HP 2000C

After a few test prints it became apparent that the 2000C isn't a breakthrough in terms of plain paper printing. Text suffered from minor feathering, and larger areas of colour produced banding and blotching. On HP's own Bright White inkjet quality paper, however, the results were excellent, with virtually no stepping evident on the graduated fills of the PC Pro colour test. The larger black drop sizes were apparent, though, as it failed to resolve 0.1pt and 0.2pt size white gaps between solid black blocks. Complex vector graphics produced impressive results too, with super smooth fills, while photographic images showed realistic colours and high levels of detail.

I tested the 2000C on a Pentium/200 with 64Mb of memory running Windows 98 to test speed performance. A 15-page Word document in Econofast mode was completed in 113 seconds for 8ppm, while Best mode dropped this to a still impressive 5.8ppm. The standard 24-page PC Pro printer test, which features a variety of fonts and graphics, was produced at a speed of 5ppm in Econofast and 0.9ppm in Best. All in all, this is about on a par with Epson's Stylus Color 850 and significantly quicker than Lexmark's OptraColor 45n.

Ultimately, the HP 2000C looks like a competent choice for companies that want fast, high-quality colour printing and don't want to pay the earth for it. It's easily the best inkjet in its class, and at £600 represents very good value, especially when you consider the low running costs for colour.

Author: Dave Mitchell