ppm. If you’re looking to do a lot of double-sided printing, you will not be happy with this speed.
Scanning
Overall, I was happy with the scan quality and speed of the Officejet 8500 Pro. You can choose to scan to email, scan to computer, scan to a USB stick or memory card, or scan to reprint.
The Officejet did a very good job or reproducing pictures and even text documents when scanned. Colors were accurate and the quality was overall very nice. Scanning was probably the one feature of the all-in-one printer that worked very well and as advertised.
Copying/Faxing
Both of these functions would have perfect scores if it were not for the fact that they simply did not work sometimes. After testing several times, I found that the copier routinely missed pages while copying.
If I placed a 5 page document to be copied, just about every single time, only 4 pages would get copied. That is simply unacceptable for such a high-end printer, especially one that is geared towards small offices.
This same issue happens when faxing, which is just terrible since your clients may not get all the pages required. The other major issue is that the printer thinks it copied/faxed everything, when it really didn’t! Big problem there.
Conclusion
My general feeling is that the HP Officejet 8500 Pro is a very good all-in-one printer, but because of a few big flaws, it fails to make the mark. Overall, you will be happy with the printer as long as you have a really fast computer with lots of free hard drive space and you manage to get a printer that does not skip pages when copying and faxing.
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If you don’t have a full-sized printing machine at home and often need to print a document on the go, check out the Newyes portable printer . This wireless printer is lightweight and small enough to fit in your bag. Not to mention it’s environmentally friendly, since it uses thermal paper instead of ink.
Follow our review of the Newyes portable wireless thermal printer to see if it suits your printing needs.
Newyes Portable Wireless Thermal A4 Printer: First Impressions & Specs
When I was a student, I remember my university always required hard copies of documents. Luckily, there was a print shop on campus where I could always pop in to print something.
Then I became a professional, and to my surprise many life spheres still required me to have printed versions of documents with me. Of course you can get your own full-sized machine to print things at home, but if like me you live in a small apartment, you value every extra bit of space and don’t want a massive printer to take it up.
One day, when I was looking for a neighbor with a printer to help me with my event tickets, they introduced me to the concept of a portable printer. Seeing how easy it is to use, I immediately wanted to get my hands on one of those. So here I am, reviewing one of the most useful gadgets I received recently – the Newyes portable thermal printer.
Before we continue with this review, here is the full list of specs of this printer.
- Model: Newyes LD0801
- Dimensions: 10.4 x 1.2 x 2.28 in (265 x 58 x 30.5 mm)
- Weight: 16.8oz (475g)
- Paper format: A4
- Paper width: 210mm or 218mm
- Printing Type: thermal paper
- Resolution: 203DPI
- Connectivity: Bluetooth
- Charging port: USB type-C port
- Input Voltage: DC 5V / 2A
- Battery: 1200mAh lithium battery
- Charging time: 75 min
- Automatic shut down: after 30 minutes
- Stand-by: about 30 days
- Extra features: LED light, reset, on / off switch button
- Color: white, black
- Warranty: limited one year warranty
- Price: $199 on the Newyes website
If you find yourself in need of hard copies of important documents while on the move, the Newyes portable wireless thermal printer will become your go-to gadget. Newyes calls it “the world’s smallest printer”, and with the weight of under 500g this seems plausible. This mini printer offers a handy solution for those moments when you need to quickly print an important document but don’t have access to an office setup.
Operating this printer is a breeze – a simple Bluetooth connection is all that’s required. Once connected, just fire up the app, choose the file you want to print, and send it over. Efficiency is at the forefront, and you can easily print multiple sheets by inserting new pages back to back.
The only limitation this printer has is that it can only print in black. So even if your original file is in color, the printed document will still come out in black and white. Other than that – you can print a variety of file types including Excel, Word, PDF, JPG, PNG, and web pages – and it only takes seconds.
The Newyes portable wireless printer combines convenience, portability, and efficiency – all the things I appreciate in a modern gadget.
Design and Unpacking
Let’s have a closer look at the design and build of this smart printer, as well as what you get included in the package when you purchase it.
What’s in the Box
Here’s everything you’ll find when unpacking your Newyes portable thermal printer:
- The Newyes portable wireless thermal printer
- Bracket
- USB type-C cable
- Storage/carrying pouch
- 100pcs thermal printing paper
- User manual
You can use the Newyes portable printer right out of the box, as you’re all set with essential accessories. Aside from the printer itself, the package includes a bracket which will make printing more than one page smoother, a convenient storage bag for carrying your printer with you, a USB-C cable for charging, and a supply of 100 pieces of thermal paper to get you started.
One important thing to remember is that this printer only works with thermal paper. While thermal paper is significantly more expensive than normal paper, this printer also uses inkless printing and works without a ribbon and toner. Since you don’t have to spend money on ink, carbon ribbons or toner cartridges, you ultimately end up saving money with thermal paper.
The Newyes LD0801 is a pocket-sized printer that features straightforward design. For the purpose of this review, I had a printer in white color. The printer looks like a small white brick with just two pressable buttons on top – one for switching it on and off, and another for opening the printer’s cover. You’ll also see the paper entry slot on top of the printer.
On the side of the printer, you’ll find a single charging port.
The printer is made of plastic, but the build feels sturdy. I never have to worry about throwing it into my bag or damaging it when traveling. Besides, you can use a nice carrying pouch included in the package for protection.
Performance & Features
According to Newyes, the portable printer has a “handheld size and two times the weight of an iPhone”. This can give you an idea of how portable and convenient this little gadget is. In a month of testing, I used it at home, in a store, and even in a car while on the road.
Using the printer is unbelievably easy. Connect it to your mobile phone via Bluetooth, press the button to turn the printer on and put a sheet of thermal paper into the paper entry slot. Make sure to use thermal paper and not standard paper, and put it with the black marks facing down. Bear in mind that the thermal printer can only print in black and white and only on one (marked) side of the thermal paper sheet.
Then open the iPrint app on your smartphone. If you’re printing an A4 document, you can select one of two options – Photo Printing and Document Printing . Then choose the document from your phone’s files and print it.
The printer is reliable and in the time that I used it the Newyes LD0801 never let me down. The printing quality will surprise you, as it’s sometimes better than what you get from a full-sized printer. The printer supports printing in various formats, and you can use it to print documents from your smartphone (Android and iPhone), iPad, and Android tablet.
When fully charged, the printer can support up to 90 pieces of paper continuously, which is very impressive for a gadget of such a small size.
Software
The Newyes portable printer requires an iPrint app to operate. The app is available for free on iOS and Android. You’ll need to download the app on your device from the App Store or Google Play before you begin printing your documents.
The app has a simple and user-friendly design. You’ll need to pair your device with the printer on the first use via Bluetooth.
Depending on the type of document you want to print, you can choose different options from the app. There’s photo printing, document printing, web printing, and banner printing.
The app also has Materials and Template sections, where you can find various pictures and templates for printing to-do lists, post-its and holiday cards. You can also use the Newyes LD0801 as a label printer using these templates.
Battery Life
The Newyes portable wireless thermal printer is equipped with a decent 1200mAh lithium battery. This high-capacity battery allows you to print on the go without constantly worrying about running out of charge. When I received the printer, I charged it fully once, and it still hasn’t run out of battery after one month of use (I use it to print something almost every other day).
Charging this printer is quick and takes just over an hour to charge the printer from zero to full. The type-C charging cable facilitates a rapid charging experience. And if you run out of battery while on the go, you can quickly charge the printer from a portable power station or a power bank to continue printing.
The printer doesn’t support wireless charging, so I’d recommend always bringing the usb-c cable with you just in case.
Should You Buy the Newyes Portable Wireless Thermal Printer?
The Newyes portable thermal printer ensures high-quality wireless printing while on the go and easy operation. It’s not the most budget-friendly option, but this purchase will save you money and nerves in the long run thanks to its versatility and portable nature.
Personally, I can say that this printer made my life easier. So much that it’s probably my favorite smart gadget of the year. If you’re looking for a portable printer that won’t take any space in your house, I’d certainly recommend considering the Newyes LD0801 model.
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