With zoom in/out buttons, you can enlarge a portion of the photo to as much as 5X, and a separate four-way cursor control pad with embedded OK key moves the zoom box within the image. You can scroll among all the images using left/right arrow keys and press a Select button to mark photos for printing. The HP Image Zone Transfer software will also pop up on your computer display and offer to copy the photos. Flip up the LCD and insert a memory card into one of the slots on the front or connect a camera through the PictBridge port in the lower-right corner of the front panel, and the first shot appears on the screen. You can carry out an impressive array of functions from the printer itself. Installing the HP Image Zone software and drivers takes another 10 minutes or so. Setup is speedy, involving little more than connecting the power cord, linking the printer to your computer through a USB 2.0 cable, and snapping in the five compact color ink cartridges (cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan and light magenta) and a larger-capacity black ink tank. And depending on the settings you use, you'll achieve printing speeds quite a bit slower than advertised. On the downside, the relatively large 5pl ink drops (some competing models such as the Canon Pixma iP5000 squeeze out 1pl drops) can produce a visibly grainy texture that some users might find objectionable. Although it functions serviceably as a speedy text printer (especially with the optional duplexing attachment), the HP Photosmart 8250's real strength is as a personal photo lab. The individually replaceable ink cartridges and recycling system coupled with bulk paper purchases mean 4圆-inch prints can cost as little as 24 cents each. Rather than using the old tricolor ink-cartridge systems with their built-in printheads, HP has switched to an innovative reservoir system fed from six separate ink tanks.

The HP Photosmart 8250, a replacement for the, retains the 4,800x1,200dpi resolution, the long-life Vivera inks, and the relatively speedy printing of its predecessor but replaces the old print engine with a radically redesigned one.

Hp photosmart 8250 printer software