HP OfficeJet H470wf – Wannabe Professional Printer

Pros

The HP OfficeJet H470wf has got a all new sleek color scheme, is comparatively fast and offers prints at low cost per page.

Cons

The HP OfficeJet H470wf’s print quality is really poor, the printer doesn’t have the CompactFlash port for dSLR owners and one of the most annoying things here is its hiccup-prone paper feeder.

Introduction

Hewlett-Packard’s all new line of OfficeJet H470 Mobile Printers is a renewal to its line of portable inkjet printers. With the models starting from $224 to $314, the printers here are clearly not any cheap printers especially with the fact that most of the home inkjet printers cost less than $100.

Even the print quality of HP OfficeJet H470wf is substandard, which however was not a surprise but rather disappointing. We would have loved say a lot of good things about the OfficeJet H470wf, but this certainly isn’t the update that we were waiting for and clearly is an unimpressive update and its better to get its preceding embodiment, the HP DeskJet 460c, that too at a discounted price.

Design

The all new HP OfficeJet H470wf is comparatively compact printer and measuring 3.25 x 13.4 x 6.45 inches (H x W x D) the OfficeJet H470wf is a tad bigger than the desktop printer. Also weighing about 4.5 pounds, the printer is portable and can be carried comfortably in a briefcase or a carry-on bag, but definitely can’t be carried all day long. Being the most expensive model of the series the H470wf also has a shielding covering of vinyl with stencils for different ports of the printer, but there isn’t any handle or place for storing the cables. The OfficeJet H470 series has three models with every model having different hardware set and versatility, but depending upon the hardware and versatility, the price for each model also varies significantly.

One of the major omissions from the H470s is of the IrDA ports, but if you are frequent commuter then you can buy an 802.11 b/g adapter from HP, as it is not offered with the series. Though, HP has provided a switch at the rear end of the printer to facilitate this facility, for the frequent commuters.

The external body of OfficeJet H470wf is pretty much the same as of 460c, except for the lusterless finish in spite of the silver. Aesthetically HP really has done great work with H470wbt. The edges of the printer are rounded and the flaps of the printer folds smartly into the body. The printer looks pretty rugged and clearly if Batman wanted a “mobile printer”, this clearly will be his choice.

The printer has got almost every essential port that it needs such as the standard USB, a SD/ MMC/miniSD slot and PictBridge USB, but if you are a dSLR owner than you definitely are not going to like this printer that much as it does have the Compact Flash port that was present in the older models. Although, this shouldn’t be an issue if you are using the modern cameras which uses Memory Stick media or SD, but if you are a DSLR owner than stay away from it and go for the photo-specific travel printer like HP Photosmart A826.

System Configuration

Starting price: $279.00 – $299.99
Manufacturer: HP
Part Number: CB064A#B1H
Connectivity Technology: Wired and Wireless
Printer Type: Ink-jet Color, Compact photo printer
Operating System Supported: Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Vista and Microsoft Windows 2000, Apple Mac OS X 10.3.9 – 10.5.x

Dimensions (W x D x H): 13.4 x  6.5 x 3.2 inches
Weight: 4.6 lbs
Media Type: Envelopes,   Labels,   Photo paper,   Index cards,   Greeting cards,   Plain paper and Transparencies
RAM (Max): 32 MB
Software Included: Drivers & Utilities
PC Connection: Hi-Speed USB, 4 pin USB Type B

Features: Optional duplex
Supported Flash Memory: MultiMediaCard and SD Memory Card
Power Device: Power adapter
Connectivity Technology: Wired and   Wireless

Performance

The performance of HP OfficeJet H470wf in our lab testing produced satisfactory results and the OfficeJet H470wf delivered 5.51 pages per minute in our black text printing test. This was complete one complete page faster than its precursor, but a tad slower than Canon iP90v. The same was the case with the graphics, photos and presentation speeds, with a slight edge over the competition in graphics and presentation and a bit lagging in photo printing test.

But the real shocker came in terms of print quality, as the print quality here was significantly deteriorated, even in comparison to 460c. The 460c delivered sharp text printing with characters having sharp edges, while the same for OfficeJet H470wf was fuzzy. The same was the case with the other prints as well and the printer failed to impress us with any of its prints, at least in terms of quality.

Support

The HP OfficeJet H470wf gets a limited one year warranty from HP. Though, for any sort of troubleshooting you have the 24*7 telephonic supports or the e-mail support.There are several other services available on HP’s Web site, including the drivers downloads, updates, documentation, and FAQs.

Word from the Experts

The HP OfficeJet H470wf comes as professional portable printer in the market, but lags the most important aspect of being a professional printer and that is of performance. Although the with its sleek design the printer has got travel-friendly aesthetics and the lucrative cartridge prices enhances its rating a bit in our rating, but the significant deterioration in the print quality even from the earlier model can upset a lot of potential buyers.