HP provided me with the second pre-production unit of their yet to be released Photosmart Pro B9180 photo inkjet printer. The upcoming days and weeks I will be discussing my tests with the new printer. Today’s episode is on the printer mechanics of this DesignJet in camouflage --and on steroids.

HP has a goal: to become the vendor with the best photo inkjet printer. HP tried it last year with the Photosmart 8750, a very nice printer, but aimed at amateurs due to its small ink cartridges. This time around, HP has made its flagship photo printer into a tank of a printer, with ink cartridges that come directly from the desktop DesignJet 130 series. This new Photosmart B9180 has the moniker “Pro” in front of it. In the coming series I’ll give you the full story on how professional a desktop publishers’ and photographer’s tool it really is. And yes, it says “DTP” in the previous sentence. With an EFI Best Designer RIP in the works, the Photosmart B9180 could be more than a photo printer.

The HP Photosmart Pro B9180 is slightly larger than the Photosmart 8750. It is approximately the same size as a DesignJet 30, but it looks and feels sturdier. The box is black and metallic grey and there’s a clear and bright LCD screen at the left of the machine. Below the LCD screen is the compartment with the eight Vivera pigment inks this photo printer has on board. The eight inks are CMY, light Cyan and light Magenta, two types of black and one light Grey.

The main paper tray is covered by the output tray which will slide out in order to give access to the main tray itself, its mechanics and its paper guides. The output tray is a heavy plastic and metal-sheet thing that has three sections with a paper stopper. The latter is no luxury as the Photosmart Pro B9180 prints so fast that paper gets propelled out of the printer with some force.

The output tray covering the main paper tray might look like it’s awkward, but I found it to be very comfortable to remove and lock into place again. Besides, there’s an advantage to this approach: the printer protrudes less forward than its competitors. The disadvantage is that you do have to slide out the output tray each time you have to load new paper.

There’s a third tray on the Photosmart Pro B9180: the specialty media tray. That one normally sits in its vertical position, flush against the printer’s front. When pulled down, the Photosmart automatically releases some paper guides internally, then asks you to position your paper (printable side up) in the tray while carefully placing the paper against the dotted lines on the tray’s upper side. When you have done so, you must push the OK button on the printer’s control panel, after which the paper is fed into the printer, with the media being pulled all the way into the printer, right through until part of it projects from the back.

The specialty media tray, in other words, offers a straight-through media path for very thick media.

The Photosmart Pro B9180 has many features that are directly derived from HP’s DesignJet range. For example, the ink cartridges remain foot beneath the LCD screen, while the printer carriage contains the four printheads. The ink is transported using a tubing system to carry the ink that is also used on DesignJets. Only the printheads need servicing, which is performed with every printer startup.

The Photosmart Pro B9180 has no memory card reader(s) or direct camera links on board.

How does the Photosmart Pro B9180 Handle?

By handling experiences I refer to installing this photo printer, feeding the photo and fine art paper and other media.

Because this was a pre-production unit, installation was done without a guide or manual. Nevertheless, I had no trouble installing the printer. The ink cartridges are easily fitted and removed. The same goes for the printheads, although I had to find out how the carriage (that must be opened to fit heads inside) must be closed again. Once everything was in place, I hooked up the printer to the power outlet using its power cable, which is of a regular type instead of the skinny cable-with-adapter type that is usually delivered with photo printers.

Before using this inkjet printer, it must be calibrated. The Photosmart Pro B9180 has --just as DesignJets do-- an internal closed loop calibration unit. To start the calibration (or linearisation) process, you must feed special calibration paper provided with the Photosmart Pro B9180.