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Member Since 1987 |
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The Way We See It
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| Excellent |
| Good |
| Average |
| Poor |
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| Setup |
7.5 |
| Print Quality |
7.9 |
| Speed |
9.0 |
| Paper Handling |
7.8 |
| Supplies |
7.0 |
| Service/Reliabilty |
7.0 |
| TOTAL |
46.2 |
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In Short: The Color LaserJet 4650 is the sped up version of the 4600 series from Hewlett Packard. The two printers are virtually identical and even share toners. Except for the color around the display you could not tell them apart at a glance. Like it's predecessor, the new 4650 is much taller than the other printers in this class due to the vertical configuration of the in-line imaging/toner units. Set-up was relatively easy once the printer is unpacked and plugged into your system or network. We could not load the driver until the printer was on line and physically plugged in. This could be a problem for administrators who want to preload drivers on workstations without setting up the printer. The 4650, rated at 22 ppm in color, ranked high in most of our speed tests, (for actual test-print times from our lab go to Printer Comparisons). Output quality is good overall. At 600dpi the HP 4650 prints smooth solid colors and color text. This is more than adequate for most office applications like spreadsheets and presentations. The 600 dpi limitation does show up, however, when printing hi-resolution graphics or any document with high details. HP's Resolution Enhancement technology, smoothes out low-res images and text, but photos and hi-res images look washed out and dull as compared with other color lasers. Part of that may be caused by the flat look of the printed output even on glossy paper. Paper handling is good but the HP 4650 cannot handle cover stock over 70lb. All configurations include PostScript3 emulation and at least 160MB. The 4650n is network ready with Ethernet 10/100BaseTX and the 4650dn also includes auto-duplexing. The 4650dtn increases the RAM to 288MB and adds a second 500-sheet paper feeder. The 4650hdn is basically a 4650dtn with an internal hard disk drive and maximum input capacity of 1600 sheets. The supplies for this engine are the same as the 4600 so the toner is also an imaging unit. Printing to this printer in monochrome will use all four imaging units but only the black toner. Ultimately you would replace the color toners even though you are not printing in color.
The Bottom Line: The Hewlett Packard 4650 series is a fast color laser printer. The 4650n is adequate for most office applications but may not be the best choice for hi-resolution graphics or applications where detail and color accuracy are important. The printer works well with most all networks and is easy to set-up. Just like it's predecessor, the 4650 exterior overall seems flimsy to us compared to other competitive models and we can't help but notice that this printer stands almost twice as tall as other printer models. The biggest negative factor may be operating cost. Due to the way the consumables are configured and used by the printer, the 4650 can be one of the most expensive to use especially in black and white.
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