With the release of its Officejet 9130 All-In-One, Hewlett-Packard is attempting to woo office workgroups, accustomed to monochrome laser printers, over to color inkjet multifunction printers. The 9130 is equipped with network capability and high-capacity ink cartridges for heavy use. But in our tests of a preproduction unit, its print speeds weren't suitable for a clutch of office users.
The 9130, which costs $999, features a legal-size flatbed scanner, a 50-page automatic document feeder, a duplexer, and a four-slot flash memory card reader. It supports PC-free color copying and color faxing. In addition, the device comes with an ethernet network card and a second paper tray, for a total paper capacity of 400 sheets.
The 9130's innovation is a pop-out QWERTY keyboard, useful for entering names with fax numbers in the unit's on-board phone book. It also assists in what HP calls "digital sending": When the 9130 is properly set up on a TCP/IP network, you can type in an e-mail address and transmit a scan as an attachment, or scan and save the files in network folders. The device is able to route incoming faxes as e-mail attachments to network mailboxes or files, as well.
Here is this all-in-one's real contradiction: Even though the digital-sending features are appropriate for a big office with IS support, our preliminary tests show only enough speed to satisfy individual users--our 9130 output text at 5.4 pages per minute, printed a glossy photo in 4 minutes and 20 seconds, and copied black text at 3.2 ppm. I did like its sharp black text and smooth color glossies. The device copies black text well and color graphics with surprising color accuracy.
Unless a shipping model tests better, though, the 9130's high price and the mismatch between its inkjet print speeds and its network capabilities make it a dubious choice for individuals and workgroups.
Dan Littman
