Review posted 10/05/04

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The $299 HP Photosmart 8450 Photo Printer is designed for photo
enthusiasts who want a professional-grade printer for producing high
quality, long lasting digital photo prints. The Photosmart 8450 features
eight-color ink with up to 4800-optimized dots per inch (dpi) resolution
for impressive color accuracy, precise image detail and stunning black and
white photos.

Users can produce photos with the Photosmart 8450 connected to a PC
(Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP) or Mac (OS 9+, OS X) computer's USB 2.0 port
with the supplied HP Image Zone software or any popular photo editing or
viewing software. You can print photos directly from most digital camera
flash memory cards or Microdrives using the printer's four, onboard memory
card slots. Images are previewed, selected and/or edited before printing
with the high resolution 2.5-inch color LCD. You can print directly from
any PictBridge-enabled camera - using the camera's USB download cable and
the 8450's front- mounted USB port.

The Photosmart 8450 is network-ready out of the box and can be
connected directly to any Ethernet LAN switch, hub or router and shared
with other users. With the optional HP bt300 Bluetooth Printing Adapter
you can print wirelessly from Bluetooth-enabled camera phones, PDAs,
laptops or other Bluetooth-equipped devices.

The Photosmart 8450 can produce a borderless 4x6" color print in as
little as 27 seconds. It can print borderless up to 8.5 x 11" letter-size
prints and panoramas using the new 4 x 12" Panorama Photo Paper. 4 x
6-inch photos can be printed easily at any time without the need to remove
the 8.5 x 11-inch paper thanks to its dedicated 4 x 6-inch photo paper
tray which holds up to 20 sheets.

Photosmart 8450 Features:

Photo quality printing with up to 4800-optimized dpi with eight-ink
color printing

Photo Gray ink cartridge produces richly saturated black and white
prints

Print borderless photos up to 8.5 x 11-inches and panoramas

Second tray holds 20 sheets of 4 x 6" photo paper and allows you to
print photos without unloading the regular paper tray

Preview and edit photos on the builtin 2.5-inch color LCD

Print directly from CompactFlash (Type I or II) cards, Microdrives,
SmartMedia, Secure Digital / MMC, Memory Stick or xD-Picture Cards

Print directly from PictBridge-compatible cameras

Send and save photos to the computer easily via the printer's
save-to-PC feature

Use the memory card slots to transfer image data to the computer,
works just like a high-speed USB 2.0 card reader

Easily share the Photosmart 8450 on any Ethernet network

Optional HP bt300 Bluetooth Wireless Print Adapter for wireless
printing from camera phones, laptops, PDAs, etc.

Optional black ink cartridge for faster, crisper black text for
regular printing tasks.

High-quality photographic reproduction using HP's exclusive color
layering technology from PhotoREt Pro

Resist fading for up to 73 years on HP Premium Plus Photo paper
(according to tests by Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc.)

HP Inkjet Cartridges

The Photosmart 8450 uses three different ink cartridges featuring HP
Vivera inks - the HP97 (or the HP95) Tri-color, the HP99 Photo Inkjet and
the HP100 Gray Photo Inkjet. If you're going to use the printer for
ordinary text printing, the HP100 cartridge can be swapped out for the
optional HP94 or HP96 Black Inkjet cartridge. Inside the top of the
printer is a special place to hold the extra cartridge when it's not in
use.

HP inkjet cartridges contain both the ink and printhead so each time
you change out a cartridge you are also getting a new printhead. The HP
Vivera inks are specially formulated to produce brilliant "true to life"
colors and provide exceptional fade resistance when printed on HP Premium
Plus Photo papers.

Builtin Networking

Unlike most inkjet printers you'll find an Ethernet network jack on the
back of the Photosmart 8450 printer. Simply plug it into your network
switch or router and it's accessible by any of your PCs on the local
network. Network users also have access to the memory card slots and can
share photo collections via HP Instant Share software.

Connection to non-networked computers is via a USB 2.0 port. There's
also a front USB 1.1 port for connecting an optional HP bt300 Bluetooth
Wireless Printing Adapter or for direct printing from any
PictBridge-compatible camera (see farther down this page for more info
about PictBridge.) Printer power is supplied by an external power adapter
(brick) with a detachable AC power cord.

Versatile Printing Options

Print from Memory Cards

The printer has four built-in flash memory card slots on the front.
There is a dedicated slot for CompactFlash Type I or II cards including
IBM Microdrive, a slot for SecureDigital and MultiMediaCard, a slot for
SmartMedia and xD-Picture cards and a slot for Memory Stick (and Memory
Stick Duo, Magic Gate and Memory Stick Pro) cards. Only one card can be
inserted at a time, you will receive a warning if you attempt to insert
more than one card.

After inserting a memory card, the color LCD will say "reading card..."
and then display the number of photos and videos that it has found. Then
the first picture is shown so you can edit it or print it. You can scroll
through your pictures by using the 4-way controller (just like on your
digicam) or you can print a HP Photo Proof Sheet (index sheet.) You can
even view a video and select a "freeze frame" to print.

Buttons on the front panel make it easy to select, print, save and
share photos. Use the buttons to scroll through photos on a memory card
and navigate the printer menu. Select the photo(s) that you want to print,
the number of copies, the desired paper size and then press PRINT. You can
use the Tools to manually adjust brightness (7 levels,) select cropping
(standard or full image,) borderless (on, off), remove red-eye or choose a
color option (color, black & white, sepia or antique.) The Tools menu
also lets you clean the print cartridges, select paper settings, page
layout, menu language and regional settings.

The large 2.5-inch color LCD can be tilted up or down to adjust for
your viewing angle. This display is larger than that on most digital
cameras, it is a very high resolution monitor with excellent color
rendition and contrast.

Direct Print Using PictBridge

Many digital cameras made after late 2003 now feature PictBridge
direct-USB printing. You connect the camera to the printer's front USB
port using the regular download cable and select the photos on the
camera's LCD screen with its special print menu.

Card Reader Functions

The memory card slots can also be used like a high-speed card reader
when the printer is connected to a computer's USB 2.0 port. The memory
card appears as a removable drive in the "My Computer" folder of a Windows
XP machine. You can easily copy, move or delete files on "Drive K:" using
Windows Explorer or any file management program.

You'll find two new tray icons on your task bar. One looks like a
memory card and turns green when a card is inserted in one of the four
card slots. Right-clicking on it brings up the menu as shown above. The
icon to the right gives you access to the 8450's printer driver. See the
section "Print from Computer" on the next page for the driver features and
options.

With Windows XP or Me you will get one of these "popups" on your
computer screen (if the printer is connected via USB) whenever a card is
inserted. You can select an automatic action such as unload pictures using
HP Image Unload Software or Open folder to view or copy the image files.

Dedicated 4x6" Paper Tray

One of the features of the Photosmart 8450 is a special photo paper
tray for holding up to 20 sheets of 4 x 6-inch photo paper. You do not
have to remove the regular 8.5 x 11-inch paper from the lower tray before
printing a 4 x 6-inch photo. Simply push the photo tray slider lever
forward until it stops, the printer will automatically feed the 4 x 6-inch
photo paper into the printer instead of the letter size paper. If the
photo tray runs out of paper the printer -will- feed paper from the
regular tray without warning you, so you need to keep an eye on the amount
of paper if printing more than one picture.

Continue To
Page
Two

US visitors HP Custom 95 Series Inkjet Print Cartridge & 100
sheets of 4 x 6" Premium Photo Paper for Photosmart 325, 375, 385, 475,
8150, 8450 & Deskjet 5740, 5940, 6540, 6840 Printers & PSC 2355,
2610, 2710 All-in-One Printers

$ 28.99 at
J&R

$ 29.95 at B&H
Photo-Video

UK visitors HP Photo Ink Cartridge No. 348 For
2610/2710/8150/8450/4280/5280..

£ 21.99 at
Jessops

Photosmart 8450 Specifications

Black speed

Up to 20 ppm

Color speed

Up to 20 ppm; 4 x 6 color photo: As
fast as 27 sec

Black resolution

Up to 1200 x 1200 rendered dpi when
printing from a computer

Color resolution

Up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi when
printing from a computer

Print technology

HP PhotoREt Pro

Borderless printing
capability

Yes

Product
highlights

8-ink color; 2.5" diagonal color
image LCD; memory card slots; direct photo printing; video action
printing; Panorama printing; HP Image Zone Software; Optional Bluetooth®
wireless technology with HP bt300 Bluetooth, Wireless Printer
Adapter

Low ink
indicator

Yes

Print cancel
button

Yes

Automatic two-sided
printing

Optional

Connectivity

Rear USB 2.0 port

Front USB 1.1 PictBridge port

4 memory card slots (CompactFlash Type I or II including Microdrive,
SmartMedia, Secure Digital / MMC, Memory Stick / Memory Stick PRO,
xD-Picture Cards)

Optional HP bt300 Bluetooth Wireless Printer Adapter (not included,
purchase separately)

Networking

Yes, Ethernet

Compatible color
cartridges

HP 95 Tri-color Inkjet Print
Cartridge, 7 ml. (C8766WN)
HP 97 Tri-color Inkjet Print Cartridge, 14
ml. (C9363WN)

Compatible black
cartridges

HP 94 Black Inkjet Print Cartridge,
11 ml. (C8765WN)
HP 96 Black Inkjet Print Cartridge, 21 ml.
(C8767WN)

Compatible photo
cartridges

HP 99 Photo Inkjet Print Cartridge,
13 ml. (C9369WN)
HP 100 Gray Photo Inkjet Print Cartridge, 15 ml.
(C9368AN)

Dimensions

7.6" x 21.1" x 15.8"
(HWD)

Weight

17.6 lbs.

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