HP LaserJet Pro M1130 Toner Cartridges

HP M1130 Printer Review

Designed for professionals to use in a small office setting, the HP Deskjet 820 is a basic inkjet printer with the ability to print crisp text and bright colors. Whether printing invoices for a client or printing colorful invitations for a company party, the 820 is the go-to machine. Connected by parallel port, this unit offers decent speed and sufficient quality, all while remaining affordable and reliable throughout the years.

If only black-and-white documents are being printed, the 820 can generate up to 1,000 pages per month. Color pages, however, require more internal activity that can cause wear and tear, so less than 200 pages should be printed per month. With drop-on-demand technology, micro droplets of HP 820 printer ink are pushed out through nozzles attached to the printheads and applied to the paper. Resolution is measured in dots per inch, with this unit maxing out at 600 dpi.

Unfortunately for Mac users, the 820 is only compatible with Windows operating systems. Connected by parallel port and boasting only a 128 KB of memory, the speed of production is nothing to write home about. Using the color Deskjet 820 ink, up to 4 pages per minute can be produced, while the black text documents are printed at 6 pages per minute. These speeds can vary based on the complexity of the document and the print mode that is set.

The input tray, which can hold up to 150 sheets of plain paper, also supports a number of other media types including transparencies, labels, and glossy paper. There is also a single-sheet slot that is used typically for printing on individual envelopes or letterhead. Duplex printing is also supported.

The black HP 820 ink cartridge can yield up to 830 pages, while the tricolor supply yields only about 460 pages. Cyan, magenta, and yellow printer ink are contained in the tricolor Deskjet 820 ink cartridge, which reduces maintenance requirements but also means it will have to be replaced when one of the three colors is completely out. Fortunately, remanufactured versions of the HP 820 ink are available from third-party vendors.

Though there is nothing spectacular about the HP Deskjet 820, it meets the needs of low-volume offices with impressive quality and consistency. This inkjet printer will work well in a small workplace or in a home.