Compatible Toners, Drums & Ink Cartridges

HP Officejet g85 All-in-One Printer

Hewlett-Packard's line of All-in-One multifunction devices just keeps getting better and better. The new HP OfficeJet G85 is functionally similar to the older HP OfficeJet R80 but adds a number of improvements. The price remains low, at an attractive $799 (list). Like the R80 model, the G85 includes a built-in multisheet document feeder for the flatbed scanner. The printer also includes a dial pad for use as a walk-up fax machine, but instead of being located on the scanner lid, these buttons are incorporated on a wider, front control panel. A two-line by 16-character message window displays twice as much information as the older model. The G85 includes a bidirectional parallel port, but the big news is that the unit also comes with a fast USB connection as well. A parallel cable is included, but HP was a bit shortsighted in not including a USB cable. And if you should choose the HP OfficeJet G95 model (not tested, $999 list), you can access it across a network using the bundled HP JetDirect External Print Server. The print engine, which has up to 2,400-by-1,200 resolution (using photo paper) and PhotoREt III color-layering technology, is the heart of the G85. Black-and-white printouts are rated at 600 dpi and up to 6.5 pages per minute. We printed a two-page letter: The first page took 30 seconds to print, but the second needed just 11 seconds. Fast mode cut the first page time to just over 20 seconds, and the second page finished in less than 7 seconds. The printer relies on a single black ink cartridge and a second combination color cartridge. Photos look great even when copied onto plain paper. When using glossy paper in best print mode, we found no signs of banding. The G85 has a host of other features worth mentioning, including color fax; bundled OCR and image-editing software; digital copying, including clone and poster functions; fax-from-PC; as well as an easy-to-use control utility. And if you run out of ideas about how to use the G85, HP has free templates and step-by-step advice at its Smart Tools site (www.smart-tools.com). The HP OfficeJet G85 is a dream to use and truly deserving of the All-in-One handle.