HP Officejet H470b
Jayesh Limaye
Apr 28 2008
Pretty fast in draft mode, compact, memory card reader, upgradable for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
Average print quality, expensive, questionable build quality
In today's fast-moving world, all devices are getting smaller. Printers are not an exception to this, as borne out by the HP Officejet H470b. This tiny, battery-powered baby is meant for the upwardly mobile office executives who may need to print even on the go. We may now take a look at its performance.



Bundle

HP Officejet H470b
One black and one tri-color cartridge
USB 2.0 data cable
Power adapter
Power cable
Backup battery
Quick Start Guide
Software and drivers CD



A good thing about the H470b is that HP has gone a step further by providing a backup battery along with this printer; this means you can actually use it while taking it around.









The Printer


This is a really compact printer


The H470b is a really small printer, measuring just 34 x 18.5 x 8.25 mm, yet it is capable of printing to A4 and letter-size papers. It's a pity that it is not really that light; weighing 2.27 kg, it can't be carried around comfortably. Furthermore, it doesn't come with a carry case or even a handle. To boot it all, the size of this printer will not allow you to carry it in a normal-size briefcase. HP really needs to do something about this.

The body of the H470b is a black polymer, with a silver horizontal lining running centrally. The top, which is actually the input tray, has a piano black finish. A tiny flap at the front, the output tray opens in a stylish way. When you turn the printer on, a small uneven cog situated to the right of the roller pushes this flap open. The input tray can hold up to 50 sheets of paper, which we think, is sufficient. As far as build quality goes, this printer failed to amuse us; it doesn't seem quite ready for rough handling.



This thermal inkjet printer uses two cartridges -- one black and one tri-color. Loading the cartridges is very simple, and the carriage bay door has illustrated instructions about how to install the cartridges correctly, so you may never go wrong.




The control panel comprises just three buttons and LEDs


The panel is fairly elementary, with just three shiny buttons (cancel, paper feed, and power). To indicate malfunctioning of individual cartridges and power status, illuminated LED icons are also present.


You can print directly from memory cards and upgrade the printer for wireless printing through the USB dongle port


If you take a look at the left side of the printer, you can see a memory card slot that can read SD, MiniSD, and MMC cards. Just beside this slot, there is a USB slot; this, however, is not for connecting a USB drive but for the USB dongle that lets you upgrade this printer to print wirelessly via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The Bluetooth dongle and Wi-Fi can be purchased separately from HP; while the former costs Rs. 4,999, the latter is available for Rs. 3,999. The idea is good -- HP doesn't force you to buy these; you can buy them later as per your requirements. The Bluetooth lets you print directly from your mobile phone, while the more appealing Wi-Fi lets multiple Wi-Fi devices such as laptops, PDAs, PCs, etc. connect to this printer, making this as good as a network printer.


The battery pack provides for some real portability


The battery backup compartment is at the back, and the battery slides into place, just like in a laptop. We would like to state here that this printer is available without the battery too, at a lower price, the base model H470 remaining the same, but then you lose the portable freedom that the battery brings to this device.


Easily switch between different Wi-Fi profiles according to your needs


At the centre, just below the battery, there is a Wi-Fi Profile switch. Using this switch, you can easily choose from among three different Wi-Fi profiles created by you. The USB and PictBridge ports (for direct camera printing) are also present nearby.



Software


HP Photosmart Essential


There isn't really much to say about the software bundle. The HP Solution Center is like a central access point of sorts to monitor and control the printer settings as well as to let you access the HP Photosmart Essential, which is an online image management software.



Installation and Performance

We installed the printer without much hassle. In fact, it took just about 10 minutes to set up the whole thing. A notable point is that HP provides drivers for Windows as well as Mac; it also provides a descriptive soft copy of the manual for the printer.

We put the H470b through a variety of tests to determine its print quality and speed.

Font size printing test: We printed a page containing all the letters in font sizes ranging from large to very small. There were no smudges anywhere, but the characters looked pretty jagged.

Text print speed: We printed a page of black text in draft as well as normal mode, to find the speed and quality of the print. The first page in the draft mode printed in 10.9 seconds and thereafter it was more rapid -- at 12.7 pages per minute -- which is really good. At the normal settings, the first page took 14.4 seconds, while the PPM (pages per minute) was 6, marking a drop in the speed by nearly half. The text had jagged edges as in the previous test and more so in the draft mode.


The document we used as our presentation document




Presentation document speed: This consisted of a page of multi-colored graphs, text, charts, patterns, and photos. The first page in the draft mode took just 16.9 seconds and the pages per minute reached around 6. This is a good speed; notice that it is just about equal to the printing speed for text document in the normal mode. When we changed the mode to normal, the speed dropped a lot. The first page took 45 seconds, while the PPM was a leisurely 1.6. The print quality in the normal mode is acceptable. Strangely, though, we found the graphics of the printout to be skewed in the draft mode.


The test photo we printed


Photo print: Although this is an Officejet, we still expect it to print photographs because you never know when such a situation may arise. It took 4.2 minutes to print a full A4-size borderless photo, and this is indeed a decent timing for any printer. However, the quality of the photograph printed was not at all impressive; it had graininess just about everywhere, but the color reproduction was quite faithful.

We would like to state that we experienced some paper handling problems with this printer when we set the paper guide to the exact size of the A4 paper. However, when we increased the paper guide size to letter, the problems disappeared. One more problem that we found was that it is very tedious to print a portrait photograph on A4 size paper, which is simply because this size is not readily available when you select the photograph printing profile.



Our Verdict

The HP Officejet H470b is an innovative effort from HP to add portability to a device such as a printer, while not limiting it to printing just 6" x 4" photos. The upgradability option, which allows you to purchase a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi dongle later and upgrade this printer for wireless connectivity, is fabulous, too. This easy-to-use printer prints at a rather brisk rate in the draft mode and produces prints of acceptable quality. The installation is fairly easy, and all you need to do is sit for it to be completed and you are ready to fire your prints. On the downside, the print quality is not up to the mark in the draft mode, but it does improve in better -- but more expensive -- printing modes.

This HP Officejet H470b is priced at Rs. 13,899, which is a steep price by any standards, even if you consider the portability, upgradability, and the ability to get A4 size prints. The black cartridge costs Rs. 850 and can print a claimed 500 pages, bringing the cost per page of black print to an affordable Rs. 1.70. The color cartridge costs Rs. 1,200 and claims to print 580 pages, thus the cost per page working out to Rs. 2.06, which again is good.


HP's Order-a-Cartridge is a very convenient way to order new cartridges


You can order the cartridges just by an all-India toll-free number and the cartridge is conveniently delivered to your doorsteps. The HP H470b is covered by a one-year warranty. However, buy it if you have the money and the need for a portable printer.


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