HP's Officejet Pro 8500 printer is a good office inkjet all-in-one alternative

HP's Officejet Pro 8500 is one of the most fully featured devices in this group - as you'd expect given the $349 price tag - but it also offsets that with incredibly low running costs.

With high-yield alternatives available for all four of its ink tanks, each capable of printing well over 1000 pages, the 8500 works out at just 15c per colour A4 page. Only the Brother office printer performs better.

So you'll make back some of that high purchase price in the long-run, and with ink economy comes a wealth of features.

The HP connects via USB, Ethernet or 802.11bg Wi-Fi, and setup via the driver or the large 3.5in LCD is quick and simple. A 250-sheet input tray sits at the base of the device, while the ADF on top holds 50 sheets.

HP's claims over speed are bold to say the least, and although we didn't achieve the claimed 35ppm mono rates, 18.8ppm in draft mode is still quicker than all but the Epson, and excellent quality normal prints came out at 11.8ppm.

Better still, colour print speed was 7.1ppm, which no other office device came close to matching.

A 6 x 4in photo churned out in just over a minute and a half, but here quality began to disappoint slightly.

A lack of contrast and a grainy finish to prints added to the awkward photo tray buried deep inside the out tray, making the 8500 very much a document specialist rather than an all-rounder.

It hits the heights again with the scanner, which produced sharp and accurate images that no other device could match. It wasn't the quickest in producing those scans, but we'd be happy to make that trade-off.

Copies were generally good, too, and our four-page document positively raced through the ADF, taking just 1min 10secs to copy in full colour.

The HP Officejet Pro 8500 is an impressive office all-in-one with a simply superb scanner. We're a little disappointed by the inclusion of introductory-sized inks in the box, but once you've bought your first set of replacements you'll reap the benefits.

It may be costly to buy, but if you're after something a little more business-like than the Canon, it's a worthy alternative.