HP OfficeJet Pro 7720 review

HP's OfficeJet Pro 7720 is an inkjet multifunction peripheral (MFP) designed for moderate use in a small office. It's a bit bigger than the norm because it can print - but not scan or copy - on A3 paper. Few authorities would agree with HP's description of this as constituting wide format, but it's still a useful trick, particularly if you ever need to printd detailed plans, posters or spreadsheets at a more practical size.

Aside from A3 printing, the OfficeJet Pro 7720 supports wired and wireless network connections, can print on both sides of a sheet of paper (duplex, and has a 35-page automatic document feeder (ADF) for automated, multi-page faxes or copies.

Direct jobs such as copies and faxes are controlled through the obligatory touchscreen interface. The only significant omissions are duplex scanning - so you can't make automatic double-sided copies or faxes - and a USB port for direct printing or scanning.

HP OfficeJet Pro 7720: Software options

We've never been particularly keen on HP's oversimplified print and scan software, but the latest iterations aren't all that bad. On Windows 10 the print driver is neatly laid out over several tabs, but on Windows 7 you have to dive into unfriendly Advanced settings to change paper size. HP's TWAIN scan interface no longer induces fury, but it's still our least favourite among major manufacturers. The MFP's touch interface is decent, but its Copy page includes only a single start button that defaults to colour. If you want a black-only copy, you'll have to fiddle with the settings.

These are fairly minor grumbles, and in use the OfficeJet Pro 7720 quickly makes up for them. It raced through our 25-page text test at 22.7 pages per minute (ppm, and reached an impressive 8.6ppm on our more demanding colour graphics test. On A3 paper, five A3 pages of text took 26 seconds, while five graphics-rich pages took a minute. Even at the Maximum DPI setting, each 6x4in colour photo took little more than a minute.

Scans were swift, too, with A4 jobs at up to 300dpi taking around 10 seconds. Scanning a 6x4in photo at 600dpi took 19 seconds, and at 1,200 this took 63 seconds. At 16 seconds in black and 22 seconds in colour, single-page photocopies weren't especially fast, but 10-page copies from the ADF were competitive, taking one minute and 23 seconds in black, and one minute and 41 seconds in colour.

HP OfficeJet Pro 7720: Print quality

Print quality was generally excellent on plain paper, with photo prints being good for an office device. Copies were fine, if slightly drab, while scans were above average: colours were accurate and the focus was reasonably sharp, but this MFP struggled to capture subtle differences in the darkest shades. Enabling its Auto Exposure feature just tended to wash out the lightest regions, too.

The OfficeJet Pro 7720 accepts a range of ink cartridges, with the highest-capacity black supply stretching to 3,000 pages, and colour cartridges available at 1,600 pages. Calculated for these, running costs work out at a very competitive 5p per page.

Overall, this MFP finds a good balance between price, performance and features. If your home or small business needs A3 printing, and can live without duplex faxes or copies, it's an excellent choice.

Verdict

Overall, this MFP finds a good balance between price, performance and features. If your home or small business needs A3 printing, and can live without duplex faxes or copies, it's an excellent choice.