HP DeskJet 5850 Color Printer

• Up to 21 ppm black, 15 ppm color draft
• Up to 4,800 x 1,200 dpi optimized color printing
• Built-in wireless 802.11b and wired Ethernet support
• Optional 250-sheet tray increases input to 400 sheets
• USB 2.0 connection, PC and Mac compatible; 1-year warranty

I was looking for a new printer to replace the Epson that died on me after a short period of usage and decided to go back to HP. When browsing their mid-range printers I saw this wireless model. Having set up my wireless network this year and having my father on the same network and the chance of friends stopping by who might want to use the printer I thought that it would be perfect. This printer works as a plain USB printer (cable not included), or as a network printer. Using it as a network printer you have 2 choices. The first is to use the included ethernet cable and hook the printer up to your local network. The second is to turn the thing on and have it automatically detect your wireless network and jump on the network. I set it up with my powerbook and I have to say it was the easiest setup EVER. This printer is rendezvous enabled which is great for Mac OSX users. You just select the printer from the list when you go to print and you are DONE. There is nothing else to do, everything is ready to start printing! You can also set up the included software on the CD which installs HPs own custom drivers and autodetects the printer on the network for you. This probably works the same way on windows. Another cool thing is that the printer has web configuration. You can either figure out the IP and put it in the browser (and change it there too if you like) or on your Rendezvous enabled mac you can select it from the Rendezvous menu in safari where it shows up.

As for the the hardware side, this is an above average quality ink jet printer. The DPI (dots per inch, how much detail goes into what you print) on it is pretty good compared to some other printers in the same range, and the printing speed is also pretty good.

The paper feed is much better than top feed printers I have in the past which had trouble getting the paper aligned. You can also get an extra tray if you want to hold more paper. I think this would be a nice printer for a small office, or home network where you have several people with computers and/or notebooks.

So overall this is an low end network printer with wifi or a high end deskjet with wifi. Either way, I think this printer is a really great product

Buy HP DeskJet 5850 Color Printer Now

I bought this printer after my 5 year old Deskjet 930C died. I wanted an inkjet that had built-in network connectivity for use in my home network. I considered the Epson C84N, but it does not have a duplex accessory and the network connectivity is by way of a bundled print server device. Then I found the HP 5850. It had the features that I was looking for. It can be connected via USB cable, wireless 802.11b, Ethernet cable, or all three at once if you wish.

The out of box experience was very good. Plugged in the power, inserted the ink carts, and connected it to my router with a CAT5 cable. The first time it is powered on with the ink carts installed it goes through a configuration that takes 2 or 3 minutes. After that, the printer easily found an IP address using DHCP. Installation of the software from the included CD was equally smooth on both of my Win XP Pro pcs, the software found the printer and was ready to use within a couple minutes. Best of all, the duplex accessory from my old 930C also fits the 5850, saving the expense of having to buy a new one.

Print quality is very good, and is quicker than my 930C. Picture quality is much better and that is with the normal tri-color cartridge, I have not yet tested using the photo cart.

Overall, I am extremely happy with this printer, it is a very nice upgrade from my previous inkjet and just the thing for those of us needing to easily share a printer on a small network.

Read Best Reviews of HP DeskJet 5850 Color Printer Here

I bought this printer beacuse I have several computers at home (both Mac and PC) and I needed something I could put in a shelf and print from whichever computer. It works GREAT!!!

It is easy to install and setup. The driver installation is easy on both platforms. And it is quite fast. No extra are cables needed just plug it to the power outlet and you are all set. It also has an ethernet port if you do not have wireless or prefer to have it plugged into your network hardware.

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(Revised review September 12th, 2004)

After disconnecting my base station (802.1b), my wireless connection to the printer stopped working. I spent 2-3 hours trying to reconfigure the printer, and was about ready to smash it. Upon awaking the next morning, I tried once more to follow the directions on how to configure the printer for wireless printing. Here''s what I found: since I have a password protecting my network, I have to enter a WEP Hexadecimal password for other users to connect, ie. my printer to connect itself to the network. All this time I was skipping this important step. A dialog box pops up and gives me the WEP Hex password, some series of numbers, letters, and characters. I copied this number down, and went back to configuring the printer. This time, I entered this number in the WEP field, and viola, the printer now works wirelessly! I am raising the scale to 4 stars now. Still, the set up procedure seems demanding, and I''ve used computers since 1985. Of course, I''m used to true plug and play on the Macintosh, so again, I think I may not know enough about wireless networking to really know if the set up procedure is more cumbersome or not. For me, it was very difficult.

However, the print quality is very good. I recommend this printer to anyone looking for a wireless solution that is Mac/PC friendly.

(Original review July 2004)

I bought this printer because of its wireless potential. And it works great, once it is set up. I run OS X, and I always argue that things works so well on the Mac, and they typically do. This printer set up, however, seems rediculous. Perhaps it is because I do not know enough about wireless networking. Apple uses the incredibly easy to use networking protocol Rendezvous, which in theory doesn''t need any driver installed (or perhaps the driver is installed by Apple in the OS, and this one is not, yet.) At least that''s my limited knowledge and experience with Rendezvous using an HP 4600 Color Laser at my work location. Just plug the ethernet cable into the printer and there it is in the Add Printer box. However, this printer required me not only to install a driver, but then follow a complicated set up procedure, plugging in a network cable, turning on/off the printer. When that didn''t work, I tried several things, including restarting the computer Finally, I reinstallled the software, and then it worked. This seems rediculous. This is exactly the reason I do not use the Windows OS. Perhaps I do not know enough about wireless connectivity, and this may be the only way to set up a wireless printer to work with an 802 network. If true, then I appologize to Windows users and HP. If this is as easy as it gets, then there needs to be more thought put into the install process, because it sure wasn''t easy at all.

Second, the printer seems loud. It runs like an Epson inkjet that this is replacing. When you go to print, there is an inordinate amount of clacking, and the paper feed is part of the problem.

Fortunately, the printer does work wirelessly, which is the only reason I will keep this. And I like the paper feed in front of the printer, as opposed to on top like Epson made in the past.

Perhaps after working with this printer for a few weeks I will up my rating, but for now, this gets 3 stars.

I have both Mac and a PC, so I needed a printer that talked to both easily. This printer was the answer. My office arrangement would have required running wires to connect both pcs so the wireless solution was just what I needed.

The setup was a bit bumpy, but connecting a temporary network cable to the printer solved the problems and I was up an running wireless within an hour (which included unpacking the printer).

The printer works great and is quiet.