HP Photosmart B8550 Ink Cartridges

While not a professional photo printer, the HP Photosmart B8550 is an affordable solution for printing high-quality images right at home. The B8550 is one of the quicker tabloid-size photo printers available, printing up to 32 pages per minute for monochrome documents and taking an average of a minute and a half to print a 4x6-inch image. While "Pro" models like the B9180 and B8850 offer better features and output, this inkjet machine targets personal users that frequently tackle projects like family photo albums or scrapbooks.

The B8550 is packed with consumer-oriented features, such as its flexible connectivity that will allow users to print straight from their USB flash drive, memory card or PictBridge-enabled camera. The color LCD on the front panel will enable users to preview images and make quick edits before printing, as well as monitor a job's progress and receive updates on low paper supplies or expired Photosmart B8550 printer ink.

As a tabloid printer, this device is able to handle a range of different media, supporting a maximum size of up to 13x19 inches. The unit's main input tray can hold up to 40 sheets of photo paper or 125 sheets of plain paper, which is normal among its class of home photo printers. A bonus feature is its separate photo paper tray that can hold up to 20 sheets at once of media with a maximum size of 5x7 inches.

Expert tests reveal the unit's best feature is its output, printing photos with a quality that rivals more expensive units at a maximum resolution of 9600x2400 dpi using color HP B8550 printer ink. Graphics also tested well, but text documents printed a tad below par with a resolution of 1200x1200 dpi using black Photosmart B8550 ink.

This unit's 5-color print system includes photo black, cyan, magenta and yellow supplies that have a standard yield of 300 pages, and a black HP B8550 ink cartridge with a capacity of 250 pages. Optional high-capacity replacements are affordable and increase yields to a maximum of 750 pages for the color supplies and 550 pages for the black HP B8550 ink cartridge.

The B8550 is well liked by experts, offering excellent photo and graphic output, impressive speeds, and flexible support for large-format printing. The unit's array of connectivity options and dual paper tray system also set it apart from competing inkjet models, making it one of the top picks in its class of personal printers.

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