HP Deskjet Ink Advantage 4645 Inkjet Printer
Price (RRP): R1 699
Available From: These fine stores
What can it do?
The Ink Advantage 4645:
- Prints A4 and smaller, duplex (automatic)
- Scans via flatbed and ADF
- Faxes via flatbed and ADF
- Copies via flatbed and ADF
- Prints Photos
- Has WiFi and USB connectivity
- Supports mobile printing via HP ePrint
HP’s Ink Advantage series of printers are designed to print more, at a much lower cost than non-Ink Advantage printers thanks to special inks and redesigned printhead technology. The 4645 is one of the latest of these, aimed squarely at home and small office users, and HP has designed it to do a bit of everything. It’s not super-fast, but its text, image and photo quality is really good for the price, and WiFi connectivity means you can set it up anywhere you get WiFi signal. There is no cabled option, however, so a WiFi network is a must. Photos are particularly well-done, too, making this a good all-rounder that does a good job of the occasional print, scan, copy or fax.
What’s it look like?
HP is definitely not resting on its laurels in terms of printer design, and so the 4645 looks like a next-gen home and office printer with sleek lines, lovely soft-touch buttons and a nice, clear colour LCD screen. It hides its paper tray quite well, too, as it slots in almost invisibly underneath the printer and the automatic document feeder has quite a low profile, giving the 4645 a rather compact, lean look. The printer has a slightly larger footprint than the Epson does, but doesn’t take up so much space on a desk that it’ll be a nuisance.
How easy is it to set up?
HP has made it as easy as possible to set the 4645 up, with clear printed instructions for the manual unpacking and ink-installation processes, and an install CD that does all the hard work for you. All you need to do is read the instructions, follow their directions and run through a few dialogue boxes on your PC and you’ll be ready to go. This really is about as easy as installing a printer gets.
What’s Special About it?
The Ink Advantage system makes HP’s 4645 more special than your average inkjet, as that means lowered running costs compared to HP’s other inkjet office printers. Ink Advantage cartridges are cheaper than non Ink Advantage cartridges which is a great start, but they can also print more pages for the same amount of money spent. Its individual cartridges don’t print a huge amount, though – you’re looking at 360 pages per black cartridge and 200 pages per colour cartridge according to HP’s official yield figures – but then at R149 and R110 respectively, they are more affordable than other HP inkjet printers with cartridges that cost a lot more. Essentially the 4645 makes it affordable for a home or office user to print the occasional document and photo at a very high quality, without breaking the bank.
How fast is it?
The 4645 managed just under nine test pages per minute in our time with it, with our hi-res full-colour highest-quality test photos taking just over ten minutes to print. It’s not a speed demon, but it’s fast enough for the low volume of prints it has been designed for.
What’s the quality like?
HP has been in the business of printing for many years, and that experience shows. The 4645’s text is crisp and sharp, and colours are very close to what you see on-screen when you hit Print. Photos look really good, too, although not quite as nice as the L550 which produced sharper detail and somewhat more natural colours (particularly skin tone). The 4645’s quality is still more than good enough for printing the occasional photo, of course.
Is it cheap to run?
Sort of. Its up-front cost is affordable at R1699, but at R259 for 560 pages you’re looking at 46c per page.
