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Can HP Printers Replace a Professional Printing Service?

Can HP Printers Replace a Professional Printing Service?

Michelle Wilson
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Reading time: 9 minutes
Whether you run a small, medium, or large business, printing costs can quickly add up and become a huge expense, especially if you're relying on outside printing services for your business materials. Marketing materials are a must and serve as the key to understanding for prospective customers.
Brochures, presentation handouts, reports, and other business documents need to be professional because they don’t just reflect upon you, they reflect upon the business as a whole. In many cases, your paper advertisement or brochure may be a potential client’s first introduction to your brand or company. And first impressions count for a lot.
So, you might ask yourself, “How do I save on prints when I can’t skimp on quality?” That’s where HP printers come in. HP® offers printers capable of saving you money over the long run by avoiding professional printing services. Plus, you’re able to manage all aspects of your printing so you get exactly what you want, every single time.
Even if you don’t have a business, you might be surprised to learn that you can get lab-quality photo prints and enjoy an overall more fine-tuned printing experience right in your very own home.
Every book report, every family photo, and every creative project you print out will be rendered in beautiful, vivid color that rivals professional digital printing. With select HP printers, you’ll never have to go to a photo processing center again.
Here are some of our top HP printer choices for professional printing.

Which HP printers can complete professional quality photo prints?

The difference between printing from home or your office and printing from an outside professional printing service comes down to cost and convenience.
A professional digital printing business will deliver quality prints but when you pay for those photos, you’re also paying for a lot more than just your photos, you’re paying for the company’s overhead and other expenses.
If you’re looking to save on your printing, investing in a high-quality photo printer that can rival the results of professional printing services might be your next step, which you can do right from your own location.

1. HP ENVY 7855 all-in-one photo printer

Print, fax, scan, copy, web, photo: finally, an all-in-one printer that can handle anything you can. The HP ENVY Photo 7855 AiO printer is the answer to all of your printing requirements. Why deal with a separate scanner, printer, and fax machine when you can have all of those functions, plus more, in a single device?
HP ENVY Photo 7855 AiO Printer
The HP ENVY Photo 7855 printer boasts a user-friendly, smartphone-style 2.7-inch color touch screen to make switching between print jobs and other tasks absolutely effortless.
If you decide to use the convenient HP Instant Ink service to complement your printer, you can get ink cartridges delivered straight to your doorstep and print photos for less than five cents each. Choose from four monthly printing plans based on the number of pages you print.
HP ink cartridges deliver a veritable rainbow right at your fingertips for your family photos, reports, and other home office documents. This device is also compatible with HP high-yield ink to enhance your workflow and get more prints per cartridge.
Hate trimming margins? You can print gorgeous borderless photos and digital art prints, any time you want, without the hassle of extra work with scissors afterward with the HP ENVY Photo 7855 all-in-one printer.
Don’t want to be chained to your printer all day? Print photos directly from the cloud, your camera roll gallery on your phone, or even social media. In addition, you can scan images and documents right from your smartphone. Scan and share to your email or the cloud from almost anywhere.
Your connection will always be strong and reliable with the included dual-band WiFi for reliable performance every time.
The most amazing part? Once you place your media in its dedicated paper tray, the printer automatically changes the printer setting to the paper type. You can easily work through all of your tasks with a 35-page automatic document feeder, freeing you up to do other important business activities.
Here are a few other impressive HP ENVY 7855 AiO photo printer specs:

Print speed

  • Up to 15 pages per minute (ppm) for black-and-white printing
  • Up to 10 ppm for color printing

Copy speed

  • Up to 13 copies per minute (cpm) for black and white
  • Up to 5 cpm for color documents

Scan resolution

  • Up to 1200 dots per inch

Paper handling

  • Up to 125 sheets standard
  • Up to 5 envelopes
  • Up to 40 sheet transparencies
  • Up to 40 cards
  • Up to 40 sheets labels
  • Up to 125 sheets legal

2. HP PageWide 556dn Enterprise color printer

Need a device that goes far beyond a home printer for your professional printing demands? The perfect solution for the office with high-volume printing requirements is the HP PageWide 556dn Enterprise color printer.
HP PageWide 556dn Enterprise Color Printer
It’s neither inkjet nor laser. Instead, it uses HP PageWide technology. Instead of a printhead moving side to side across a paper, the printhead extends all the way across the page. This, in turn, means faster, more efficient printing.
For businesses, the HP PageWide 556dn color printer is the ultimate trifecta of a low cost of ownership, high speed, and professional print quality. Plus, it boasts up to 40% lower color cost per page as compared to color laser printers.
Print up to two and a half times more pages and replace cartridges less often than standard cartridges by choosing high-yield options.
Worried about printer security? The optional near-field communication (NFC) touch-to-print and encrypted wireless direct printing make your mobile printing more secure, protected, and efficient.
In addition, there are plenty of security features that protect your device from startup to shutdown including over 100 embedded security components.
With HP JetAdvantage Security Manager, you can change and set policy-based protection features across your entire printer fleet.
HP PageWide 556dn color printer specs:

Print speed (letter)

  • Up to 50 ppm for black-and-white printing
  • Up to 50 ppm for color printing
  • First page out: 7.1 seconds for black-and-white printing, 7.3 seconds for color printing

Print resolution

  • Up to 1200 x 1200 dots per inch (dpi) for black-and-white printing
  • Up to 2400 x 1200 optimized dpi for color printing

Recommended monthly page volume

  • 2,000 to 7,500 pages per month in standard sizes
  • Up to 80,000 in letter size

Media types supported

  • Plain paper types: heavy, intermediate, light etc.
  • Photo: glossy, soft gloss, satin, matte
  • Envelopes, labels, cards, specialty papers
With these kinds of stats, your business won’t ever have to turn to professional digital printing services ever again. You can manage everything right in your own office.

3. HP Sprocket (2nd Edition) photo printer

Have you ever wanted a picture in sticker or snapshot form? You don’t have to go to a professional printing services center to get it, as it turns out.
HP Sprocket Compact Photo Printer
Instead, just invest in the second-generation HP Sprocket photo printer. You can share instantaneously with the touch of a button.
Never let your precious memories waste away in virtual storage spaces ever again.
The HP Sprocket printer is incredibly user-friendly. Simply wake it from its energy-saving sleep mode and use your Bluetooth to quickly print memories.
About the same size as your smartphone, this incredible mobile printer fits anywhere. Take it with you to a birthday party for fun party favors, let guests use it to print memories at a wedding, or simply take advantage of the sticker backing for easy scrapbooking days.
With its seamless connectivity, you’re able to view and print from a shared album using Google Photos. Share all of the photos printed to your HP Sprocket by using the HP Sprocket app. You can even customize your HP Sprocket printer by naming it and changing the LED light color that lights up when you’re printing photos.
The HP Sprocket app complements your HP Sprocket printer to deliver even more fun features. The app allows you to access your photos and fully customize them before you print. It also allows you to print photos straight from social media, scan printed photos to your photo collection, and view a shared print queue virtually.
Add filters, text, and images to personalize everything you print. Your creative options with the HP Sprocket are practically limitless. Who needs professional digital printing when you can customize your photos on the spot with a device that fits in the palm of your hand?

Which HP printers can complete professional canvas prints?

If you’re a graphic designer or a photographer, the quality of your prints is a huge concern. Especially if your work is going out to clients or hanging in a gallery, subpar printing results are simply not an option. On the other hand, relying on professional printing services can add up to a huge expense. How do you resolve this conundrum?
The answer is within the HP Store. It’s time to invest in a photo printer that exceeds your demands: the HP DesignJet Z3200 24-inch poster printer.

1. HP DesignJet Z3200 24-inch PostScript photo printer

This printer boasts 12 Original HP Photo Ink cartridges for gallery-ready black-and-white and color prints that can last up to two centuries. Thanks to HP®’s Quad-black ink set, your black-and-white photographs will feature smooth transitions with neutral greys.
Are you used to gloss flaws when printing on glossy photo finish paper? Not anymore. You can achieve exceptional gloss uniformity and limit any irregularities with the HP Gloss Enhancer.
Never feel limited by color choice again. An expanded color range is available that covers 96% of the PANTONE® colors with HP®’s chromatic red ink. Worried about color accuracy? Generate custom ICC profiles (color input/output data) and get beautifully rich color accuracy and consistency thanks to the embedded spectrophotometer.
HP DesignJet Large-Format Poster Printers
  • Streamline the way you work. Access your projects and share paper presets among other team members with the enhanced HP Color Center.
  • Experience the difference of optimized performance with automatic servicing routines that help prevent nozzle clogging and reduces wasted media.
  • Save precious time and money with embedded TIFF, JPEF, and Adobe PS3/PDF RIP enabled direct job submission, queuing, and nesting.
  • Simplify production with an HP Embedded Web Server and print previews, which help to eliminate trial and error printing. This, in turn, helps reduce waste.
Here are some of the impressive HP DesignJet Z3200 24-in PostScript printer specs:

Resolution

  • Up to 2400 x 1200 optimized dpi for black-and-white printing
  • Up to 2400 x 1200 optimized dpi for color printing

Media sizes supported

  • A4, A3, A2, A1

Media types supported

  • Photo papers: satin, gloss, matte, semi-gloss
  • Proofing: high-gloss, matte, semi-gloss
  • Fine art printing materials: canvas, watercolor, satin, smooth
  • Banners and signs
  • Self-adhesive
  • Tyvek
  • Outdoor materials
  • Bond and coated
  • Technical
  • Film
  • Backlit
  • Fabric/textile

2. HP DesignJet Z9+ 44-inch PostScript printer

If you need an even larger printer, the HP DesignJet Z9+ 44-inch large-format printer is capable of delivering more prints, faster. Professional photographers and digital artists will love the professional quality of this printer.
With HP Pixel Control, you’ll enjoy sharp contrasts and smooth, seamless transitions so even your most demanding clients will be thrilled. RGB HP Vivid Photo Inks and the embedded spectrophotometer deliver consistent, beautiful color for every print.
2,400 nozzle-per-inch high-definition printheads mean that every project you print out is packed full of impressive colors.
Here are some more specs on this incredible device if you’re not convinced:

Maximum print speed

  • 769 sq. ft per hour on plain media

Print resolution

  • Up to 2400 x 1200 optimized dpi

Security features

  • HP Secure Boot
  • Whitelisting
  • Role-Based Access Control
  • Secure-IPP
  • Certificates management
  • HP JetAdvantage
  • Secure File erase

HP printers for home and the office

Whatever you need a printer for, a good one matters. Especially if you’re trying to save on your printing costs, a good printer can mean you could save hundreds, even thousands, of dollars over the device’s lifetime.
Want to avoid turning to professional printing services every time you need a quality result? Invest in an HP printer for home or small business and you’ll be on your way to beautiful prints that don’t affect your bottom line.

About the Author

Michelle Wilson is a contributing writer for HP® Tech Takes. Michelle is a content creation specialist writing for a variety of industries, including tech trends and media news.

Disclosure: Our site may get a share of revenue from the sale of the products featured on this page.