HP multifunction devices in the test
Printing, copying, scanning, faxing: multifunction devices have it all. But which devices are good for what? In the test: seven HP multifunction printers.
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The corona crisis had led to many people in Germany working at home instead of in the office. And even today, many still spend their working days in the home office. But despite steadily advancing digitization, many employees cannot avoid activities such as faxing, printing, scanning or copying. If you don’t have space for the necessary technology in your home office, you’re better off with multifunction devices. They combine all these activities and are nice and compact. HP is the top dog on the market and offers a wide range of models. Behind it is Canon, followed by Epson and Brother. Which HP devices are worthwhile? COMPUTER BILD tested seven HP printers.
HP OfficeJet Pro 8022 (1KR65B)
In the test, the HP OfficeJet Pro 8022 delivered good print quality and used the expensive ink sparingly. He printed nice and fast and has a fax function. It wasn’t enough for the top spot because the device has neither a card reader nor Bluetooth.
Well done: the HP Smart Tank 7005 stores up to 250 sheets of paper in its cassette, protected from dust and dog-ears. Printing costs for text pages are slightly higher than the ink tank competition, but it prints in color for even less. A bit annoying: The status display is no help for operation.
HP OfficeJet Pro 6970 (J7K34A)
The print quality of the HP OfficeJet Pro 6970 is acceptable. It’s a shame that the device’s ink dries so slowly and the cost of text and photo printing is high. Another shortcoming: the HP makes a lot of noise when printing (5.9 sone) and scanning (5.5 sone). But it works at high speed and digests thick paper up to 280 grams per square meter.
HP Envy Photo 7830 (Y0G50B)
Lots of light, but also lots of shadows: the HP Envy 7830 prints text with crisp sharpness and photos with rich colors. When copying, he starts at full speed. But the ink cartridges are empty comparatively quickly and are not cheap – which drives up the printing costs. The Envy is therefore unfortunately only recommended for infrequent printers.
A screen? Look in vain for the HP Envy Pro 6420. It only has a small control panel for the most important functions. For further pressure settings, users have to use the PC or the smartphone app – that takes some getting used to. In addition, photo printing is slow and a bit expensive, and the noise level is extremely high.
Select the best print quality in the printer driver to achieve top results? Not a good idea for the HP Deskjet 2720 – it’s a lot slower than the competition. Otherwise, the HP delivers a decent performance. The printing costs are in the middle, but can be further reduced with the “Instant Ink” subscription.
The printouts from the HP Deskjet 2630 were decent in the test, but the costs were high and the speed slow. When scanning photos and documents, however, the device was the fastest printer with a maximum retail price of 80 euros.
High printing speed, easy operation and good equipment: The HP OfficeJet Pro 8022 (1KR65B) has thus secured the title of the best multifunction device among the tested HP printers.
The best HP printers in comparison
