Melville, NY - SpencerLab Digital Color Laboratory, the premier consulting, test and analysis organization for the digital imaging industry, has completed an independent comparative study involving side-by-side testing of competitive AiO products designed for the SMB market. Commissioned by Hewlett-Packard, two print and copy quality comparisons were performed: an HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One was compared with two toner-based competitors, while an HP Officejet 6500 All-in-One was compared with three ink-based competitors. The complete test reports are freely available at www.spencerlab.com.
 
With ink-based printing devices becoming increasingly competitive with toner-based devices in various segments of the market, and HP being one of the earliest manufacturers to apply ink-based technology in business applications, SpencerLab test engineers were particularly interested in finding out how the most recent HP AiOs compare with recent toner-based competitors.
 
They were not disappointed. After thorough test and analyses, SpencerLab concluded that output from the HP Officejet Pro 8500 was indeed superior in overall print and copy quality to tested laser printers, the Brother MFC-9440CN and the Samsung CLX-3175N.
 
Print and copy output from the HP Officejet 6500 AiO was also tested and analyzed in comparison with output from the Brother MFC-5490CN, the Canon PIXMA MX860, and the Epson WorkForce 600 inkjet printers. HP Officejet 6500 AiO output was found to be of overall higher quality.

"HP is maintaining its solid reputation with the Officejet series," said Catherine Fiasconaro, Vice President of Operations and Director of SpencerLab. "With the ability to provide quality text and image output, both color and monochrome, the tested HP Officejet AiOs provide SMB office users with a versatile and value-added product."

"HP is very pleased with SpencerLab's results regarding the print quality of the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 All-in-One," said Andrew J. Binder, Market Development Director of Inkjet & Web Services at HP. "At HP, we strive to deliver an industry-leading HP Officejet Pro printing platform that enables small and midsize businesses to print professional-quality color documents for up to 50 percent less per page compared to competitive laser printers. I am personally impressed with the quality, accuracy and professionalism of SpencerLab's work on these side-by-side competitive tests."
 
Test documents from the SpencerLab Printer Test Suite, an industry standard to facilitate the evaluation of Print Quality, were utilized in testing. Print and copy output was analyzed by SpencerLab engineers in the areas of text, lines, tints & blends, and images. Print quality analysis was performed using original HP ink cartridges and two media types – glossy and plain paper with ColorLok technology, in default mode for each paper type. Reflecting typical office use, copy quality was evaluated on plain paper with ColorLok technology.
 
In its support for international markets, SpencerLab also acquired and tested European and Asian versions – the Epson Stylus Office BX600FW and the Epson Stylus Office TX600FW. The results of this analysis were the same as those from testing the US versions.