Mumbai: The era of low priced color printers used for the small office is here. Global leader HP has launched its new HP Officejet Pro 1800 series that delivers high-speed, superior quality printing.

Priced at just USD 150 in the United States, the new printer boasts of Wi-Fi, USB and Ethernet, making it handle up to 1250 pages of printing a month. Online reviews of the product suggest that the cost of ink is cheaper than similarly priced color laser printers.

The Officejet Pro 8100 can be easily set up on the personal computer without any external support. One just needs to insert the CD provided by HP and follow the prompts. Of course, Mac users will have to browse online and download the necessary drivers for installation.

From a features perspective, the new printer has a small front LCD panel that displays ink levels, paper and Wi-Fi status. The only two buttons online are the eject and the toggle for the ePrint feature.

The quality of output from the new printer has been described as sharp though some reviews found the charcoal gray tinge a bit uneasy on the eye. Some reviews found the color photos a tad unnatural, especially in terms of the flesh tones.

HP has not provided any details thus far of whether the new product will debut in India and what would be the price band. Media reports in the United States suggested that reviewers were of the belief that the new Office Pro 1800 was more economical than the color laser printer.