Among the many multifunction machines that have been shown on the market in the past months, HP also launched one, the HP OfficeJet G85. This inkjet follows the previously HP LaserJet 3150, which was also designed as a multifunction device. However, the HP OfficeJet G85 evolved from the less performing DeskJet 970Cxi machine. Unlike the other inkjet multifunctional printers, the HP OfficeJet G85 surprises with its wonderful capabilities and performance.

On the outside, the unit was designed to inspire a solid and reliable look, and that doesn’t eclipse its stylish nature either. It was equipped with options that offer flatbed scanning, printing, copying, faxing, all of these naming the multifunction capacity of the office inkjet. It also has connectivity options through parallel cable that matches the Windows NT 4, and through USB that corresponds with Windows 98 and Windows 2000. Other features include 125 speed dial memory, a 150 sheet in-tray, 125 page fax memory, a 30-page automatic document feeder and an option that blocks unwanted fax numbers as well.

The OfficeJEt G85’s photo printing option offers obvious quality, while the HP’s Premium Plus gloss photo paper offers even better qualitative images, benefiting from a high resolution. Printing this type of photos will take only five minutes and 41 seconds, which proves to be even faster than the other HP impressive printer, the A-Listed PhotoSmart 1100. In numbers, it was exactly three minutes faster than the PhotoSmart 1100. There remains of course the possibility to print on standard quality inkjet paper, which didn’t prove to be such a good alternative for the HP OfficeJet G85, but it isn’t far from the A-Listed PhotoSmart 1100’s results either. In the later case, the prints were less colorful and they had a gray shade, lacking the gloss photo paper’s shininess.

As for the text quality, it is also very good, it was crisp and clear printed, having only a little foggy shade at the edges. The text printing is also very fast, timing only six minutes and 22 seconds for 25 text pages. The timing result is of 3.9 pages per minute, with approximately 0.8 pages per minute slower than the HP’s statement of 4.7 ppm for text printing.

The scan of a photo however, will not turn to be very accurate as in the printing’s case. Scanning can be done easily with the help of the Scan To button placed at the front of the case, in the control panel. Using the HP’s Director software settings of scanning at 600 dpi didn’t prove to make things better, the gray shade didn’t disappear, and proved unsuitable.

The copy option of the HP OfficeJet G85 functions at high standards, unlike the scanning, and the standard document copying can be made with the help of the HP’s Director software, which ensures qualitative copying even while scaled. The best quality that the HP OfficeJet G85 was enriched with is the flawless copying in a short period pf time, and the high quality offered by the copying device.

The Director software is really the greatest asset that helps the user to control all the HP OfficeJet G85’s functions easily, using the simple interface.