New HP printer for the ambitious amateur

[Venkman]

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Taken from a german online mag - since I haven't read anything about this one so far, I took the liberty to (freely) translate the key data:

 

HP B8850

format A3

8 ink (pigment) cartridges incl. matte black, light grey and deep black

Same print speed as B9180 of 28 pages per minute b/w and 26 color.

Difference to B9180: no ethernet (USB 2.0 instead) and no control display.

 

The printhead is said to only clean the clodded muzzles, which is supposed to waste less ink. A build in calibration is supposed to handel color management.

The close Integration into the PS CS3 print process allow for high color consistency, which does not require doubled color management (not sure what they mean here) - this will be included in a driver update for the B9180 as well.

 

Price: US$ 550 - available from April on.

[DaveB]

Yes, it appears identical to the HP B9180 except for the network interface and control panel. It uses the same ink and, I presume, print engine. The two printers self-calibrate, not the same as profiling, and that's pretty neat.

 

Buy HP Photosmart Pro B8850 Printer(Q7161A#B1H) direct from the HP Home & Home Office Store

 

I might miss the control panel as it gives me a clue as to when an ink cartidge is going to run out. Networking is nice as I'll let my laptop do a print job rather than have Qimage and CS3 all open on my elderly desktop.

 

All in all, I've been extremely impressed with the HP B9180 over the past 5 months.

 

The Leica M8 + HP B9180 + Hahnemühle Smooth Fine Art Paper = Gorgeous A3 Prints

[ho_co]

Thanks to you both for the heads-up!

 

--HC