HP Deskjet 450CBi

The Deskjet 450CBi is designed to combine portability with excellent print quality. Indeed, HP has built a unit that weighs 1.9kg, and occupies a small footprint measuring around 16.4 x 33.8cm.

The 450CBi has a maximum resolution of 1,200 x 1,200 dots per inch (dpi) for mono output, and an optimised Photo Resolution Enhancement Technology (Photoret) resolution of 4,800 x 1,200dpi for printing photos. If using the optional £22 photo cartridge, Photoret IV is enabled, which increases the number of ink drops laid on a single dot to 32.

Three quality settings exist: fast, normal and best. Selecting normal, we printed 50 text pages on photocopy paper in 11 minutes, 49 seconds, which equates to 4.23 pages per minute (ppm); not far off HP's 5ppm claim. Text is jet black with only slight feathering around small characters.

Printing our A4 test photo on HP photo paper took seven minutes, 34 seconds for the standard three-colour cartridge, while a tiresome 36 minutes was clocked for the photo cartridge.

However, colours were vivid and skin tones credible for both cartridges, with the photo one producing finer detail. Unfortunately the driver reported an ink level drop of 20 per cent after tests.

Around the back there's a parallel port interface, along with a USB port and a Fast Infrared port. There's also a Compact Flash (CF) Type I/II slot, which allows you to print images saved from a digital camera or to plug in the optional Bluetooth card. An 180g clip-on lithium battery is available, but this will set you back £60.

The 450CBi is versatile for printing on the move, but the £30 colour and £18 black cartridges only hold 17 and 19ml of ink, respectively.

SPECS

• Thermal inkjet technology
• 4,800 x 1,200 max resolution
• 45-sheet input tray
• 1.9kg
• 33.8 x 16.4 x 8.3cm (w x d x h)
• Parallel & USB - Infra-red port
• 350-page stated battery life
• Windows 98/ME/2000 Pro/XP/ CE3, Pocket PC, Mac OS 8.6, Palm OS 3.0

DETAILS

Price: £263.20 (£224 ex VAT)

Contact: HP 08705 474 747
www.hp.com/uk