Rating: 
Summary: An excellent, excellent, excellent printer.
Review: I don't know why some of the users here had problems setting up this printer. While I admit that I have not tried the wireless feature yet, I was able to install and configure the software on two computers. Both are plugged into my Linksys router and have no problems sending jobs to the printer. I even left Service Pack 2's Windows Firewall enabled on one PC and the software still installed properly.
The printer is very quiet and with HP's 2-sided automatic print accessory installed duplex printing is an available option within the driver. I printed a 24-page video card review on 12 pages instead of 24. Very cool indeed. I highly recommed this printer to anyone looking for a solid, well-rounded printer. You get not only wired and wireless printing (up to 5 PCs) but duplex printing also. Can't go wrong with HP!!
Rating: 
Summary: Great printer but lots of work to set up
Review: I got this printer because I am a doctoral student with a wireless laptop. I can go online wirelessly so I can use my laptop virtually anywhere in my apartment. I print lots of online articles and hated getting up to attach the printer everytime I wanted to print. So I jumped at buying this printer. I love it now but be prepared to do some work if youre not techie. I was able to piece together some information from the tech guy in my department at my univeristy and the tech guys at hp to finally get it working. Its amazing to be able to print to the printer in my office from my living room. I havent tried printing from very far away yet (i.e-my bedroom on the other side of my apt)but i'm happy with it now that the setup is over with.
Rating: 
Summary: I hope you don't need support from HP!
Review: I had some problems getting this printer to work on my Linksys wireless-B router. After hanging for hours on the phone to talk to an "expert", problem was still not solved. Failed to speak to anybody over there (yes, in India!) who's knowledge extended to 'how to start the setup.exe from the CD rom'. Very frustrating. Finally I started troubleshooting myself and found the problem. Because of the provided support (which is none) I would not recommend to buy this product. If you are a wireless network expert (or want to become one) give it a go. Oh yeah, printer does not work with your firewall on (Win XP), so you are exposed to hackers, etc.
Rating:
Summary: A Printer made for use over a network
Review: I have always bought HP printers, knowing I'd get a quality product.
I networked my house last year and installed a print server to allow anyone on the network to print without a dedicated PC having to be switched on. It was okay but a lot of the function was lost, since the printer hadn't been designed for a network. When the old printer expired, I deliberately went looking for a deskjet printer DESIGNED to go onto a network at a price suitable for the home.
The HP 5850 was the only printer to meet my requirements. Configuring the printer was a walk in the park. I plugged it directly into the Ethernet port previously occupied by the now redundant print server, installed it onto my PC exactly as I had every previous printer and there it was.
My son, networked by wireless, when installing the printer onto his machine, mistakenly told it that the printer was wirelessly networked. The printer still installed first time and apparently his PC talks directly to the printer by wireless. My daughter's laptop (installed correctly by me) also worked first time.
Now, when I want to dump a dozen documents onto the printer, they queue up ON the printer rather than stopping the PC until the printer is free.
A couple of down points:
1. Set to duplex (courtesy of the optional extra duplexer), a vital function I'd lost by networking the previous printer, I find that the printer spends a long time waiting for one side to dry before turning the paper over. This may be down to the printer settings that need to be tweaked.
2. I find that the duplexer has a tendency to pop open, fail to turn the paper over and print both sides on one. Fixed with a couple of pieces of sticky tape out of sight round the back.
Overall, this exactly is the printer I wanted for a small home network and commend it to anyone who needs a reasonably-priced networked printer.
Rating:
Summary: Great wireless printer
Review: I have both Mac and a PC, so I needed a printer that talked to both easily. This printer was the answer. My office arrangement would have required running wires to connect both pcs so the wireless solution was just what I needed.
The setup was a bit bumpy, but connecting a temporary network cable to the printer solved the problems and I was up an running wireless within an hour (which included unpacking the printer).
The printer works great and is quiet.
Rating:
Summary: WiFi setup was much easier than anticipated
Review: I just received my HP 5850 WiFi printer and was a bit apprehensive about the setup after reading some of the negative reviews. I'm running a desktop on XP Pro and a laptop on the very flakey Windows ME which are connecting on a WiFi Linksys WRT54G Broadband Router. I carefully read the instructions that came with the printer and gathered all of my network configurations and WEP key. I shut down my ZoneAlarm firewall and proceeded with the installation. The initial stage of installation required that I hookup the printer and router with a provided Ethernet cable so the printer and software gather the necessary network settings. Once complete and the drivers and software were installed on my computer, I pulled the cable and to my complete amazement the WiFi worked right off. I was anticipating hours of troubleshooting but I was up and running. I then installed the drivers and software on the Windows Me laptop and it was running in no time. I started ZoneAlarm again and everything worked. You can set up the printer to use a provided USB or Ethernet cable if you don't want to use the WiFi. By using WiFi, I was able to eliminate a "A/B Box" and 3 printer cables, and my laptop is able to print from any location in the house.
Every time the printer has been turned off it will take about a minute for the printer to find the WiFi connection and attach to the network after it has been turned on again. Don't panic if it takes a little while. The printer itself is a little slow compared to my old Deskjet 990 but the quality is good and photo printing is excellent. I was also able to use my two sided printing module off the Deskjet 990 on the new 5850.
Rating:
Summary: Wireless networking works
Review: I know different people will have different experiences, but I just wanted to say that setting up the wireless network was seamless. I have both Mac OS X and Windows XP Home machines. I turned off the firewall and anti-virus on the XP, followed the directions on the poster, and the XP immediately recognized the printer. Turned the security back on and it still worked fine. Then installed the software on my iBook and it immediately found the printer and printed without a problem. (I don't use WEP, but do use MAC filtering.)
I like the built-in web server and the print quality is more than I need.
Rating:
Summary: wireless, fast, quiet
Review: I think this is a great printer, and I also did notice how many of the bad reviews are from Mac users. Windows pc users, you can buy with confidence. I have WEP enabled and do MAC filtering on my wireless network, so I did have to go in and set up the MAC address on the network so the printer could get an IP address. Then I followed the instructions in the HP networking manual and set it up to use the WEP key. It works great. Fast paper pickup and good looking print even on fast normal setting. It's a definite step up from my previous Epson printer. And I love the ewb-based management capability. Another HP winner.
Rating:
Summary: Great network printer with WiFi
Review: I was looking for a new printer to replace the Epson that died on me after a short period of usage and decided to go back to HP. When browsing their mid-range printers I saw this wireless model. Having set up my wireless network this year and having my father on the same network and the chance of friends stopping by who might want to use the printer I thought that it would be perfect. This printer works as a plain USB printer (cable not included), or as a network printer. Using it as a network printer you have 2 choices. The first is to use the included ethernet cable and hook the printer up to your local network. The second is to turn the thing on and have it automatically detect your wireless network and jump on the network. I set it up with my powerbook and I have to say it was the easiest setup EVER. This printer is rendezvous enabled which is great for Mac OSX users. You just select the printer from the list when you go to print and you are DONE. There is nothing else to do, everything is ready to start printing! You can also set up the included software on the CD which installs HPs own custom drivers and autodetects the printer on the network for you. This probably works the same way on windows. Another cool thing is that the printer has web configuration. You can either figure out the IP and put it in the browser (and change it there too if you like) or on your Rendezvous enabled mac you can select it from the Rendezvous menu in safari where it shows up.As for the the hardware side, this is an above average quality ink jet printer. The DPI (dots per inch, how much detail goes into what you print) on it is pretty good compared to some other printers in the same range, and the printing speed is also pretty good. The paper feed is much better than top feed printers I have in the past which had trouble getting the paper aligned. You can also get an extra tray if you want to hold more paper. I think this would be a nice printer for a small office, or home network where you have several people with computers and/or notebooks. So overall this is an low end network printer with wifi or a high end deskjet with wifi. Either way, I think this printer is a really great product
Rating: 
Summary: Easy to install? Wrong.
Review: I'm writing this review after devoting my entire evening and most of this morning to trying to get this wireless printer set up on my network. During that time I also spent over 90 minutes on the phone with HP's customer service technicians (in India!) who ultimately were no help. My configuration: Dell Inspiron laptop (Pentium II, 366Mhz, 128M memory, Windows XP); Netgear G router; Netgear G wireless adapter card; Motorola cable modem. I couldn't even run the installation program on my computer. The first screen of the install wizard comes up on the screen but when I click "next", nothing happens. I had to call India so they could manually walk me through the installation process. Well, we got the printer "installed" but it's FAR from problem free... Printer prints sporatically. Even now and then it will print a one page document but if I want to print another document I have to turn off my router, turn off the printer, turn off the computer and then turn everything back on in the same order. Then, sometimes, the printer will accept a print job. Longer documents won't print at all. HP's customer service is NO HELP whatsoever. I see from other reviews that some people have no problems at all with the installation. To them I say, bravo. But if you're like me (and a few other disgruntled reviewers) and have problems with the installation, give it up, return the printer and get something more reliable. I like HP but this wireless printer isn't yet ready for prime time. If this problem isn't fixed by the end of the day, I'm returned the printer and buying a regular (i.e., reliable) printer and a wireless print server. What a waste of my time this printer has been. Save yourself the trouble.
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