HP DesignJet T230

Review DesignJet T230 T250

The HP DesignJet T230 & T250 replaces the highly successful HP DesignJet T125 and T130 building & expanding on this hugely popular platform which saw over 20,000 T100 series shipped worldwide.

It is the lowest priced HP A1 Plotter from a range consisting of 6 A1 printers, it's ideal for small work groups or individuals and the key difference with other printers in the range is it's speed which is 35 seconds for an A1 CAD Drawing on the T230 and 30 seconds on a T250 in Fast mode - so it will tick the box for the majority of users who wish to print occasionally and get good printing results in Black & White or colour. It will be the most popular product in the range and then we expect some customers will jump up to the more expensive STUDIO product which has strong Design Styling and also boast being completly Carbon Neutral.

Size

The first thing we notice despite thinking it was not possible to be smaller than the old model is the compact size of the T230, it's an extremely compact unit coming in at just 101cm wide, 44cm deep & 28cm high (without optional stand) and with a paper roll loaded weighing just 25 kilos making it compact enough to wall mount on a shelf or place on a desktop or planchest. With it's wi-fi connectivity it also means if you do wall mount you only have to worry about the power cord.

Connectivity & Printing

You're not limited to only wi-fi, you have multiple options and can connect directly to your workstation with USB or Gigabit Ethernet, however we never had any issues with our showroom T100 series when it came to wi-fi and the connection was always good even with larger files so rest assured problems with wi-fi are unheard of.

Printing is made easy with a windows driver print viewer which gives you a real view of what your about to print, along with a mobile printing app but by far our favourite is HP Click this an innovative print utility which allows for easy submission of multiple file types including PDF from Windows or iOS operating systems. It resolves PDF issues before sending to print and supports multiple users - we love this software and suggest to all customers buying any new Designjet to install it, it really does make printing stress free.

Noteworthy

HP have put considerable thought in to environmental considerations and this device is made with 30% recycled plastic and HP estimate a reduction in Carbon Emissions based on number of machines likely to be manufactured in the region of 7 tonnes. It should be noted that the HP DesignJet "STUDIO" printer which is also in this product series is completely carbon neutral - so if this is important to you and you don't mind paying more but also gaining good looks and additional functions then do consider the STUDIO as an option - it is our preferred option in this series.

Options

The HP DesignJet T230 & T250 do not have to be desk mounted you can purchase an optional stand and basket at relatively low cost, additionally the paper roll can be covered with an optional to purchase dust cover or exposed as with the old T100 series which was a big bug bear for some light users. Finally, if you are a user who already has an older T100 series model and you make use of the Paper Tray accessory then this can be added as an option as well.

Negatives 

There's not a massive amount of things to dislike about the T230 or T250 ithey're great all rounders, but from our perspective HP have changed a few things, Firstly, the price has increased by around 20% for the end user street price so do expect to pay more than the old model, this increases again if you want the sheet feed - previous iterations all had this as standard so in real terms the price has increased by 35%. We've been seeing our customers use the tray to print A3 meaning customers spend less money on their office A3 / A4 printer as they only need to buy A4 so again additional hidden cost if you need this.

Finally we were disappointed to see only the black ink is pigment based and remainder Dye based, this gives you great vivid colours and very fine lines so perfect for intricate Architectural drawings but neither light fast for longevity or water resistant for rainy days on site, however, it is construction drawings that only need a short life span so this should only be a consideration if you're planning on displaying designs over a period of time.

Round Up

Great all rounders and particularly good for small work groups, small spaces and tight budgets. Brilliant to see a manufacturer stepping up & ticking some green boxes.