I have used almost every Multifunction device on the market and have definite opinions on all. I basically group them into two categories...1) HP Officejet products, and 2) Garbage. HP makes the only All-In-One devices that anyone should ever consider. Xerox entries are embarrassing, and consume ink by the gallon. Brother makes bulbous machines that, like Xerox, suck ink like crazy and deliver subpar images. Epson has a nice print engine, terrific resolution, and a nice space saving design, but take an abnormally long time to warm-up. Plus, they tend to break down over time.

On the other hand, HP is the gold standard of Multifunction devices. They have an All-In-One for every budget and price category. Their PSC500 ($399) is THE bang-for-the-buck champion of all time. HP's T45 ($399), although not a flatbed, combines fax, copy, scan, and printer with zippy speed and functional brilliance. On the high-end was HP's R80...until now. Their new G-Series is basically the PERFECT Multifunction machine on the market.

Since I own the G85, that is the G-Series machine that I will concentrate on. The printer is rated at 12 PPM black, and 10 ppm color. But we can always throw those estimates out the window because no print engine ever comes close to those figures. But the G85 is fast and extremely quiet. Colors were perfect, with beautiful color balance and depth. In NORMAL mode (all selectable through software or front panel buttons) there wasn't even a smidgen of banding. In BEST mode, all prints and copies were pure eye-candy. HP uses its new PhotoRet III print technology (as used in their 900 series printers) to produce the best output of any printer on the market.

The G85 is HP's first Multifunction device to feature a 36-bit scanner. Again, the scans are fast and rock-solid. Scanning is done through software or front panel buttons. One of my favorite feature is the SCAN TO button, which lets you select which program the scans should be sent to. Getting a scanned image into Microsoft Outlook for e-mail has never been easier.

The COPY function has more options than a Lincoln Town Car. Enlarging goes from 50% to 400%. You can also Clone, Mirror, or put multiple images on one page. Except for the expense of inkjet consumables, this machine could serve a medium size office.

As a FAX machine, the G85 does it all. It has 175 fax speed dial buttons, and will fax in color (to a color fax machine) as well as black and white. It uses a 14,400 modem for quick faxing and puts the beautifully designed document feeder to good use.

Features are fun, but performance and ease-of-use are key. That is what makes the HP G85 the best Multifunction device ever produced. It is intuitive. A newbie can walk-up to this machine and perform any function. Everyone will appreciate its crystal clear display screen (although I wish HP would backlight their LCD screens) and dead-on messages.

The price is a bit dear at $799, but please remember: I still have an perfectly running HP Laserjet from 1988, and a wonderful HP Deskjet printer from 1990. They are all built to last. This G85 is the most enjoyable piece of computer hardware that I have ever used. If you don't need a fax, the G55 will do just fine, but over time you will wish that you opted for the G85 with the faxing capabilities, document feeder and two-sided printing option.



Recommended: Yes