HP Officejet 4620 review

Printers and MFDs aren't known for attractive curves, so HP's Officejet 4620 comes as something of a breath of fresh air. Although it's an office-orientated device with a fairly hefty ADF fixed on top, a lovely curved front helps to make it one of the best looking MFDs around.

It's quite cheap, though, so its specification isn't quite so impressive. Though it has a fax modem and support for wireless networks, this MFD doesn't have duplex printing. While its ADF has a useful 35-page capacity, the printer's shallow paper input tray accommodates just 80 sheets, and its thin, flexible output tray only 20.

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Turn it on, and the 4620 disappoints further. The swooping control panel includes only a backlit monochrome LCD rather than a colour display, and along with the touch-sensitive controls it's protected by a flexible, cheap-feeling plastic membrane rather than a stiff plastic or glass panel. The four separate ink tanks fit into a compartment at the front, but they're not keyed to prevent them being inserted in the wrong slot.

If your Wifi router doesn't support the easy Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) system, the 4620 makes joining a network more complex than it needs to be. This is the first device we've encountered with a screen and suitable controls that won't let you manually enter a network password; instead you must use the supplied USB cable to connect it to a computer on the same network during setup. HP's installer makes this step easy, but it shouldn't really be necessary.

In our tests the 4620 proved to have a reasonably swift printer capable of producing crisp black text and solid, streak-free colours on plain paper. Its photo prints aren't bad for an office device, either, although black regions lacked impact compared to the best examples. Unfortunately, we were far less impressed with the scanner, which took almost a minute to generate an A4 preview. White, unprinted paper in document scans made at 150 or 300dpi was captured with a blueish tinge, and high-resolution photo scans looked artificial.

Despite great looks and a reasonable price, the 4620 isn't a convincing all-rounder. More significantly, it's outperformed by HP's own Officejet 6600, which costs only a little more.