HP OfficeJet J6488 All-in-One

HP printers and MFDs have successfully stood the test of time and today cover all usage segments from home to large enterprises. Their office-class of printers and MFDs are identifiable by the prefix "OfficeJet" and are known to be very sturdy.
We have in our test labs today, the HP OfficeJet J6488 All-in-One MFD, which is oriented towards small and medial enterprise as well as SOHO users. With all the features that are required of an office MFD, including a duplexer unit and standalone Fax, let us see how well this color inkjet MFD performs when put through our standard test process.

In the box

HP OfficeJet J6488 All-in-One
Black cartridge and tri-color cartridge
Duplex printing unit
ADF tray
Power adapter with cable
USB data cable
Software and drives disc
This printer came in a securely packaged with all the necessary steps taken to render all moving parts immovable, as this makes it less prone to damage while being transported. The removable parts are packaged separately inside the box. As is traditional with HP, the printer came with every bit of accessory that is required and a good manual.
Specifications:-


Software
HP Photosmart Essential

HP has provided a HP Solution Center, which is like a central access point of sorts to monitor and control the printer settings as well as to let you access HP Photosmart Essential - an online image management software.
Readisis Pro

It comes bundled with Readiris Pro for Windows as well as Mac and is a well-known and premium OCR software. You can convert your hardcopies to softcopies within seconds.
Drivers

Printer drivers for Windows as well as Mac are provided with this MFD. The printer drivers support the HP PCL and HP postscript level 3 emulation to easily handle even the most demanding jobs.

The printer driver interface is good and lets you specify many details such as the paper type and size, job type (duplex or not), orientation, quality, etc. You can even apply effects like Red Eye reduction to photographs before they are printed.
Performance
We are tired of complaining, but we must still inform the reader that it takes a very long time to get the HP drivers installed. We chose to install everything that was on the disc and it took us around 40 minutes to get it done.

At some point of time, we even thought that the installation had stalled. This is a one-time process, and once you install the drivers, you will not have to go through this ordeal again unless you need to reinstall it. This MFD enters the ready state very quickly.

We put the MFD through a variety of tests to test its printer as well as scanner components.

Font size printing test: We printed a page containing all the letters in font sizes ranging from large to very small. The print quality at all font sizes was found to be sharp.

Text print speed: We printed a page of black text in draft and normal quality to find the speed as well as quality of the print. The first page took 15.2 seconds in draft mode and 20.5 seconds in normal, which is quite fast. The first minute printing speed in the draft mode is 10 ppm, and it later reaches a maximum of 12, which is not bad. In the normal mode, the ppm in the first minute was found to be 4.9 and reaches 5.8 later, which is again not bad when compared to most other printers.
The document we used as our Presentation Document
Presentation document speed: This consisted of a page of multi-colored graphs, text, charts, patterns, and photos. The first print took just 19.8 seconds in draft mode, while it took 45.7 seconds at normal quality. The printing speed in the draft mode was 6 ppm in the first minute and it reached 7.5 thereafter. In the normal mode, these were 1 and 2 ppm respectively.

These speeds are slower than the average inkjet printer.
A point to mention about the text and presentation document printing is that the quality of printing in the draft mode is quite good, and the lowest font size is easily readable. This quality becomes excellent when you print in the normal mode.

The test photo we printed
Photo print: The A4-size photo took 3 minutes 34 seconds to print, which is an average speed. HP doesn't classify this as a photo printer, but the results are a lot closer to a photo printer. The image quality is excellent barring a few spots where there is some amount of graininess and even that is hardly visible at a glance. Fine details and color reproduction is brilliant as well making this viable enough to print photos.
The scanner test: The scanner performance was found to be good. It captures all the fine details and color very well. The preview scan took just 9.1 seconds for the first page and it took 8.5 seconds thereafter. Monochrome scan of an A4 page at 200 dpi took 21 seconds, while a color scan at 600 dpi took 2 minutes 11 seconds, making it faster than many other MFDs in the color scanning, while slower in the mono scanning.

The copier test: The copier test tries to find how well the printer and scanner components work in tandem. Black copies took 21.5 seconds for the first copy, while the PPM reached 5.4. For color copying, it took 41.3 seconds for the first copy and the maximum PPM was 1.8. This is therefore slower than other copiers. The copy quality is amazing and you can even read the finest print in the copy, something we have never seen happen before.

Paper handling is excellent with the printer as well as the ADF and we did not experience any paper jam during the test. The same holds true even during duplex printing, so full marks for that one.

Our Verdict
The HP OfficeJet J6488 All-in-One is very capable of taking care of all your office needs, both as a connected as well as a stand-alone device. Its print quality is amongst the best we have seen and this is true even when you opt to print in the draft mode.

The same is true of the copy as well as scanner. Features like ADF and duplex printing make it more productive and good for any office. The Wi-Fi 802.11b/g connectivity feature makes it ideal for today's wire-free office. The one and only gripe about this MFD is that it is noticeably slow in the normal mode but is average in the draft mode.

This MFD has a monthly print duty cycle of 5000, which means that it capable of printing at least 5000 sheets a month without breaking down. It consumes a maximum of 40W and will therefore not be the reason for high electricity bills.

There are two cartridge options available for this MFD - high volume and low volume for both black as well as color. The low volume black cartridge is priced at Rs.770 and can print 200 prints, with a cost per print of Rs.3.85, while high volume black cartridge will cost you Rs.1,511 and can print 750 pages, costing an economical Rs.2.01 per print.

The low volume color cartridge is priced at Rs.886 and can print 170 prints, while the high volume is priced at Rs.1676 and is capable of printing 520.

The HP OfficeJet J6488 All-in-One is priced at an MRP of Rs.13,399 (excluding taxes), which is reasonable for an office printer with all the necessary features and comes with a one-year on-site warranty.

It is also covered by HP's Dial-a-Cartridge service, which lets you have a cartridge delivered to your doorstep and backed by a large network of HP support throughout India. If you are a SMB or SOHO, then this printer does earn our recommendations for the sheer features and quality that it packs.