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The HP Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition

cmdtracy — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:14:49 CDT

Four small businesses* have swapped their non-HP color laser printers for an HP Officejet Pro Wireless All-in-One. Read about their experiences and vote for the most useful blog posts. The business with the most votes will win a Grand Prize valued at $2,100. See what they're saying: Week 1: Out of the box and setup Week 2: Printing costs and supplies Week 3: Printing Speeds Week 4: HP Creative Studio for Business Grand prize details The Grand Prize package includes a Logoworks by HP custom design package as well as a one-year supply of ink cartridges and paper (total value: $2,100). Check back often to learn how others are using the Officejet Pro to market and grow their business. Go to hp.com to see contest rules and terms and conditions. Leader Board: Want to put the contest on your blog, Facebook or website? Click the "Share" link and follow the simple directions.	HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One

Four small businesses* have swapped their non-HP color laser printers for an HP Officejet Pro Wireless All-in-One. Read about their experiences and vote for the most useful blog posts. The business with the most votes will win a Grand Prize valued at $2,100.

See what they're saying:
Week 1: Out of the box and setup
Week 2: Printing costs and supplies
Week 3: Printing Speeds
Week 4: HP Creative Studio for Business

Grand prize details
The Grand Prize package includes a Logoworks by HP custom design package as well as a one-year supply of ink cartridges and paper (total value: $2,100).

Check back often to learn how others are using the Officejet Pro to market and grow their business.

Go to hp.com to see contest rules and terms and conditions.

Leader Board:
Want to put the contest on your blog, Facebook or website? Click the "Share" link and follow the simple directions.

HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One

The HP Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition Blog Posts Page

cmdtracy — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:11:54 CDT

Week 4: HP Creative Studio for Business

This week, the HP Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition participants visited the HP Creative Studio for Business to access tools and resources from HP and its partners to create vibrant marketing collateral in-house using their HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One. Participants were encouraged to choose a free flyer or brochure template to download from the HP Creative Studio for Business. They then added personal content and printed the materials using the HP Brochure and Flyer Paper that was provided to them. Read below to see what the participants had to say about their experience using templates from the HP Creative Studio for Business and the quality of the materials produced. Have you ever used the HP Creative Studio for Business? Tell us about your experience in the comments section at the bottom of the page! *Note: All blog entries are authentic submissions from the businesses and have not been altered in any form.	The HP Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition overall leaderboard is updated every Friday morning at 10am PT. Be sure to vote and check the weekly voting poll for real time updates on that week’s vote tally.

This week, the HP Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition participants visited the HP Creative Studio for Business to access tools and resources from HP and its partners to create vibrant marketing collateral in-house using their HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One.

Participants were encouraged to choose a free flyer or brochure template to download from the HP Creative Studio for Business. They then added personal content and printed the materials using the HP Brochure and Flyer Paper that was provided to them. Read below to see what the participants had to say about their experience using templates from the HP Creative Studio for Business and the quality of the materials produced.

Have you ever used the HP Creative Studio for Business? Tell us about your experience in the comments section at the bottom of the page!

*Note: All blog entries are authentic submissions from the businesses and have not been altered in any form.

The HP Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition overall leaderboard is updated every Friday morning at 10am PT. Be sure to vote and check the weekly voting poll for real time updates on that week’s vote tally.

Week 4: October 12, 2009

Week 4: October 12, 2009

Company Name: X-Treme Images

I certainly have enjoyed learning about and using my new HP Officejet Pro 8500.

For this week's assignment/experiment though, I was forced to skip a couple of steps.

I did go to the HP Creative Studio for Business website and looked at the brochure and flyer templates. Many of them are free to use, and they look very user friendly.

I, however, was only able to look. This is the one time that the old addage "better too much than not enough" does not apply.

Because we run high end design programs, and took out plain old microsoft word because of software conflicts, I was not able to open and use the templates.

I did however design a Thanksgiving Day full color menu for a customer of mine. They only need 100 menus. What better way- or machine to do this job on than my trusty Officejet! The customer proof is simply gorgeous! And even tho this job has not been approved yet, just for grins I printed a couple of copies out on the HP 48# brochure paper. Wow! Those colors pop on that stock!

I know this machine still has capabilities that I haven't even explored yet. HP has changed my mind about inkjets.

Thanks HP!

Company Name: General Realty

It seems like time just flied by. I did not even noticed that we are already on Week 4 question. Really, it was amaizing experience working with you and HP. One of the memorable experience.
Here is my feedback on the questions:

Visit the HP Creative Studio for Business and try one of the free templates. Simply choose a layout to download, add content and print using the provided HP Brochure and Flyer Paper.
- I choose Realty Stylish vertical flyer from one of the free selection (Word template)

Were the templates easy to use?
- Oh ya, preet simple to use.

When using the HP Brochure and Flyer Paper, how was the quality of the materials you printed? How does it compare to your color laser printer?
- Quality was outstanding compare to my current laser printer

How do the HP Officejet Pro materials compare to flyers or brochures from larger companies that use professional printers?
- It was quite ok, compare to professional printer large companies use. As again, all I can say its doing its job best at compare to all printer in its range.

Company Name: A Place of Light

Hello HP,I guess we got a little ahead of ourselves last week in that we had already printed some brochures using the on line templates. As we previously stated the quality, as compared to the professionally printed brochures, was excellent! This will save us time and money. Our printing company owner is a friend but when I showed him the quality of the HP brochures he didn't have a lot to stay except wow! We haven't mastered the photo copy feature as yet but that will come in time. We don't really need that feature in our type of business but we intend to use it for our personal use. In closing, we still have nothing but praise and faith in the HP products and support team, most especially Perrin Dent. It is a breath of fresh air to deal with people who actually do what they say they will do! THANK YOU AGAIN, Mike Smith

Company Name: Bradicks HVAC

I went to creative studio, and layout a new business card. Just playing around. It was real great. I then printed a few. This was so easy, I well be using it from now on.

The flyer templates, was also easy. We made a few of them. We don`t advertise much. I`ve been in business along time, and don`t need new customers. This was real easy to do, I would like to thank HP. For a great program.

The quality was great. My old printer, don`t come close to match the HP printer. I think it has better quality than a professional printer.

I`ve learned alot of new things from HP printers. This is so wonderful. I would like to thank you HP and all of my friends who have read my blogs and voted. To all the people in this contest.

Thanks again,
Dick

How to Make Your Office Energy Efficient

inkcartridges — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:04:15 CDT

Bill Elward
Director, http://www.castleink.com

Director at Castle Ink, a leading online office supply store.

Author: Bill Elward, Castle Ink
Date 10.13.09

Here are several tips to make your office more energy efficient and save yourself some money in the long run. There are a wide range of thoughts out there, and this article will attempt to consolidate them into one place.

To see what energy you are currently consuming, you can purchase an inexpensive device called a Kill A Watt Monitor to measure your output. These can be purchased at Amazon. We recommend the P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor

Another step is to replace all of your CRT monitors with LCD displays. LCDs use half the power or less of a CRT monitor. This can be a space saving tool as well, as many LCD monitors are flat screens. Always make sure to unplug any equipment when it is not in use. Many devices are still using energy even when they aren't on. Also, make sure to turn off and unplug your power strips at the end of the day.

Turn off any peripheral devices you don't need. For instance, if you don't print or scan often, keep those machines turned off until you need them.

Utilize power management features on your computer. You can start timeouts at 15 minutes, send your computer to standby mode after 30 minutes, and make your computer hibernate after 45 minutes.

For desktop machines, if you are going to leave for even just a few minutes, shut your monitor off to conserve power.

Consider trading in your desktop for a laptop. While sometimes more expensive, laptops do consume less energy than desktops. You could save anywhere between 40 and 100 watts.

For any lamps or lights in your office, switch to compact fluorescent bulbs or LED bulbs to reduce the amount of heat generated.

When purchasing new equipment, be sure and check to make sure it is Energy Star compliant. To receive this type of certification, these machines have to meet or exceed government standards created by the Environmental Protection Agency.

If you use a laptop, the batteries should be replaced every two years to ensure that they are running as efficiently as possible. If can take more energy to charge an old battery than a newer one.

Consider combining your broadband modem and router into one. Buying your own rather than using what an ISP provides can save you money as well.

When storing batteries, make sure they are kept approximately half-charged. Storing fully-charged or uncharged batteries can lessen their efficiency.

Always be sure to keep your equipment well-maintained. When machines are not clean or not working properly, they can use more energy than normal.

The bottom line with all of these tips and tricks is that while buying energy efficient products is a start, the real savings will be realized if you can use your equipment more efficiently. For more tips, visit the Castle Ink blog..

Laser Edition: Week Three Archive

cmdtracy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:23:03 CDT

Week 3: Printing Speed

For Week 3 of the HP Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition, the participants focused on print speeds and the impact it had on their business’ daily activities. They were asked to share their thoughts on the following topics: Print speeds of the HP Officejet Pro as compared to their previous laser printer; Impact the printer’s speed had on their business; and Importance of print speed when shopping for a business printer. Scroll down to read about what they had to say. Have you had a similar printer experience? Tell us about it in the comment section at the bottom of the page! *Note: All blog entries are authentic submissions from the businesses and have not been altered in any form.	The HP Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition overall leaderboard is updated every Friday morning at 10am PT. Be sure to vote and check the weekly voting poll for real time updates on that week’s vote tally.

For Week 3 of the HP Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition, the participants focused on print speeds and the impact it had on their business’ daily activities. They were asked to share their thoughts on the following topics:

Print speeds of the HP Officejet Pro as compared to their previous laser printer;
Impact the printer’s speed had on their business; and
Importance of print speed when shopping for a business printer.

Scroll down to read about what they had to say. Have you had a similar printer experience? Tell us about it in the comment section at the bottom of the page!

*Note: All blog entries are authentic submissions from the businesses and have not been altered in any form.

Week 3: October 5, 2009

Week 3: October 5, 2009

Company Name: Bradicks HVAC

The H.P. Officejet Pro, Prints real fast and save us money and time. Its prints twice as the speed of our old printer. Thank-You H.P.

The H.P. Officejet Pro has save us valueable time in printing and supplies. As our busy season is upon use.

What more can I say? Buy H.P. its really good and a smart printer. H.P. Is for me and you.

Thank You for your time.

Company Name: General Realty

The printer speed is remarkably fine at its level of available printer in market. But again said before, printer with so many features will definitely beat up my laser printer which is just capable of printing documents on One sided. This printer has impressed me so far at every stage. BTW, just FYI, my critics are kind of well known. So if it satisfies my requirements, it must be one of the best.

-Is print speed an important feature to you when shopping for a business printer?

Oh ya, Definitely. It would be one of the first thing I would look for when I go out to hunt for my Office printer.

Company Name: X-Treme Images

Well, I certainly am enjoying the use of my newHP Officejet Pro 8500.

I used it to print out some menus we sell with the carhop tray sets. The prints - even in full color come out of the machine right away, and just beautiful quality. Also using the hp brite white 24# inkjet paper gives such a nice quality. I had no problem at all inserting them into the menu covers.

I also used the Officejet for a family project that I've been working on with my Mom.

Before another generation disappears, she wanted to make a family tree. So far with the information we've got, our tree has 134 people in the chart. I was able to easily reduce the thirty four 8 1/2 X 11 pages down to a more managable size of 6 pages for the first rough draft she sent off to her cousins for their input.

I'm looking forward to making the changes and additions she recieves and getting this to the point of final printing.

Everything about this printer has been an unexpected, pleasant surprise. As I stated previously, we switched all of our office printers from inkjets to laser printers years ago. Mainly because of speed issues, which is my top priority with printers, but also the inkjets of years ago were a big yucky mess- not to mention the noise they made.

This printer is every bit as quick as any laser printer we've had, prints great quality prints, and is remarkably quiet. I never in a million years would have bought another inkjet printer had it not been for this promotion. Little did I know how far the inkjet technology has come in the last 10 or 15 years.

So for now on, I won't be such a snob toward inkjets- this is not remotely close to those old messy, noisey, expensive to refill machines that came out on the market decades ago.

Thanks for the opportunity to see what "inkjet technology" really means in 2009.

Company Name: A Place of Light

Week three seems to be continuation of our previous excitement from weeks one and two! We are still having fun learning all the tricks of this impressive machine. We are getting spoiled by the speed of the copier and the clarity of the copies as compared to our last to printers. We created some tri-fold brochures whicj turned out to be every bit as professional looking as we were paying our printer to produce before at a much higher price! Thank you HP!

A Place of Light Bio Page

cmdtracy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:22:27 CDT

Meet A Place of Light Christian Book and Gift Store Industry: Retail Location: Fernandina Beach, FL A Place of Light is a Christian Book and Gift Store in Fernandina Beach, FL. The store features a variety of Bibles, Christian books and gifts. To learn more, visit http://www.aplaceoflight.net/.	HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One Learn more about HP OfficeJet Pros

Meet A Place of Light Christian Book and Gift Store

Industry: Retail
Location: Fernandina Beach, FL

A Place of Light is a Christian Book and Gift Store in Fernandina Beach, FL. The store features a variety of Bibles, Christian books and gifts. To learn more, visit http://www.aplaceoflight.net/.

HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One
Learn more about HP OfficeJet Pros

Our Posts

Week One
September 21, 2009

Unpackaging and printer set up was very easy!(my wife did it!).I am most impressed by the speed and clarity of the copies we have printed so far. Being a small Christian book, Bible and gift store we were in need of a good printer as our last two copiers, brands Epson and Brother respectfully were unreliable and very expensive to maintain. By looking at the invoice that came with the extra supplies I believe our costs for ink cartridges and paper will be much improved with the HP printer. We are looking forward to a long relationship with HP!....thank you!....Mike Smith

Week Two
September 28, 2009

Good morning! Week two has been very slow in our shop but we have invited other business owners in our small office complex to make full use of the HP 8500 and they have been every bit as excited about it's functionality as we have been! In reading the operators manual I can see there are still a multitude of features we have not yet used but I am sure we will in time. We made a few photo quality picture reproductions that came out very nice also.

Week Three
October 5, 2009

Week three seems to be continuation of our previous excitement from weeks one and two! We are still having fun learning all the tricks of this impressive machine. We are getting spoiled by the speed of the copier and the clarity of the copies as compared to our last to printers. We created some tri-fold brochures whicj turned out to be every bit as professional looking as we were paying our printer to produce before at a much higher price! Thank you HP!

Week Four
October 12, 2009

Hello HP,I guess we got a little ahead of ourselves last week in that we had already printed some brochures using the on line templates. As we previously stated the quality, as compared to the professionally printed brochures, was excellent! This will save us time and money. Our printing company owner is a friend but when I showed him the quality of the HP brochures he didn't have a lot to stay except wow! We haven't mastered the photo copy feature as yet but that will come in time. We don't really need that feature in our type of business but we intend to use it for our personal use. In closing, we still have nothing but praise and faith in the HP products and support team, most especially Perrin Dent. It is a breath of fresh air to deal with people who actually do what they say they will do! THANK YOU AGAIN, Mike Smith

General Realty Bio Page

cmdtracy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:21:25 CDT

Meet General Reality Industry: Real Estate Location: Southern California General Realty is comprised of Realtors serving Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. The Realtors at General Realty guide clients through the entire home purchasing process, from finding homes for viewing to helping clients secure the best financing. No website available.	HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One Learn more about HP OfficeJet Pros

Meet General Reality

Industry: Real Estate
Location: Southern California

General Realty is comprised of Realtors serving Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. The Realtors at General Realty guide clients through the entire home purchasing process, from finding homes for viewing to helping clients secure the best financing. No website available.

HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One
Learn more about HP OfficeJet Pros

Our Posts

Week One
September 21, 2009

From taking the printer out of the box to setting it up, please tell us about your overall experience:

- After showing propertiesover all day long schedule, came back to Home-Office at 7:00 PM, thinking to unpack printer next day as it had been really a tough day for me and from my experience, I had learn abouttechy gadgets always take longer than it says on their manual. The another reason for me being lazy about it was having to mess up my current settings in PC. But when I saw big packet waiting at my desk for me to open it, thought came to my mind, lets at least open it up and have a look at it, with having decide to quit setting up if I find any complexity as my brain had enough for that day. Once open and I was like Wow. It was something different and something new thatI was looking for till this time. Cool, its looking impressive what else, lets see if it does something as it says. Installing cartridges andplugging indid not require Genius brain to do that. Btw, as I was much interested in Wirelessfeature so to put it on challenge I decidedto put printeronbuilt in shelf inside common wall between Study room and Office room. Luckily I had power outlet connection and phone jack on that wall solving my problem for Faxing and Printing task.After plugging in and loading papers in to tray, it took about 10 to 15 minutes for printer to configure itself, no need to mention that it did all by itself. No user interface required. After a while it printed alignment setting on 2 pages in color and that's it.

- Now time to load software, it came with Driver installation CD which I loaded in to my Host PC. Couple of clicks and then it loaded all necessary stuffs like Fax and Scanner software to my pc.

- Using the wireless feature, try printing without plugging your PC into the printer.

- What to say about this now. Wireless, No Expensive USB cable required. Finally, so far I had purchased so many cables costing over 30 dollar a pc. for each of my printer. So if this feature works for me, it will satisfy one of my 3 demands. So far everything went well, including installation of software.

- I am not sure if I have mentioned above, but Ihate reading manuals. Doesn't matter, what comes to me,Ialways prefer to put my hands on it before its manual. Sometimes, it works out and sometimes it does cost me my time and also money. Anyway as I decided before not to put any extra ordinary effort after working all day long, I just started playing around settings on printer it self. In short time, I found out Network option and then followed by Wireless network setup option. In a moment or so it detected my Wireless Network and I connected within a minute. Surprisingly that was it. Now I have pc connected to Printer Wirelesses.

- To test it out I just sent a command and whola, it printed color copy of one of my brosher. Cool.

- But I was not yet tiredand thought of trying out some other stuff. After all, its better than helping Wife cleaning in Kitchen. Right!

- Now, test the water-resistant ink by spilling a few drops of water on a document you plan to recycle. Did the ink run down the page, or did it stay intact?

- Yes, Surely it stayed intact, amazing isn't it?

- If you’re sharing the printer with co-workers (up to 5), try printing different documents from different computers at the same time. Since the printer is designed to support up to 10 users, it should print all of the documents in a timely manner. How did it perform?

- I had 3 of my computer connected to my network, and i gave command from each of them at same time and it did print in same order I sent commands out. It printed all documents perfectly fine.

Week Two
September 28, 2009

On average, how much did you spend a year (or month or quarter?) on printing supplies such as ink/toner and paper?
Usually, I spend about 200 dollar per month or I can say 2400 dollar per year on printing supplies

Have you noticed a difference in the number of times you’ve had to replace the cartridges since using the HP Officejet Pro?
I guess its too early to say anything but overall looking at avarage I feel like its doing its job best at its level

Try to print projects such as double-sided documents. Is this the first time you’ve printed on two sides of the same page? Was it easy to set up?
Oh ya, this is the best thing I like about this printer. This feature was not even avilable on my 400 dollar laser printer. Set up was preety simple.

Have you noticed that you are going through less paper per week when printing on two sides of the same page?

Of course, except for some part of my business, this is great for rest. I mean I was using lot of paper to avoid hassel of changing side and putting it back in my previous printer. As said above its one of the best thing I like about this printer.

Week Three
October 5, 2009

The printer speed is remarkably fine at its level of available printer in market. But again said before, printer with so many features will definitely beat up my laser printer which is just capable of printing documents on One sided. This printer has impressed me so far at every stage. BTW, just FYI, my critics are kind of well known. So if it satisfies my requirements, it must be one of the best.

-Is print speed an important feature to you when shopping for a business printer?

Oh ya, Definitely. It would be one of the first thing I would look for when I go out to hunt for my Office printer.

Week Four
October 12, 2009

It seems like time just flied by. I did not even noticed that we are already on Week 4 question. Really, it was amaizing experience working with you and HP. One of the memorable experience.
Here is my feedback on the questions:

Visit the HP Creative Studio for Business and try one of the free templates. Simply choose a layout to download, add content and print using the provided HP Brochure and Flyer Paper.
- I choose Realty Stylish vertical flyer from one of the free selection (Word template)

Were the templates easy to use?
- Oh ya, preet simple to use.

When using the HP Brochure and Flyer Paper, how was the quality of the materials you printed? How does it compare to your color laser printer?
- Quality was outstanding compare to my current laser printer

How do the HP Officejet Pro materials compare to flyers or brochures from larger companies that use professional printers?
- It was quite ok, compare to professional printer large companies use. As again, all I can say its doing its job best at compare to all printer in its range.

Bradicks HVAC Bio Page

cmdtracy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:20:04 CDT

Meet Bradicks HVAC Industry: Residential Heating and Air Conditioning Location: Venango, PA Bradicks HVAC has been in the residential heating and air conditioning business in Venango, PA for more than 30 years. In addition, the company runs a sheet metal shop where they sell furnaces and make bonnets for the furnaces. No website available.	HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One Learn more about HP OfficeJet Pros

Meet Bradicks HVAC

Industry: Residential Heating and Air Conditioning
Location: Venango, PA

Bradicks HVAC has been in the residential heating and air conditioning business in Venango, PA for more than 30 years. In addition, the company runs a sheet metal shop where they sell furnaces and make bonnets for the furnaces. No website available.

HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One
Learn more about HP OfficeJet Pros

Our Posts

Week One
September 21, 2009

The H.P. PRO 8500 was easy to hook-up. No problem, if you have hook-up other printers. The screen on the front, was a little hard. You have too keep going down too find what you want too do.

I used my laptop for the wireless, and it went smooth. Printed real fast. I haven`t seen anything better. H.P. is for me.

The water test was done, no runs. What a wonderful thing.

Thanks for your time.

Week Two
September 28, 2009

We spend about $600.00 per year on printing needs. We hope to save about $300.00 per year, with the new H.P. PRO 8500 office jet printer.

I`ve not yet to replace a cartridge, and we have did alot of printing. They last longer than our old printer cartridges.

Printing a two sided document, was one our first things we did. I found it on thr printer screen. It took awhile to find it. The first had a little wrinkle, and it wouldn`t print it. We got that fixed and it printed fast. H.P. is nice.

We have not noticed a use of less paper, because we are printing more stuff. Maybe in time we well.

Thank-You for your time to read this.

Week Three
October 5, 2009

The H.P. Officejet Pro, Prints real fast and save us money and time. Its prints twice as the speed of our old printer. Thank-You H.P.

The H.P. Officejet Pro has save us valueable time in printing and supplies. As our busy season is upon use.

What more can I say? Buy H.P. its really good and a smart printer. H.P. Is for me and you.

Thank You for your time.

Week Four
October 12, 2009

I went to creative studio, and layout a new business card. Just playing around. It was real great. I then printed a few. This was so easy, I well be using it from now on.

The flyer templates, was also easy. We made a few of them. We don`t advertise much. I`ve been in business along time, and don`t need new customers. This was real easy to do, I would like to thank HP. For a great program.

The quality was great. My old printer, don`t come close to match the HP printer. I think it has better quality than a professional printer.

I`ve learned alot of new things from HP printers. This is so wonderful. I would like to thank you HP and all of my friends who have read my blogs and voted. To all the people in this contest.

Thanks again,
Dick

X-Treme Images Bio Page

cmdtracy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:19:05 CDT

Meet X-Treme Images Industry: Printing/Design, Retail Store Location: Gatlinburg, TN X-Treme Images is located in the Great Smoky Mountains of Gatlinburg, Tenn. The company is a two-fold business: they design and produce banners and signage for local merchants, as well as operate a retail store and website selling nostalgic memorabilia from the ‘50s and ‘60s. The retail store sells collectible signs, neon clocks, thermometers, pedal cars, jukeboxes and anything that will "take you back" to that time of a simpler life. To learn more, visit http://www.xtreme-images.com/.	HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One Learn more about HP OfficeJet Pros

Meet X-Treme Images

Industry: Printing/Design, Retail Store
Location: Gatlinburg, TN

X-Treme Images is located in the Great Smoky Mountains of Gatlinburg, Tenn. The company is a two-fold business: they design and produce banners and signage for local merchants, as well as operate a retail store and website selling nostalgic memorabilia from the ‘50s and ‘60s. The retail store sells collectible signs, neon clocks, thermometers, pedal cars, jukeboxes and anything that will "take you back" to that time of a simpler life. To learn more, visit http://www.xtreme-images.com/.

HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One
Learn more about HP OfficeJet Pros

Our Posts

Week One
September 21, 2009

Well Cool Beans!!

I'm all set up- and easy as pie!

I must say, I really procrastinated on this first step, the size of the box was enormous!! Anyway, once I finally opened it up, I found the set-up amazingly easy.

I wanted to do this project myself, because if I could do it- anyone can. Once I know a software program- I'm in good shape, but as far as hardware goes- like bar-b-que- that's my husband's job.

I got the machine out of the box- which was protected extremely well- it was the size of box that was intimidating- not the size of the machine.

The instruction sheet is great for techno-phobes like me. It has lots of large, easy to see pictures, and just a couple of words- in your choice of languages. The printheads snapped right into place easy as pie. The next step was to install the ink cartridges, which was very easy too, once I realized they insert at a slight angle- not straight back into the machine.

I then tried the water-drop test- and as I was told- the paper got wet- but the ink on the page did not run.

Now that I finally got this Pro 8500 on my desk- I just can't wait to explore it!!

Tracey

Week Two
September 28, 2009

Okay, you've got me convinced now.

We switched from inkjet to laser printers on all of our computers years ago. Who wants all to deal with all that mess- and expense of refilling! Not to mention the speed of each print took quite a while. Not with this Officejet Pro 8500!

I was even able to print off 8 1/2" X 11" full color photos- with 100% coverage out in the space of about 2 seconds. Wow! Gone are the days of sitting by listening to the old inkjets chug away, line by line.

This machine actually acts like a laser printer. The prints are clean and crisp, and print out immediately. Speed is certainly one of the most important issues for me with a printer. Most of my business work is just in-house "work order" kind of stuff. So speed, not quality has been my main concern. This officejet is just about as fast as any laser printer we've had.

The other reason we switched from inkjet to laser was the cost of the inks. I am able to buy paper at wholesale cost being in the printing business, but inks were a killer.

Even now, just using laser cartridges in all of our machines, my cost is probably about $1000 a year. In a few more weeks I should have a handle on how often these cartridges need to be changed out.

So far, I have been pleasantly surprised, and I'm loving this machine!

Week Three
October 5, 2009

Well, I certainly am enjoying the use of my newHP Officejet Pro 8500.

I used it to print out some menus we sell with the carhop tray sets. The prints - even in full color come out of the machine right away, and just beautiful quality. Also using the hp brite white 24# inkjet paper gives such a nice quality. I had no problem at all inserting them into the menu covers.

I also used the Officejet for a family project that I've been working on with my Mom.

Before another generation disappears, she wanted to make a family tree. So far with the information we've got, our tree has 134 people in the chart. I was able to easily reduce the thirty four 8 1/2 X 11 pages down to a more managable size of 6 pages for the first rough draft she sent off to her cousins for their input.

I'm looking forward to making the changes and additions she recieves and getting this to the point of final printing.

Everything about this printer has been an unexpected, pleasant surprise. As I stated previously, we switched all of our office printers from inkjets to laser printers years ago. Mainly because of speed issues, which is my top priority with printers, but also the inkjets of years ago were a big yucky mess- not to mention the noise they made.

This printer is every bit as quick as any laser printer we've had, prints great quality prints, and is remarkably quiet. I never in a million years would have bought another inkjet printer had it not been for this promotion. Little did I know how far the inkjet technology has come in the last 10 or 15 years.

So for now on, I won't be such a snob toward inkjets- this is not remotely close to those old messy, noisey, expensive to refill machines that came out on the market decades ago.

Thanks for the opportunity to see what "inkjet technology" really means in 2009.

Week Four
October 12, 2009

I certainly have enjoyed learning about and using my new HP Officejet Pro 8500.

For this week's assignment/experiment though, I was forced to skip a couple of steps.

I did go to the HP Creative Studio for Business website and looked at the brochure and flyer templates. Many of them are free to use, and they look very user friendly.

I, however, was only able to look. This is the one time that the old addage "better too much than not enough" does not apply.

Because we run high end design programs, and took out plain old microsoft word because of software conflicts, I was not able to open and use the templates.

I did however design a Thanksgiving Day full color menu for a customer of mine. They only need 100 menus. What better way- or machine to do this job on than my trusty Officejet! The customer proof is simply gorgeous! And even tho this job has not been approved yet, just for grins I printed a couple of copies out on the HP 48# brochure paper. Wow! Those colors pop on that stock!

I know this machine still has capabilities that I haven't even explored yet. HP has changed my mind about inkjets.

Thanks HP!

Laser Edition: Week Two Archive

cmdtracy — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:17:27 CDT

Week 2: Printing Costs and Supplies

For Week 2 of the HP Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition, the participants focused on printing costs and supplies. They were asked to share their thoughts on the following topics: Average spend on printing supplies such as ink cartridges and paper; The inkjet cartridges used in the HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One; and Printing double-sided documents. Scroll down to read about what they had to say. Have you had a similar printer experience? Tell us about it in the comment section at the bottom of the page! *Note: All blog entries are authentic submissions from the businesses and have not been altered in any form.	The HP Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition overall leaderboard is updated every Friday morning at 10am PT. Be sure to vote and check the weekly voting poll for real time updates on that week’s vote tally.

For Week 2 of the HP Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition, the participants focused on printing costs and supplies. They were asked to share their thoughts on the following topics:

Average spend on printing supplies such as ink cartridges and paper;
The inkjet cartridges used in the HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One; and
Printing double-sided documents.

Week 2: September 28, 2009

Week 2: September 28, 2009

Company Name: General Realty

On average, how much did you spend a year (or month or quarter?) on printing supplies such as ink/toner and paper?
Usually, I spend about 200 dollar per month or I can say 2400 dollar per year on printing supplies

Have you noticed a difference in the number of times you’ve had to replace the cartridges since using the HP Officejet Pro?
I guess its too early to say anything but overall looking at avarage I feel like its doing its job best at its level

Try to print projects such as double-sided documents. Is this the first time you’ve printed on two sides of the same page? Was it easy to set up?
Oh ya, this is the best thing I like about this printer. This feature was not even avilable on my 400 dollar laser printer. Set up was preety simple.

Have you noticed that you are going through less paper per week when printing on two sides of the same page?

Of course, except for some part of my business, this is great for rest. I mean I was using lot of paper to avoid hassel of changing side and putting it back in my previous printer. As said above its one of the best thing I like about this printer.

Company Name: A Place of Light

Good morning! Week two has been very slow in our shop but we have invited other business owners in our small office complex to make full use of the HP 8500 and they have been every bit as excited about it's functionality as we have been! In reading the operators manual I can see there are still a multitude of features we have not yet used but I am sure we will in time. We made a few photo quality picture reproductions that came out very nice also.

Company Name: Bradicks HVAC

We spend about $600.00 per year on printing needs. We hope to save about $300.00 per year, with the new H.P. PRO 8500 office jet printer.

I`ve not yet to replace a cartridge, and we have did alot of printing. They last longer than our old printer cartridges.

Printing a two sided document, was one our first things we did. I found it on thr printer screen. It took awhile to find it. The first had a little wrinkle, and it wouldn`t print it. We got that fixed and it printed fast. H.P. is nice.

We have not noticed a use of less paper, because we are printing more stuff. Maybe in time we well.

Thank-You for your time to read this.

Company Name: X-Treme Images

Okay, you've got me convinced now.

We switched from inkjet to laser printers on all of our computers years ago. Who wants all to deal with all that mess- and expense of refilling! Not to mention the speed of each print took quite a while. Not with this Officejet Pro 8500!

I was even able to print off 8 1/2" X 11" full color photos- with 100% coverage out in the space of about 2 seconds. Wow! Gone are the days of sitting by listening to the old inkjets chug away, line by line.

This machine actually acts like a laser printer. The prints are clean and crisp, and print out immediately. Speed is certainly one of the most important issues for me with a printer. Most of my business work is just in-house "work order" kind of stuff. So speed, not quality has been my main concern. This officejet is just about as fast as any laser printer we've had.

The other reason we switched from inkjet to laser was the cost of the inks. I am able to buy paper at wholesale cost being in the printing business, but inks were a killer.

Even now, just using laser cartridges in all of our machines, my cost is probably about $1000 a year. In a few more weeks I should have a handle on how often these cartridges need to be changed out.

So far, I have been pleasantly surprised, and I'm loving this machine!

The HP Officejet Pro Challenge for Small Businesses

cmdtracy — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:27:44 CDT

Follow our new Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition to read about businesses that exchanged a laser printer for an HP Officejet Pro.

BID Blinds wins the HP Officejet Pro Challenge! Our winner is Mark Evans, owner of BID Blinds, who captured 50% of the total vote! He will receive a prize package valued at more than $2,100. Voting is now closed - thank you to everyone who participated! Contest Background Five small businesses swapped their existing printers for an HP Officejet Pro Wireless All-in-One. We asked you to read about their experiences and vote for the most useful blog posts. See what they said: Week 1: Out of the box and setup Week 2: Printing Costs and Supplies Week 3: Print Speeds Week 4: HP Creative Studio for Business Leader Board Final Results

BID Blinds wins the HP Officejet Pro Challenge!

Our winner is Mark Evans, owner of BID Blinds, who captured 50% of the total vote! He will receive a prize package valued at more than $2,100. Voting is now closed - thank you to everyone who participated!

Contest Background
Five small businesses swapped their existing printers for an HP Officejet Pro Wireless All-in-One. We asked you to read about their experiences and vote for the most useful blog posts.

See what they said:
Week 1: Out of the box and setup
Week 2: Printing Costs and Supplies
Week 3: Print Speeds
Week 4: HP Creative Studio for Business

Leader Board Final Results

*Note: All blog entries are authentic submissions from the businesses and have not been altered in any form.

Laser Edition: Week One Archive

cmdtracy — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:07:11 CDT

Week 1: Out of the box and setup

This week, the participants received their new HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One. Once they installed the printer, they shared their first impressions* on the following topics: Initial set-up process; Embedded wireless feature; Water-resistant HP Officejet pigment inks; and Embedded wired networking for up to five users. Scroll down to read about what they had to say. Have you had a similar printer experience? Tell us about it in the comment section at the bottom of the page! *Note: All blog entries are authentic submissions from the businesses and have not been altered in any form.	The HP Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition overall leaderboard is updated every Friday morning at 10am PT. Be sure to vote and check the weekly voting poll for real time updates on that week’s vote tally.

This week, the participants received their new HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One. Once they installed the printer, they shared their first impressions* on the following topics:

Initial set-up process;
Embedded wireless feature;
Water-resistant HP Officejet pigment inks; and
Embedded wired networking for up to five users.

Week 1: September 21, 2009

Week 1: September 21, 2009

Company Name: A Place of Light Christian Book and Gift Store

Unpackaging and printer set up was very easy!(my wife did it!).I am most impressed by the speed and clarity of the copies we have printed so far. Being a small Christian book, Bible and gift store we were in need of a good printer as our last two copiers, brands Epson and Brother respectfully were unreliable and very expensive to maintain. By looking at the invoice that came with the extra supplies I believe our costs for ink cartridges and paper will be much improved with the HP printer. We are looking forward to a long relationship with HP!....thank you!....Mike Smith

Company Name: Bradicks HVAC

The H.P. PRO 8500 was easy to hook-up. No problem, if you have hook-up other
printers. The screen on the front, was a little hard. You have too keep going down
too find what you want too do.

I used my laptop for the wireless, and it went smooth. Printed real fast. I haven`t
seen anything better. H.P. is for me.

The water test was done, no runs. What a wonderful thing.

Thanks for your time.

Company Name: X-Treme Images

Well Cool Beans!!

I'm all set up- and easy as pie!

I must say, I really procrastinated on this first step, the size of the box was enormous!! Anyway, once I finally opened it up, I found the set-up amazingly easy.

I wanted to do this project myself, because if I could do it- anyone can. Once I know a software program- I'm in good shape, but as far as hardware goes- like bar-b-que- that's my husband's job.

I got the machine out of the box- which was protected extremely well- it was the size of box that was intimidating- not the size of the machine.

The instruction sheet is great for techno-phobes like me. It has lots of large, easy to see pictures, and just a couple of words- in your choice of languages. The printheads snapped right into place easy as pie. The next step was to install the ink cartridges, which was very easy too, once I realized they insert at a slight angle- not straight back into the machine.

I then tried the water-drop test- and as I was told- the paper got wet- but the ink on the page did not run.

Now that I finally got this Pro 8500 on my desk- I just can't wait to explore it!!

Tracey

Company Name: General Realty

From taking the printer out of the box to setting it up, please tell us about your overall experience:

- After showing propertiesover all day long schedule, came back to Home-Office at 7:00 PM, thinking to unpack printer next day as it had been really a tough day for me and from my experience, I had learn abouttechy gadgets always take longer than it says on their manual. The another reason for me being lazy about it was having to mess up my current settings in PC. But when I saw big packet waiting at my desk for me to open it, thought came to my mind, lets at least open it up and have a look at it, with having decide to quit setting up if I find any complexity as my brain had enough for that day. Once open and I was like Wow. It was something different and something new thatI was looking for till this time. Cool, its looking impressive what else, lets see if it does something as it says. Installing cartridges andplugging indid not require Genius brain to do that. Btw, as I was much interested in Wirelessfeature so to put it on challenge I decidedto put printeronbuilt in shelf inside common wall between Study room and Office room. Luckily I had power outlet connection and phone jack on that wall solving my problem for Faxing and Printing task.After plugging in and loading papers in to tray, it took about 10 to 15 minutes for printer to configure itself, no need to mention that it did all by itself. No user interface required. After a while it printed alignment setting on 2 pages in color and that's it.

- Now time to load software, it came with Driver installation CD which I loaded in to my Host PC. Couple of clicks and then it loaded all necessary stuffs like Fax and Scanner software to my pc.

- Using the wireless feature, try printing without plugging your PC into the printer.

- What to say about this now. Wireless, No Expensive USB cable required. Finally, so far I had purchased so many cables costing over 30 dollar a pc. for each of my printer. So if this feature works for me, it will satisfy one of my 3 demands. So far everything went well, including installation of software.

- I am not sure if I have mentioned above, but Ihate reading manuals. Doesn't matter, what comes to me,Ialways prefer to put my hands on it before its manual. Sometimes, it works out and sometimes it does cost me my time and also money. Anyway as I decided before not to put any extra ordinary effort after working all day long, I just started playing around settings on printer it self. In short time, I found out Network option and then followed by Wireless network setup option. In a moment or so it detected my Wireless Network and I connected within a minute. Surprisingly that was it. Now I have pc connected to Printer Wirelesses.

- To test it out I just sent a command and whola, it printed color copy of one of my brosher. Cool.

- But I was not yet tiredand thought of trying out some other stuff. After all, its better than helping Wife cleaning in Kitchen. Right!

- Now, test the water-resistant ink by spilling a few drops of water on a document you plan to recycle. Did the ink run down the page, or did it stay intact?

- Yes, Surely it stayed intact, amazing isn't it?

- If you’re sharing the printer with co-workers (up to 5), try printing different documents from different computers at the same time. Since the printer is designed to support up to 10 users, it should print all of the documents in a timely manner. How did it perform?

- I had 3 of my computer connected to my network, and i gave command from each of them at same time and it did print in same order I sent commands out. It printed all documents perfectly fine.

The HP Small Business Community Wiki

cmdtracy — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:26:29 CDT

Marketing tips and resources to build your brand and your business

Share your small business marketing tips, tricks and success stories with your peers. Read our expert's blogs, tap into the business toolkit and start building your brand and your business today.

» Get started
What is a wiki? It's a website you help build. Add your own page, edit existing pages, start a discussion thread and much more...it's easy!
» Check out our how-to wiki videos

What's Popular?

How Can Printing Help You Grow Your Business?

How does inkjet printing compare to color laser? How hard is it to set up a wireless printer? Follow the Officejet Pro Challenge: Laser Edition to learn what these businesses have discovered!

Top 3 reasons to join and contribute

Build... a new community that helps your brand stand out

Connect... with fellow professionals and share inspiring ideas

Contribute... success stories, marketing ideas, photos and more

HP Video:
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Content Feast Bio Page

cmdtracy — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:56:29 CDT

Meet Content Feast

Industry: Online content
Location: Texas

Content Feast is based in Texas and offers a spread of the best online content, including free content such as blogs and reports along with paid content such as e-books, courses and teleseminars. The company features user-submitted reviews and ratings of the content, so that viewers can easily find the best content at their disposal.

HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One
Learn more about HP OfficeJet Pros

Our Posts

Week Four
August 17, 2009

I decided to use the photo paper to print "postcard" inserts that I would include when I send print mockups to my clients. Most of my business is done online, so I don't have business cards, but I know that some people include them when they ship orders. So I decided that I would include these postcards instead, and they would have a bigger impact and I wouldn't have to pay for professionally printed business cards. Printing the smaller size was a breeze with this printer, it didn't jam up like my old printer would do when I'd change the paper size. The color quality was good - but remember not to grab the paper off the tray too quickly when you're printing on glossy paper!

Week Three
August 10, 2009

The HP Officejet speeds through pages which is great when you're looking to pick a page and run out the door (that's me half the time). The other half of the time, I'm printing a really big print job, like when I'm doing a mailout or something. In that case, it's really inevitable to have to go work on something else while your printer goes at it, but it's definitely nice for it to end ... sometime this year.

Printer speed is not something I make my purchasing decision on. Cost and quality are at the top of the list - come to think of it, that's pretty much all there is on the list. However, technology is here to make our businesses run more smoothly, but if we're sitting around tapping our feet waiting on it, how smooth is that? Who can complain about an added bonus of high speed printing in a printer that's loaded with features and has great printer quality?

Week Two
August 3, 2009

For the most part I have outsourced my printing needs. While I have printers, it’s always been rough to keep up with the expenses of the ink, and considering the quality isn’t up-to-par either, it hasn’t been worth it. Most of my printing needs come in the form of brochures, presentations, design samples and other things that are graphical in nature. So the print quality needs to be pretty good, otherwise it’s better for me to send off to a professional and get it done right. I’ve probably spent about $50 per month at professional printers on average, not counting specific projects for customers.

I was impressed to read from the box that the HP Officejet Pro uses less energy and ink than a standard laser printer. After all, efficiency is better for both the environment and my pocketbook. However, the real test would be whether it could perform good quality color prints that I could use for my business. I was impressed by how clean the prints came out. Actually, I even tried printing some photos and they turned out so good that I have them up at my desk. What else are you going to do with cool photos of your toddler? (Hint: If you’re anything like me, you’ve got boatloads of digital pics stored somewhere, but not that many printed. I love to print them out and rotate pics through my existing frames)

So far I haven’t had to replace the cartridges, which is great. I love the option to print on both sides of the paper (remember my thing about efficiency?) Less paper means using less trees and less money.

Week One
July 27, 2009

I received my HP Officejet Pro 8500 earlier in the day and set it in my living room. I was excited to get it up and running, but nervous about the setup itself, so there it sat. Once my work had been done and the dishwasher was running and the baby was asleep, I sat down in front of the box. While pulling the printer and other pieces from the packaging, I found a handy step-by-step guide to walk me through the setup. (Hint: If you don’t have the Premium version, don’t spend time look for the optional paper tray it shows in the pictures) With simple illustrations, I was able to put in the print heads and ink cartridges. Then when I turned the printer on – it printed a test alignment page automatically. Great!

Then came the part I was most nervous about, setting up the wireless printing function. After all, I had problems enough keeping my laptop connected to our wireless connection, so I was even considering skipping the wireless connectivity feature and using wired Ethernet instead. In what was (embarrassingly) the most no-holds-barred moment of my day, I decided to go for it. It turns out that all the wireless setup wizard needed was my go-ahead and then it was able to identify our wireless signal and connect automatically. (Hint: You’ll need to have the name of your wireless network and your encryption info handy when you do this step)

I had done all this in the comfort of the middle of my living room rug, but that was not going to be a good place for the printer to stay permanently. I thought about where in the house it would be most convenient to pick up my prints from, and decided that the home office would be best. (Hint: Since the printer is wireless, the best place for your printer is not necessarily where you put your computer or router, but where you would like to pick up your printed papers from.) As it turns out, that’s the same place as our router, but it’s across the room so it’s great not to have to worry about wires. Overall the setup took about 20 minutes start to finish and included being able to print wirelessly from both mine and my husband’s laptops.

The Officejet Pro Challenge Blog Posts Page

Angelal22 — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:05:38 CDT

BID Blinds is the winner of the HP Officejet Pro Challenge!

The grand prize package includes:

Three HP 940XL Officejet Black Inkjet Cartridges (yield of 2,200 pages each)
Six high-yield HP 940XL Cyan Officejet Inkjet Cartridges
Six high-yield HP 940XL Magenta Officejet Inkjet Cartridges
Six high-yield HP 940XL Yellow Officejet Inkjet Cartridges
30 packs of HP Bright White Paper featuring ColorLok technology.
Logoworks by HP “Gold Logo Package,” which includes six to eight original logo concepts with unlimited revisions created by three of Logoworks’ award-winning designers.

That's enough ink cartridges and paper to print professional-quality documents for an entire year!*

Stay tuned to see the final BID Blinds logo designed by Logoworks!

Archives
Look here to see the contest entries week by week!
Week 1: Out of the box and setup
Week 2: Printing Costs and Supplies
Week 3: Print Speeds
Week 4: HP Creative Studio for Business

Leader Board Final Results

HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One

Learn more about the
HP Officejet Pro Printer

Save $25 now on a HP Officejet Pro Printer

*According to InfoTrends 2009 study, assuming nearly 15,000 pages will be printed in one year.

BID Blinds Bio Page

Angelal22 — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:03:17 CDT

Meet BID Blinds

Owner: Mark Evans
Industry: Custom blinds
Location: Nashville, Tenn.

BID Blinds provides custom window treatments to residential and commercial clients in the greater Nashville, Tenn. area. While the company was “formed” in 2002, it actually traces its history back 30-plus years to a company started by the founder’s younger brother. BID Blinds provides “Green Solutions” that are eco- and energy-friendly, as well as easy on the budget.

The grand prize package includes:

Three HP 940XL Officejet Black Inkjet Cartridges (yield of 2,200 pages each)

Six high-yield HP 940XL Cyan Officejet Inkjet Cartridges

Six high-yield HP 940XL Magenta Officejet Inkjet Cartridges

Six high-yield HP 940XL Yellow Officejet Inkjet Cartridges

30 packs of HP Bright White Paper featuring ColorLok technology.

Logoworks by HP “Gold Logo Package,” which includes six to eight original logo concepts with unlimited revisions created by three of Logoworks’ award-winning designers.

Stay tuned to see the final BID Blinds business logo designed by Logoworks!

Our Blog Posts

Week Four
August 17, 2009

OUCH!!!

Okay, this week was a very tough Challenge given my manpower and time constraints. Trying the templates and photo producing options were demanding from my perspective. I say demanding because the Challenge required me to spend a lot of time trying to meet this experience to report to you, not due to any problems with the machine itself. The templates are quite impressive as they are presented, but there were none that were conducive to my industry. There is a “custom” option but I couldn’t do that and meet my deadline to respond to this Challenge.

I ended up selecting a template for a trifold brochure that was rich in its “face” and classic in its detailing. I entered some generic text. Then the fun began. I played with the spacing, the colors, the font and photo inserts. If I’d had another 2-3 days I could have really “knocked it outta here.” I love to create and there are some real possibilities with this concept. But only having 36 hours to pull it off AND do my regular gig AND not have a template that fit my industry left me sprinting today after the marathon that is known as my work day.

Now for the result: The product was excellent in every visual category. My text, not so much. The brochure was rich in colors and clarity. Lots of, “WOW” factor, or whatever the term the sophisticates would use, are inherent. The depth of the imaging was precise. For a generic industry layout, the packaging and flexibility were very good. The paper provided for this exercise left NOTHING to be desired. If I could get more industry specific features (and more time for my “message”), this would be as good as I could expect from most outsourced documents. I could definitely use something like this to make an “intro” document to hand to my client at our first meeting. First impressions would be MAGNIFICO!!

As far as the photo reproduction quality and ease, all I can say is, “HP ought to be in pictures.” Top notch, high quality and ultra fine clarity and definition!

This Challenge has been extremely rewarding. The 8500 has opened possibilities that I never could have done with my old all-in-one. And the ease with which things could be accomplished is THE highlight for me. Better results, better production, less time and lower costs…what more could I want? Great job, HP!!

Thanks for following the journey,
Mark

Week Three
August 10, 2009

I’m BA-ACK!

Talk about running a business and taking time…WOW! Late nights all week with more to follow the next two days as well. I could use a machine that either gives me a couple extra hours per day or magically condense my 14 hour days down to eight! Of course, I’d probably end up working some of that magical time too, trying to catch up on things I pushed to the back burner. This 8500 might be doing some of that magic now.

The print time for B&W is about the same as I had before, but the full color options are done in less than a quarter of the time as before. And the two-sided printing has also cut some time from my printing/copying projects. I can tell you that the quality of the end product is the bigger factor for me because it allows me to prepare a more polished and “high end” product for my client base in less time than the pages I would take with me before I got this 8500 Time Saver. In my line of work, having a visual to highlight a “look” or to use to contrast and compare products and options is HUGE! With the quality and, more importantly, CLARITY of the images helps my customers’ confidence in selecting their final products. Because the process is shorter per page, I can include all relevant materials in a more complete package than before in the same amount of time. The pictures will be able to stand on their own without my explanation of what the picture is trying to convey. There is no graininess or shadowy imaging.

Before receiving this all-in-one, I would have said the time of the print process was irrelevant to my purchase decision. I mean, I don’t do THAT much printing. And the quality isn’t anything to write home about. And the colors just blend together, no definition. We all know that any high quality productions have to be outsourced. Right? WRONG again!

I can produce top notch materials in a small amount of time tailored to my client’s specific interests and concerns. My work is all about people. Having the ability to produce documents with that personal touch in moments is something too valuable to remove from consideration. Time may be money, but people are THE necessary resource to success.

Thanks for reading,

Mark

Week Two
August 3, 2009

Okey-dokey! The Challenge continues.

One of the first things I was intrigued about was the two side print/copy feature. And I had a brain cramp with this one. The feature is really easy to use, IF you can read properly. I saw the “tab” on the touch screen panel and, because I just gave a cursory look since I was looking for MY name for this item, thought the tab was referring to a different page layout “ratio” (think wide screen DVD vs. full screen). Once again I called our expert who showed me the error of my ways. What a snap! Great quality and clarity!

I’m not sure what the savings will be in actual dollars, but I can see a savings of at least 25-30% in paper usage, excluding recycling that I currently utilize. I can also see using full color MORE because of the sharp images and depth of color in the print mode. My client proposals and option pages should really pop!

As with actual dollar savings from two-sided printing, I don’t yet know what to expect on savings from other supplies like toner/cartridges. I have yet to run any of the cartridges out of ink. Nor have I compared prices for these replacements against my old machine. But the difference in quality of both b/w and color products would justify even a slightly higher cost for these items.

So far, I would give the 8500 a strong A through these first couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading,
Mark

Week One
July 27, 2009

Hello to all,

Once I got the system to cooperate, it was (relatively) smooth sailing. My first attempt to install was a failure and since it was late night, I didn’t call the expert to walk me through the correction. I relocated the 8500 this a.m. and it went off without a hitch. Overall, it took a little longer than I thought it would and I was glad the device told me the sounds I was hearing were part of the process (lol). I did call the HP expert to clarify a concern I had during the fax setup process. My fears were allayed – basically, since I was replacing another all-in-one, I could have saved a little time by just hooking this machine up to our systems just like the old device was connected.

The wireless feature was a challenge to me, not because of the 8500, but because I had to get one of the kid’s devices to try it (I don’t own a laptop!). After a quick reconfiguration, the test was passed with ease. Maybe I’ll breakdown and buy a laptop after all. Now, let me set this back up for my PC…

Finally, I tried the water test. Quite impressive, if I must say so myself. I applied a generous sprinkling of water to two documents, one b/w and one color. Each stood up great to the “downpour” and stayed glued to the paper. For added measure, I tried to smear the papers after about 15 seconds, simulating a “post blotting, cram it in the folder and out the door” scenario, which I do quite a bit. WOW! The color page did not show any damage. The b/w page showed some marginal graying, but the integrity of the text was intact and the ink did not “run” at all. It looked somewhat like typing (remember that?) over erasable bond where the mistake below had been erased. And again, that was with me forcing the issue. Without my “touch” there were zero issues.

Thanks for listening,
Mark
BID Blinds

Week Four Archive

cmdtracy — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:33:44 CDT

Week 4: HP Creative Studio for Business

This week, the HP Officejet Pro Challenge participants visited the HP Creative Studio for Business to access various marketing material tools and resources from HP and its partners.

Participants were encouraged to choose a free flyer or brochure template to download from the HP Creative Studio for Business, add their personal content and print using the HP Brochure and Flyer Paper that was provided to them. Read below to see what the participants had to say about their experience using templates from the HP Creative Studio.

Have you ever used the HP Creative Studio? Tell us about your experience in the comment section at the bottom of the page!

*Note: All blog entries are authentic submissions from the businesses and have not been altered in any form.

Week 4: August 17, 2009

Company Name: Pat's Hair Salon

Hi to all,

I would first like to thank all who have voted for me, family, friends and lookers on the web as well. I may not have received the most votes for the grand prize but I am enjoying the hp project office printer that I have won and feel very, very lucky to have won this printer. I have always used small all-in-one printer and sometimes would have get my daughter to help print out cards and etc., but now this is so easy.

I went to creative studio for business and downloaded one of the free templates and it is great. No more having to have help with my cards. You all have been such a big help. I am not a spring chicken right out of school so I am one who has to learn the hard way sometime, and hp has helped me a lot and I which to think them too.

I did some pictures and all I have done looks so great I can by the punch of a button make the shade and the size I won't. I am learning so much more about what and how I can help my business and my church projects that I don't know where the end would be of learning.

I tell everyone I come in contact with about my printer and what it does.

Thanks again
Patricia

Company Name: Reinhart Marketing

Well it might be week 4 and the end of my blog, but I know it's not the end of learning new uses for my HP 8500 Office Jet Pro. This week I've been checking out the HP web site, specifically their Creative Studio for Business, and the choices are HUGE. There is a multitude of template choices for flyers, brochures, postcards, labels, stationery, presentation kits, logos, posters, signage, direct mail, business cards, power points ... the list goes on and on. They even have a blog template. While many of the choices require a fee, I was impressed with the number of choices that were free. Great for a business just starting out or a non-profit where every penny counts. I could see myself using this for flyers or event invitations. There's even an HP Creative Studio for Home that can be used for greeting cards, scrapbooking and school projects. I know my kids would use that for school reports and power points.

I decided to try a business application flyer and it was a lot of fun. So easy to use. I picked the one I wanted, downloaded it and started to add my own pics and text. I could choose font styles, sizes, colors, shading, bolding. Move things around wherever I wanted them. Delete boxes I didn't need. Borders, no borders. Pretty much anything I wanted was possible, but I had a template to start with, which made it so much easier to finish the project quickly. A blank piece of paper can be scary for a lot of people. I personally love the challenge of a blank page, but seldom have time to start from scratch. Time is money and creativity takes time. A template gives me a good jumping off point. A mix of efficiency and creativity.

The big surprise came when I printed my practice flyer. I usually email most everything, so what gets printed in the office is drafts on cheap white paper. But since HP gave me some nice brochure paper I decided to give that a whirl. I personally didn't expect much. I always thought paper was paper, even though toilet paper companies spend big bucks on ads trying to convince me differently. Guess I was wrong; the paper does make a difference, because the flyer looked beautiful and it felt great on my tush! No really, even with off center headings and misspellings the flyer popped. The photos especially. They had almost a three dimensional quality that I think was caused by the rich, deep dark colors and the shimmering, light colors. I chose all nature shots because those can be hard to replicate, but these were like looking out the window. Actually better than looking out the window, because my lawn is fried after a summer of unusually high 100 degree months! And the feel of the paper was substantial. Heavy in my hand, not prone to crinkling up. The combination of the printer and the paper gave me a professional printed document, without having to take time to run to the printer or pay the big printer's fee.

Given the flyer success, I decided to try printing some of my family photos. You know those years and years of vacation photos that are living on my memory card? The ones saved in folders on my computer, never to see the light of day? That chore I keep putting off because it means going through all of them, loading them on a flash drive, making the trek to the local Walgreen's to get them printed? No way I could even consider printing photos on my old printer. Photo sized, 4x6 pages never fed through right, and the pictures turned out grainy and blurry. Like the photos on the roll of film that were so bad, Walgreen's didn't even bother to print them for you. With the 8500 and the great premium photo paper HP gave me, I now have great photos ready to frame. Fifteen years of my kids' birthdays and Christmases can now come out of hiding. Wonder if this stuff comes in 8x10? Wonder if it's this easy to get all those home movies off the 8mm tapes I have stockpiled?!!

I copied a couple of old photos too. Ancient pictures of my grandparents and semi-ancient pictures of my parents. I wanted to blow them up, recenter and crop them. It worked so beautifully using the touch screen. I'm well on my way to having a family photo gallery. Now all I have to do is paint the upstairs hallway so I can hang all these things. I knew there was a down side to this machine! Wonder if I can talk my husband into doing the painting?!!

Seriously, as I wrap all this up I can honestly say the HP 8500 Office Jet Pro is a wonderful all-in-one printer. If you're thinking about getting a new machine, please consider this one. I have been completely happy with it and feel so very lucky to have won it. Many companies tell you all the things their machine will do, but this one actually delivers. Cheers! – Cindy

Company Name: OVI

I find myself rushing home from work just to see what else I can learn from the new HP Officejet Printer; what I call now, my new Transformer! I have become easily addicted to all the unbelievable stuff this one machine can do. I'm still in awe of how I can save my faxes directly from the printer to my laptop in a "digital fax" folder.

This wireless world is unbelievable!!! As if that wasn't enough, I've created a basic brochure which I have attached to this email. The templates and the simpleness of creating was so much fun. It was so easy to just follow a few simple steps and see the outcome.

I've also attached a few of my daughter's pics. She will be celebrating her SWEET 16 pretty soon so we started trying out dresses & she finally picked one!

At first I was confused as to where I put the photo paper on the printer. OMG, with just one button on the touch screen it relayed the simple directions to my laptop on how I can insert the photo paper to the printer. The pictures came out so clear. HP, you have now just received a whole family of HP ADDICTS!!! WE BLAME IT ALL ON YOU! Thank you!

Company Name: Content Feast

I decided to use the photo paper to print "postcard" inserts that I would include when I send print mockups to my clients. Most of my business is done online, so I don't have business cards, but I know that some people include them when they ship orders. So I decided that I would include these postcards instead, and they would have a bigger impact and I wouldn't have to pay for professionally printed business cards. Printing the smaller size was a breeze with this printer, it didn't jam up like my old printer would do when I'd change the paper size. The color quality was good - but remember not to grab the paper off the tray too quickly when you're printing on glossy paper!

Company Name: BID Blinds

OUCH!!!

Okay, this week was a very tough Challenge given my manpower and time constraints. Trying the templates and photo producing options were demanding from my perspective. I say demanding because the Challenge required me to spend a lot of time trying to meet this experience to report to you, not due to any problems with the machine itself. The templates are quite impressive as they are presented, but there were none that were conducive to my industry. There is a “custom” option but I couldn’t do that and meet my deadline to respond to this Challenge.

I ended up selecting a template for a trifold brochure that was rich in its “face” and classic in its detailing. I entered some generic text. Then the fun began. I played with the spacing, the colors, the font and photo inserts. If I’d had another 2-3 days I could have really “knocked it outta here.” I love to create and there are some real possibilities with this concept. But only having 36 hours to pull it off AND do my regular gig AND not have a template that fit my industry left me sprinting today after the marathon that is known as my work day.

Now for the result: The product was excellent in every visual category. My text, not so much. The brochure was rich in colors and clarity. Lots of, “WOW” factor, or whatever the term the sophisticates would use, are inherent. The depth of the imaging was precise. For a generic industry layout, the packaging and flexibility were very good. The paper provided for this exercise left NOTHING to be desired. If I could get more industry specific features (and more time for my “message”), this would be as good as I could expect from most outsourced documents. I could definitely use something like this to make an “intro” document to hand to my client at our first meeting. First impressions would be MAGNIFICO!!

As far as the photo reproduction quality and ease, all I can say is, “HP ought to be in pictures.” Top notch, high quality and ultra fine clarity and definition!

This Challenge has been extremely rewarding. The 8500 has opened possibilities that I never could have done with my old all-in-one. And the ease with which things could be accomplished is THE highlight for me. Better results, better production, less time and lower costs…what more could I want? Great job, HP!!

Thanks for following the journey,
Mark

Week Three Archive

cmdtracy — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:22:48 CDT

Week 3: Print Speeds

For Week 3 of the HP Officejet Pro Challenge, the participants focused on print speeds and the impact it had on their business’ daily activities. They were asked to share their thoughts on the following topics:

Print speeds of the HP Officejet Pro, as compared to their old printer;
Impact the printer’s speed had on their business; and
Importance of print speed when shopping for a business printer.

Scroll down to read about what they had to say. Or click here to learn more about The HP Officejet Pro Challenge! Also, have you had similar experiences with your business printer? Let us know in the comment section at the bottom of the page!

*Note: All blog entries are authentic submissions from the businesses and have not been altered in any form.

Week 3: August 10, 2009

Company Name: OVI

For my business, time is definitely of the essence so therefore a printer with high speed is a plus. My older printer was not bad with speed but being that I've had it for so long I can see the difference with the HP printer. I do various projects and love to multitask so being able to do more than one project at such great speed has been a positive impact for my home-based business. My main goal is to get a project done as quickly as possible and have satisfied consumers; and that's exactly what this new HP printer has provided! Thanks HP for a wonderful & efficient product.

Company Name: Content Feast

The HP Officejet speeds through pages which is great when you're looking to pick a page and run out the door (that's me half the time). The other half of the time, I'm printing a really big print job, like when I'm doing a mailout or something. In that case, it's really inevitable to have to go work on something else while your printer goes at it, but it's definitely nice for it to end ... sometime this year.

Printer speed is not something I make my purchasing decision on. Cost and quality are at the top of the list - come to think of it, that's pretty much all there is on the list. However, technology is here to make our businesses run more smoothly, but if we're sitting around tapping our feet waiting on it, how smooth is that? Who can complain about an added bonus of high speed printing in a printer that's loaded with features and has great printer quality?

Company Name: BID Blinds

I’m BA-ACK!

Talk about running a business and taking time…WOW! Late nights all week with more to follow the next two days as well. I could use a machine that either gives me a couple extra hours per day or magically condense my 14 hour days down to eight! Of course, I’d probably end up working some of that magical time too, trying to catch up on things I pushed to the back burner. This 8500 might be doing some of that magic now.

The print time for B&W is about the same as I had before, but the full color options are done in less than a quarter of the time as before. And the two-sided printing has also cut some time from my printing/copying projects. I can tell you that the quality of the end product is the bigger factor for me because it allows me to prepare a more polished and “high end” product for my client base in less time than the pages I would take with me before I got this 8500 Time Saver. In my line of work, having a visual to highlight a “look” or to use to contrast and compare products and options is HUGE! With the quality and, more importantly, CLARITY of the images helps my customers’ confidence in selecting their final products. Because the process is shorter per page, I can include all relevant materials in a more complete package than before in the same amount of time. The pictures will be able to stand on their own without my explanation of what the picture is trying to convey. There is no graininess or shadowy imaging.

Before receiving this all-in-one, I would have said the time of the print process was irrelevant to my purchase decision. I mean, I don’t do THAT much printing. And the quality isn’t anything to write home about. And the colors just blend together, no definition. We all know that any high quality productions have to be outsourced. Right? WRONG again!

I can produce top notch materials in a small amount of time tailored to my client’s specific interests and concerns. My work is all about people. Having the ability to produce documents with that personal touch in moments is something too valuable to remove from consideration. Time may be money, but people are THE necessary resource to success.

Thanks for reading,

Mark

Company Name: Reinhart Marketing

Week Three is here. All my computers are now printing to the HP 8500 Officejet Pro. I re-read my first two blogs and I sound like some psycho stalker raving about this printer. My son said if I love it so much I should marry it. I'm just so happy it's such a wonderful machine. I could have been given some crappy piece of office equipment that didn't work. Since there are so many of those types of machines out there it wouldn't be surprising, but still to get a machine that works so well is amazing. I can't imagine trying to come up with good things to say if the machine sucked. I'd have to make up things like the black plastic case is so crisp, it matches everything in my office! LOL!

So far the machine is zipping along. Speed is so important when it comes to a printer, so I'm so greatful that this one screams. I was scrambling to finish my last pages and get to my tax protest last week. I had 4 more pages of photos that needed to be printed before I could leave and I was already late. I set the machine to 2 sided and let her rip. The 5 sets blasted out in Technicolor glory in about 2 minutes. Then I had to make copies of some things. I was sweating it because the machine chose to clean the ink heads at that point. The touch screen told me it would "take a few moments." I didn't believe it and screamed a few profanities. I turned on my old machine and before it could even power up my HP 8500 was ready to copy. I couldn't believe it. When my old printer cleaned heads it sounded like some old man coughing up phlegm in the morning. It was a long, drawn-out process. Anyway I won my tax protest, thanks in great part to my new printer and as Arlo Guthrie would say, "the 27 eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles and arrows." Nothing says Ike damage like the close up picture of a baseball sized hole in your window frame and a downed tree laying near by.

I still haven't learned to scan. My bad. I know it will be easy since everything so far has been. Haven't had to call tech support yet. I just haven't had time to sit down and play with it due to a friend's crisis with a leaking water bed. That was a two day fiasco as water poured out and we bailed! Still it was nice to know that even though I was away from the office my staff was in good hands. Anything they needed to do the 8500 could handle. As far as I know no one has tried to copy their butt, but it's a very sturdy machine and I'm sure it could handle the weight. Do I really want to know what my staff does when I'm away?!!

Company Name: Pat's Hair Salon

Hi to All on this third week,

I have been coping papers for one thing and another and I love my new 8500 Hp Office Jet printer it is a dream come true to have, it prints so much faster, and I have timed it and it prints about a forth of the time my other printer does it is not very old but now I sit and wait and wait for one page to be printed. So I use My new 8500 printer and I love it. Everyone should have one of these.

I does help with our clients waiting for a print-out they are ready to leave in no time, they are happy about that too.

I would advice anyone to get a printer like this in there business or church for there activitys it works so much faster.

Thanks again
Patricia

Week Two Archive

cmdtracy — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:21:18 CDT

Week 2: Printing Costs and Supplies

For Week 2 of the HP Officejet Pro Challenge, the participants focused on printing costs and supplies. They were asked to share their thoughts on the following topics:

Average spend on printing supplies such as ink cartridges and paper;
The inkjet cartridges used in the HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One; and
Printing double-sided documents.

Scroll down to read about what they had to say! Or click here to learn more about The HP Officejet Pro Challenge!

*Note: All blog entries are authentic submissions from the businesses and have not been altered in any form.

Week 2: August 3, 2009

Company Name: Content Feast

For the most part I have outsourced my printing needs. While I have printers, it’s always been rough to keep up with the expenses of the ink, and considering the quality isn’t up-to-par either, it hasn’t been worth it. Most of my printing needs come in the form of brochures, presentations, design samples and other things that are graphical in nature. So the print quality needs to be pretty good, otherwise it’s better for me to send off to a professional and get it done right. I’ve probably spent about $50 per month at professional printers on average, not counting specific projects for customers.

I was impressed to read from the box that the HP Officejet Pro uses less energy and ink than a standard laser printer. After all, efficiency is better for both the environment and my pocketbook. However, the real test would be whether it could perform good quality color prints that I could use for my business. I was impressed by how clean the prints came out. Actually, I even tried printing some photos and they turned out so good that I have them up at my desk. What else are you going to do with cool photos of your toddler? (Hint: If you’re anything like me, you’ve got boatloads of digital pics stored somewhere, but not that many printed. I love to print them out and rotate pics through my existing frames)

So far I haven’t had to replace the cartridges, which is great. I love the option to print on both sides of the paper (remember my thing about efficiency?) Less paper means using less trees and less money.

Company Name: Pat's Hair Salon

Hi All,
Very interesting Questions this time, would like to say I haven't got to use the printer enough yet to tell about the cartridges I have been on vacation but can't wait to see how much we do save .

Got to try the double sited printer specialty, I always hate to have to put the paper in twice one side always comes up upside down have seen these out in bigger offices and always loved how they worked love having one at home to do my work on. I know you will use a lot less paper by using both sides. That is a plus the way the economy is today.

Thanks,
Patricia

Company Name: Reinhart Marketing

Well it's week two with my new toy. I'm burning the midnight oil preparing for a tax protest for my home. Not work related, but very print heavy. Every bit of evidence has to have 5 complete copies. My 8500 printer is holding up great though. I found the double-sided print feature and have started using it exclusively for this project. Half as much paper, so half as much to carry to the meeting, and half as much paper cost. Love that! Just click the double-sided setting and print. Easy! The machine does all the work pulling the paper back in to print on the other side. My old machine required me to re-feed the paper if I wanted to print double sided.

My tax protest also requires me to print a bunch of photos to show the damage hurricane Ike did to the old homestead. Normally that would required a trip somewhere to have the photos printed. Photos on my old printer were grainy even on the photo setting. This time I'm doing it all on the 8500. I can print with or without a boarder, and there is a poster feature so I can blow up a photo. It prints on four pages that fit together seamlessly to make one large poster. Previously that would have required a trip to the printer and a big hit to my pocket book. I'm already thinking of ways to use the poster feature in the future. My husbands 50th is coming up and I'm sure some of those embarrassing childhood photos would look great hanging at the party!

I also had to copy multiple pages and it was so easy. I wonderful touch screen allowed me to just touch and copy. Enlarge, reduce, darker, lighter, collate, crop, even a copy preview all with a touch on the easy to read screen. I can even copy in color! Photos I had to copy turned out AMAZING! No loss of quality at all. I even blew a few up to 8 1/2 x 11. I'm LOVIN' this machine!

So far I don't seem to have even made a dent in the ink. My old printer sat up on the counter, sprawled like some old alley cat, and coughed up empty catridges like hair balls! I've got a whole bag of the sticky, hairy things from my old machine. They need to be recycled, if I could only find a place that takes this brand. I noticed Office Depot accepts HP so I just have to drop them off when I go to shop and they will pay me for them! Kinda like my own little stimulus check each quarter. The other great thing I've found is the fast/economical printing feature. Uses even less ink and I can make that a default setting. My old printer had it too, but it reverted back to normal after every print job. I had to remember to reset it each time I printed. Leaving it on normal meant slooow printing. Not with my 8500. Even on normal or photo it prints lighting fast.

I can't believe HP is giving me what I want! Money saving features that I control. Easy to use and understand features that don't require me to read the directions each time I use them. In fact except for set up I haven't used the directions yet. The Office Jet Pro 8500 does so much more than print and copy. I haven't even played with the scanner and photo features. Guess I need to try something more challenging!

Company Name: OVI

On average, a month I spend almost $200 on ink cartridges and paper. Since using the HP Officejet Pro, I haven't noticed the difference because it hasn't been a long time since I've had it. A double-sided project is easy to do though I don't do it much but since my company is going green and trying to economize, I'm glad to have this feature available. AndI have noticed that I am going through less paper per week. The HP Officejet Pro is Godsend!!

Company Name: BID Blinds

Okey-dokey! The Challenge continues.

One of the first things I was intrigued about was the two side print/copy feature. And I had a brain cramp with this one. The feature is really easy to use, IF you can read properly. I saw the “tab” on the touch screen panel and, because I just gave a cursory look since I was looking for MY name for this item, thought the tab was referring to a different page layout “ratio” (think wide screen DVD vs. full screen). Once again I called our expert who showed me the error of my ways. What a snap! Great quality and clarity!

I’m not sure what the savings will be in actual dollars, but I can see a savings of at least 25-30% in paper usage, excluding recycling that I currently utilize. I can also see using full color MORE because of the sharp images and depth of color in the print mode. My client proposals and option pages should really pop!

As with actual dollar savings from two-sided printing, I don’t yet know what to expect on savings from other supplies like toner/cartridges. I have yet to run any of the cartridges out of ink. Nor have I compared prices for these replacements against my old machine. But the difference in quality of both b/w and color products would justify even a slightly higher cost for these items.

So far, I would give the 8500 a strong A through these first couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading,
Mark

Week One Archive

cmdtracy — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:19:45 CDT

Week 1: Out of the box experience and setup
This week, the participants received their new HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One. Once they installed the printer, they shared their first impressions on the following topics:

Initial set-up process
Embedded wireless feature
Water-resistant HP Officejet pigment inks, and
Embedded wired networking for up to five users

Scroll down to read about what they had to say! Or click here to learn more about The HP Officejet Pro Challenge!

*Note: All blog entries are authentic submissions from the businesses and have not been altered in any form.

Week 1: July 27, 2009

Company Name: BID Blinds

Hello to all,

Once I got the system to cooperate, it was (relatively) smooth sailing. My first attempt to install was a failure and since it was late night, I didn’t call the expert to walk me through the correction. I relocated the 8500 this a.m. and it went off without a hitch. Overall, it took a little longer than I thought it would and I was glad the device told me the sounds I was hearing were part of the process (lol). I did call the HP expert to clarify a concern I had during the fax setup process. My fears were allayed – basically, since I was replacing another all-in-one, I could have saved a little time by just hooking this machine up to our systems just like the old device was connected.

The wireless feature was a challenge to me, not because of the 8500, but because I had to get one of the kid’s devices to try it (I don’t own a laptop!). After a quick reconfiguration, the test was passed with ease. Maybe I’ll breakdown and buy a laptop after all. Now, let me set this back up for my PC…

Finally, I tried the water test. Quite impressive, if I must say so myself. I applied a generous sprinkling of water to two documents, one b/w and one color. Each stood up great to the “downpour” and stayed glued to the paper. For added measure, I tried to smear the papers after about 15 seconds, simulating a “post blotting, cram it in the folder and out the door” scenario, which I do quite a bit. WOW! The color page did not show any damage. The b/w page showed some marginal graying, but the integrity of the text was intact and the ink did not “run” at all. It looked somewhat like typing (remember that?) over erasable bond where the mistake below had been erased. And again, that was with me forcing the issue. Without my “touch” there were zero issues.

Thanks for listening,
Mark
BID Blinds

Company Name: Reinhart Marketing

I had put off getting a new printer for a couple years because the last one was such a pain to set up. If the old one worked why go through all that bother, right? So what if scanning was a pain, and ink was expensive, at least I didn't have to pull my hair out trying to get a new one to work. Winning this HP Office Jet Pro forced me to take the plunge. I was so surprised that setting it up was amazingly easy! I only had to use the quick set up sheet and shortly after the printer was up and running.

I love that there are four ink cartridges. The black is twice the size of the colored cartridges, it's huge, so I won't have to replace it as often. And the price for a new one is the same as the little ones I've been buying for my old machine. I'm already thinking about how I'll spend the money I'll be saving, cha-ching! Even the color cartridges are very large and so easy to install. And there are removable separate print heads. No more running to the repair shop paying hundreds of dollars in labor charges to get the heads changed. Now I can just buy and install my own. More money saved. It's almost like it's printing money for me! Currently I don't have a wireless network, but this was so easy I'm now psyched to try setting one up. Hope HP makes one!

So far I haven't been able to put the machine through all it's paces, but I did notice that the ink didn't run when I spilled my iced tea on the test page. Given that it's been over 100 here I could just as easily have sweat all over it! This is so amazing. I didn't realize there was paper available that had ColorLok Technology. Guess I need to get out more! I plan to use it on all my presentation printing from now on. I had a laser printer for years just so I wouldn't have to worry about the printed page running off into the sunset if it got wet. Of course the cost of laser toner kept getting higher, and the machine seemed to get so hot when it printed, I finally broke down and switched to ink technology. That was like the difference between black & white and color TV. I've never looked back. Ink that doesn't run is just icing on the cake.

Today I plan to really work the machine. There will be 4 computers using it. They say it can handle up to 10 users so my test should be an easy one. Lets see, print me 30 pages on card stock, 150 colored flyers, and ten sets of press notes. The press notes are only 50 pages each and two sided. That's right, two sided! Lets see my old printer do that! More money saved when I can print on both sides. Think I'll use my savings to buy an additional paper tray so I can keep both white and colored paper in the machine all the time. What a time saver. Can't wait to keep playing with my new Office Jet Pro 8500 all-in-one. This machine seems to do everything except call my mother on Mother's Day!

Company Name: OVI

The set-up to the printer was very simple and did not take much of my time. I was very happy with the overall experience because to me time is precious and I rather utilize it in more important ways than trying to set-up equipment.

What I learned about the printer is that laser printers is highly overrated. I have never seen such great speed with this printer. And I love the fact that it does 4 tasks; print, copy, scan & fax. To me a good equipment brings efficiency and effectiveness and this printer did just that.

If my whole life could be wireless, the world would be a happier place. I love the fact that I can work on my laptop from downstairs and print upstairs without any distractions at all.

I was amazed at how the ink did not run down the page. I've currently shown a brochure to a company and they are loving the professional results.

I'm the only one using the printer for my work. I'm very addicted to HP since I bought my laptop & I don't like to share. HP has been the best!!

Company Name: Pat's Hair Salon

Hi to all,

I would like to tell you about my new HP Officejet Pro 8500 printer, I removed the papers from the box and read them very carefully and proceeded to put ink in the hook-ups, was very easy to do.

Wireless is a trick to do and very interesting. I also set a glass of cold water on the paper I printed out and moisture sweated on it and guess what NO RUNS. I love my new HP Officejet Pro 8500.

Thanks,
Patricia

Company Name: Content Feast

I received my HP Officejet Pro 8500 earlier in the day and set it in my living room. I was excited to get it up and running, but nervous about the setup itself, so there it sat. Once my work had been done and the dishwasher was running and the baby was asleep, I sat down in front of the box. While pulling the printer and other pieces from the packaging, I found a handy step-by-step guide to walk me through the setup. (Hint: If you don’t have the Premium version, don’t spend time look for the optional paper tray it shows in the pictures) With simple illustrations, I was able to put in the print heads and ink cartridges. Then when I turned the printer on – it printed a test alignment page automatically. Great!

Then came the part I was most nervous about, setting up the wireless printing function. After all, I had problems enough keeping my laptop connected to our wireless connection, so I was even considering skipping the wireless connectivity feature and using wired Ethernet instead. In what was (embarrassingly) the most no-holds-barred moment of my day, I decided to go for it. It turns out that all the wireless setup wizard needed was my go-ahead and then it was able to identify our wireless signal and connect automatically. (Hint: You’ll need to have the name of your wireless network and your encryption info handy when you do this step)

I had done all this in the comfort of the middle of my living room rug, but that was not going to be a good place for the printer to stay permanently. I thought about where in the house it would be most convenient to pick up my prints from, and decided that the home office would be best. (Hint: Since the printer is wireless, the best place for your printer is not necessarily where you put your computer or router, but where you would like to pick up your printed papers from.) As it turns out, that’s the same place as our router, but it’s across the room so it’s great not to have to worry about wires. Overall the setup took about 20 minutes start to finish and included being able to print wirelessly from both mine and my husband’s laptops.

Reinhart Marketing & Public Relations Bio Page

cmdtracy — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:47:59 CDT

Meet Reinhart Marketing & Public Relations

Industry: Marketing/PR
Location: Houston, TX

Reinhart Marketing & Public Relations is a regional firm that has been helping businesses promote their products for over 20 years. Their clients include major film distribution companies who hire them to promote movies opening at area theaters, specifically foreign and independent films. They’re proud to have worked on Academy Award® Best Picture nominations every year. They also promote area businesses and non-profit organizations helping to bring people and products together.

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Week Four
August 17, 2009

Well it might be week 4 and the end of my blog, but I know it's not the end of learning new uses for my HP 8500 Office Jet Pro. This week I've been checking out the HP web site, specifically their Creative Studio for Business, and the choices are HUGE. There is a multitude of template choices for flyers, brochures, postcards, labels, stationery, presentation kits, logos, posters, signage, direct mail, business cards, power points ... the list goes on and on. They even have a blog template. While many of the choices require a fee, I was impressed with the number of choices that were free. Great for a business just starting out or a non-profit where every penny counts. I could see myself using this for flyers or event invitations. There's even an HP Creative Studio for Home that can be used for greeting cards, scrapbooking and school projects. I know my kids would use that for school reports and power points.

I decided to try a business application flyer and it was a lot of fun. So easy to use. I picked the one I wanted, downloaded it and started to add my own pics and text. I could choose font styles, sizes, colors, shading, bolding. Move things around wherever I wanted them. Delete boxes I didn't need. Borders, no borders. Pretty much anything I wanted was possible, but I had a template to start with, which made it so much easier to finish the project quickly. A blank piece of paper can be scary for a lot of people. I personally love the challenge of a blank page, but seldom have time to start from scratch. Time is money and creativity takes time. A template gives me a good jumping off point. A mix of efficiency and creativity.

The big surprise came when I printed my practice flyer. I usually email most everything, so what gets printed in the office is drafts on cheap white paper. But since HP gave me some nice brochure paper I decided to give that a whirl. I personally didn't expect much. I always thought paper was paper, even though toilet paper companies spend big bucks on ads trying to convince me differently. Guess I was wrong; the paper does make a difference, because the flyer looked beautiful and it felt great on my tush! No really, even with off center headings and misspellings the flyer popped. The photos especially. They had almost a three dimensional quality that I think was caused by the rich, deep dark colors and the shimmering, light colors. I chose all nature shots because those can be hard to replicate, but these were like looking out the window. Actually better than looking out the window, because my lawn is fried after a summer of unusually high 100 degree months! And the feel of the paper was substantial. Heavy in my hand, not prone to crinkling up. The combination of the printer and the paper gave me a professional printed document, without having to take time to run to the printer or pay the big printer's fee.

Given the flyer success, I decided to try printing some of my family photos. You know those years and years of vacation photos that are living on my memory card? The ones saved in folders on my computer, never to see the light of day? That chore I keep putting off because it means going through all of them, loading them on a flash drive, making the trek to the local Walgreen's to get them printed? No way I could even consider printing photos on my old printer. Photo sized, 4x6 pages never fed through right, and the pictures turned out grainy and blurry. Like the photos on the roll of film that were so bad, Walgreen's didn't even bother to print them for you.With the 8500 and the great premium photo paper HP gave me, I now have great photos ready to frame. Fifteen years of my kids' birthdays and Christmases can now come out of hiding. Wonder if this stuff comes in 8x10? Wonder if it's this easy to get all those home movies off the 8mm tapes I have stockpiled?!!

I copied a couple of old photos too. Ancient pictures of my grandparents and semi-ancient pictures of my parents. I wanted to blow them up, recenter and crop them. It worked so beautifully using the touch screen. I'm well on my way to having a family photo gallery. Now all I have to do is paint the upstairs hallway so I can hang all these things. I knew there was a down side to this machine! Wonder if I can talk my husband into doing the painting?!!

Seriously, as I wrap all this up I can honestly say the HP 8500 Office Jet Pro is a wonderful all-in-one printer. If you're thinking about getting a new machine, please consider this one. I have been completely happy with it and feel so very lucky to have won it. Many companies tell you all the things their machine will do, but this one actually delivers. Cheers! – Cindy

Week Three
August 10, 2009

Week Three is here. All my computers are now printing to the HP 8500 Officejet Pro. I re-read my first two blogs and I sound like some psycho stalker raving about this printer. My son said if I love it so much I should marry it. I'm just so happy it's such a wonderful machine. I could have been given some crappy piece of office equipment that didn't work. Since there are so many of those types of machines out there it wouldn't be surprising, but still to get a machine that works so well is amazing. I can't imagine trying to come up with good things to say if the machine sucked. I'd have to make up things like the black plastic case is so crisp, it matches everything in my office! LOL!

So far the machine is zipping along. Speed is so important when it comes to a printer, so I'm so greatful that this one screams. I was scrambling to finish my last pages and get to my tax protest last week. I had 4 more pages of photos that needed to be printed before I could leave and I was already late. I set the machine to 2 sided and let her rip. The 5 sets blasted out in Technicolor glory in about 2 minutes. Then I had to make copies of some things. I was sweating it because the machine chose to clean the ink heads at that point. The touch screen told me it would "take a few moments." I didn't believe it and screamed a few profanities. I turned on my old machine and before it could even power up my HP 8500 was ready to copy. I couldn't believe it. When my old printer cleaned heads it sounded like some old man coughing up phlegm in the morning. It was a long, drawn-out process. Anyway I won my tax protest, thanks in great part to my new printer and as Arlo Guthrie would say, "the 27 eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles and arrows." Nothing says Ike damage like the close up picture of a baseball sized hole in your window frame and a downed tree laying near by.

I still haven't learned to scan. My bad. I know it will be easy since everything so far has been. Haven't had to call tech support yet. I just haven't had time to sit down and play with it due to a friend's crisis with a leaking water bed. That was a two day fiasco as water poured out and we bailed! Still it was nice to know that even though I was away from the office my staff was in good hands. Anything they needed to do the 8500 could handle. As far as I know no one has tried to copy their butt, but it's a very sturdy machine and I'm sure it could handle the weight. Do I really want to know what my staff does when I'm away?!!

Week Two
August 3, 2009

Well it's week two with my new toy. I'm burning the midnight oil preparing for a tax protest for my home. Not work related, but very print heavy. Every bit of evidence has to have 5 complete copies. My 8500 printer is holding up great though. I found the double-sided print feature and have started using it exclusively for this project. Half as much paper, so half as much to carry to the meeting, and half as much paper cost. Love that! Just click the double-sided setting and print. Easy! The machine does all the work pulling the paper back in to print on the other side. My old machine required me to re-feed the paper if I wanted to print double sided.

My tax protest also requires me to print a bunch of photos to show the damage hurricane Ike did to the old homestead. Normally that would required a trip somewhere to have the photos printed. Photos on my old printer were grainy even on the photo setting. This time I'm doing it all on the 8500. I can print with or without a boarder, and there is a poster feature so I can blow up a photo. It prints on four pages that fit together seamlessly to make one large poster. Previously that would have required a trip to the printer and a big hit to my pocket book. I'm already thinking of ways to use the poster feature in the future. My husbands 50th is coming up and I'm sure some of those embarrassing childhood photos would look great hanging at the party!

I also had to copy multiple pages and it was so easy. I wonderful touch screen allowed me to just touch and copy. Enlarge, reduce, darker, lighter, collate, crop, even a copy preview all with a touch on the easy to read screen. I can even copy in color! Photos I had to copy turned out AMAZING! No loss of quality at all. I even blew a few up to 8 1/2 x 11. I'm LOVIN' this machine!

So far I don't seem to have even made a dent in the ink. My old printer sat up on the counter, sprawled like some old alley cat, and coughed up empty catridges like hair balls! I've got a whole bag of the sticky, hairy things from my old machine. They need to be recycled, if I could only find a place that takes this brand. I noticed Office Depot accepts HP so I just have to drop them off when I go to shop and they will pay me for them! Kinda like my own little stimulus check each quarter. The other great thing I've found is the fast/economical printing feature. Uses even less ink and I can make that a default setting. My old printer had it too, but it reverted back to normal after every print job. I had to remember to reset it each time I printed. Leaving it on normal meant slooow printing. Not with my 8500. Even on normal or photo it prints lighting fast.

I can't believe HP is giving me what I want! Money saving features that I control. Easy to use and understand features that don't require me to read the directions each time I use them. In fact except for set up I haven't used the directions yet. The Office Jet Pro 8500 does so much more than print and copy. I haven't even played with the scanner and photo features. Guess I need to try something more challenging!

Week One
July 27, 2009

I had put off getting a new printer for a couple years because the last one was such a pain to set up. If the old one worked why go through all that bother, right? So what if scanning was a pain, and ink was expensive, at least I didn't have to pull my hair out trying to get a new one to work. Winning this HP Office Jet Pro forced me to take the plunge. I was so surprised that setting it up was amazingly easy! I only had to use the quick set up sheet and shortly after the printer was up and running.

I love that there are four ink cartridges. The black is twice the size of the colored cartridges, it's huge, so I won't have to replace it as often. And the price for a new one is the same as the little ones I've been buying for my old machine. I'm already thinking about how I'll spend the money I'll be saving, cha-ching! Even the color cartridges are very large and so easy to install. And there are removable separate print heads. No more running to the repair shop paying hundreds of dollars in labor charges to get the heads changed. Now I can just buy and install my own. More money saved. It's almost like it's printing money for me! Currently I don't have a wireless network, but this was so easy I'm now psyched to try setting one up. Hope HP makes one!

So far I haven't been able to put the machine through all it's paces, but I did notice that the ink didn't run when I spilled my iced tea on the test page. Given that it's been over 100 here I could just as easily have sweat all over it! This is so amazing. I didn't realize there was paper available that had ColorLok Technology. Guess I need to get out more! I plan to use it on all my presentation printing from now on. I had a laser printer for years just so I wouldn't have to worry about the printed page running off into the sunset if it got wet. Of course the cost of laser toner kept getting higher, and the machine seemed to get so hot when it printed, I finally broke down and switched to ink technology. That was like the difference between black & white and color TV. I've never looked back. Ink that doesn't run is just icing on the cake.

Today I plan to really work the machine. There will be 4 computers using it. They say it can handle up to 10 users so my test should be an easy one. Lets see, print me 30 pages on card stock, 150 colored flyers, and ten sets of press notes. The press notes are only 50 pages each and two sided. That's right, two sided! Lets see my old printer do that! More money saved when I can print on both sides. Think I'll use my savings to buy an additional paper tray so I can keep both white and colored paper in the machine all the time. What a time saver. Can't wait to keep playing with my new Office Jet Pro 8500 all-in-one. This machine seems to do everything except call my mother on Mother's Day!