Perfect Printer for the Part-time Pro
As a long-time photographer and graphic designer I'm pretty familiar with printing in irregular formats. The HP Photosmart B8550 is the second large-format printer I've owned and will be replacing an HP Deskjet 1220C for the majority of my photography printing and graphic design work.
Overview:)
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The Photosmart B8550 is a large-format printer capable of printing photographs and posters as large as 13" x 19". If you just want to print 4" x 6" weekend snapshots or if you don't understand why someone would want to print something so large this is **NOT** the printer for you. This printer is very very large and is designed primarily for people who want to print very large photographs and digital images.
The Physical Object:)
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The Photosmart B8550 is surprisingly sleek and sexy-looking for a large-format printer and is significantly smaller and more attractive than the 13x19 printer it will be replacing. The LCD screen is bright and clear and the printer feels solid and well-built.
The printer's included software integrated quickly and seamlessly with my various photo-editing programs. I was very pleasantly surprised both with how attractive the printer is and with how well it works with Photoshop Illustrator Light Room Aperture and iPhoto.
The Prints:)
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The prints from the Photosmart B8550 are nothing short of superb superb. I have printed 3"x5" 4"x6" and 8.5"x11" photographs and have been awed by the quality of the prints I get from this machine. When using the recommended HP Advanced Photo Paper prints of all sizes tested came out bright and clear and were absolutely dry to the touch within seconds of coming out of the printer.
The quality of the prints is so good that friends who I have shown them to have been unable to distinguish them from lab-created prints and two of my friends have had me print enlargements of their wedding photos because they thought the quality of the prints I showed them was BETTER than the prints they got from their professional photographers.
Speaking from experience the people who are complaining about the quality of these prints are DEFINITELY doing something wrong. I don't know if they're using the wrong paper printing on the wrong side of the paper or using the wrong settings but if you use the recommended paper and the correct settings on the printer you will get FABULOUS results.
The Supplies:
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One of the most surprising things about this printer is how affordable the recommended replacement supplies are.
The paper is surprisingly affordable with 50-packs of 8.5x11 or 100-packs of 4x6 glossy HP Advanced Photo Paper costing roughly $20. Likewise the ink is surprisingly cheap with replacement cartridges being priced at roughly $15 each.
To put this in perspective the ink and paper for the large-format Epson printer at my office costs more than twice as much as the supplies for this printer and the results are markedly inferior.
CONCLUSION:
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The HP Photosmart B8550 is without a doubt the finest home printer I have ever owned and is one of the best 13x19 printers I have ever used. In fact this is the best printer under $1000.00 that I have ever used bar none.
The print quality is nothing short of outstanding the wide variety of compatible sizes make this a very versatile printer and the affordable supplies make this printer a joy to use and excellent for hobbyists and photography enthusiasts.
While this may not be the printer for everyone it is an excellent choice for anyone who is interested in printing large photographs and saving a great deal of money by printing enlargements for themselves instead of sending them to a lab.
I have been enthusiastically recommending the HP Photosmart B8550 to all my photographer friends and would suggest this to anyone who has a DSLR camera and wants to try printing big gorgeous pictures of their favorite shots.
This is the most affordable highest quality consumer photo printer I have ever used and I am constantly surprised by the high quality of the results.
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