As the next-generation version of our Editors' Choice HP Officejet 6700 Premium e-All-in-One , the HP Officejet Pro 6830 e-All-in-One Printer ($179.99) has a lot to live up to. The good news is that it mostly does. Although the 6830 ( at Amazon) is more of a refresh than a major upgrade, the new version keeps essentially the same features that made the HP Officejet 6700 our preferred pick, and it adds a touch more. That's enough for it to replace the HP Officejet 6700 as our Editors' Choice light- to medium-duty personal or micro-office multifunction printers (MFPs).

The 6830 is one step down from HP's Officejet Pro 8600 series, which includes the only slightly-more-expensive HP Officejet Pro 8610 e-All-in-One . Both the 6830 and the HP Officejet Pro 8610 are aimed at office use, and they offer a similar constellation of features. However the 6830 is physically smaller and is meant for lighter-duty use, making it both literally and metaphorically a better fit for a micro or home office or as a personal printer.

Basics and Paper Handling

Basic MFP features in the 6830 include the ability to print and fax from, as well as scan to, a computer, and work as a standalone copier and fax machine. It can also print from or scan to a USB memory key, and it offers a full set of mobile printing features, including printing from iOS, Android, and Blackberry phones and tablets.

Connect the 6830 to your network by Ethernet or Wi-Fi, and you can print to it through your Wi-Fi access point. If the network is connected to the Internet, you can also print through the cloud and take advantage of HP's Web apps, giving commands though the 2.65-inch LCD-based menus. The 6830 adds Wireless Direct, HP's equivalent to Wi-Fi Direct. That lets you connect directly to the printer by Wi-Fi, even if the printer isn't connected to a network.

The 6830's paper handing is slightly downgraded from the HP Officejet 6700, with a 225-sheet, rather than 250-sheet, tray and a duplexer (for printing on both sides of a page). Even at 225 sheets, the tray offers ample capacity for most small offices. With no bypass tray and no additional tray available even as an option, however, the paper handling falls just short of excellent. Having only one tray means that any time you need to print an envelope or print on a different paper stock, you'll have to swap out the paper in the tray. This won't be a problem if you don't switch paper very often, but could be annoying if you need to, say, switch between letters and envelopes several times a day.

For scanning, the printer offers a 35-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) to supplement the letter-size flatbed and to give you a way to scan legal-size pages, as well as multipage documents.

Setup and Speed

At 8.8 by 18.2 by 15.3 inches (HWD) with the trays closed, and only 17 pounds 10 ounces, the 6830 is small enough to comfortably fit on your desk and light enough for one person to move into place easily. Setup is standard fare.

The printer's speed is best described as good enough for a personal printer or a shared printer in a micro office, but nothing to get excited about. I clocked it on our business applications suite (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing), at 3.5 pages per minute (ppm), making it just a touch faster than the HP 6700, at 3.4ppm, and significantly slower than the HP Officejet Pro 8610, at 5.9ppm.

As another point of reference, the 6830 is also slower than the Epson WorkForce WF-3520 , at 4.4ppm. But keep in mind that the Epson printer is our Editors' Choice for a personal or micro office MFP in situations where speed is more important than output quality. The 6830 delivered better-looking output than the Epson model on our tests for both text and graphics, making it the better choice if you care more about output quality than speed.

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Output Quality
The 6830's output quality is solidly par across the board. Text quality is easily good enough for most business use, as long as you don't have an unusual need for small fonts. Graphics offered vibrant color in my tests, with overall quality for most output good enough to use when one wants to impress a client. However, a few of our test pages showed banding, which brings down the overall score a bit.

Photo output on photo paper was better than you'll get from most drugstore prints, except for a slight tint showing in black and white prints. For most business purposes however, photos aren't much of an issue in any case.

If you care more about speed than output quality, you'll probably be better off with the Epson WF-3520. And if you want both speed and heavier duty printing, check out the HP Officejet Pro 8610, which offers both faster speed and a higher monthly duty cycle than the HP Officejet Pro 6830 e-All-in-One Printer, at a recommended maximum 1,500 pages per month rather than 900. If you don't need Wireless Direct, the HP Officejet 6700 is nearly identical otherwise, and you may be able to find it for less. That said, if what you want is a personal or shared MFP for light to moderate use, and you care more about output quality than speed, the 6830 is both the best fit and the clear Editors' Choice.

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