HP Officejet Pro 8000 Enterprise Color Printer

The HP Officejet Pro Enterprise 8000 offers duplex printing, networked connectivity, and a 250-sheet input tray. HP says its cost per page is less than that of laser printers; and for under $200 it's at the low end for enterprise printers; and since the quality rivals laser quality, it's not a bad deal. However, the single paper input tray (250 sheets) is a bit basic for an enterprise printer, it's fairly slow, and it doesn't offer any bells or whistles unless you use HP's ePrint Enterprise Solution or HP Web Jetadmin software to gain some enterprise-level functionality.

The HP Officejet 8000 Enterprise Color Printer is, as its names suggests, aimed at businesses rather than consumers. It can be networked (wired only), is compatible with the HP Web Jetadmin software (which allows easy configuring of an entire fleet of printers) as well as the HP ePrint Enterprise Solution (a cloud-printing solution), and has a built-in duplexer. Like other Officejet Pro printers I've tested, such as the HP Officejet Pro 8500A ,the HP Officejet Pro 8000 Enterprise has a long set-up time--print alignment phase took nearly 20 minutes. But of course that needs to be done only once.

Print speeds were average at best. A four-page Word document took about 43 seconds (with first page out in about 19 seconds)--that's about the same as the HP Officejet Pro 8500A, and roughly average for the whole line. It was time well spent, at least--fonts were sharp and clear, and I there was no noticeable bleed into the paper. Duplex printing saves resources but wastes time, with the same Word document taking almost two minutes to print. Of course you can get closer to HP's claim of 15 ppm (black) by using draft mode--but that's not much help when you're printing something for the boardroom.

On the other hand, if your business calls for printing 4x6 photos, you'll be pleasantly surprised at the speed--about 39 seconds for an excellent photo. Color graphics looked excellent, and overall the print quality is very close to laser-like. So if you want to save time, go with a laser printer; if you want to save money, the Officejet Pro Enterprise is a better bet. That is, if you don't mind that there's only a single paper input for 250 pages. There are no slots for external media.

I do like the heavy-duty ink cartridges that come with this printer. They're much larger than consumer-oriented cartridges and very easy to install. HP says the black cartridge is good for around 1,000 pages, and the color cartridges for about 900 pages. Additional black cartridges retail for $25.99 on HP's site; the color cartridges for $19.99.

This printer does have a big footprint for a single-purpose printer; it's nearly two feet wide and 19.45-inches deep (including the duplexer and output tray). That's a lot of desk space for a printer that can't handle media larger than legal-size paper. It weighs in at over 17 pounds.

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.