HP Z6800 Ink
Designjet Z6800 Ink Cartridges

HP Z6800 Printer Review

The HP Designjet Z6800 is the largest wide-format inkjet photo production printer in its lineup, supporting media up to 60 inches in width. It can operate in fast mode to produce up to 1500 square feet per hour, or 212 square feet per hour in high-quality mode. Its main problems are its high price tag and the high cost of HP Z6800 printer ink supplies, which make it very expensive to operate.

The Z6800 not only wins the battle of media support, but also the battle of the bulge. It measures 53.9x95.7x27.2 inches, and its weight of 419 pounds is a lot to handle, though this does include the Designjet Z6800 printer ink supplies. The connection option is a Gigabit ethernet port, and the unit lacks a USB port or wireless support, though the latter can be added later.

Designed for roll feed media, the machine can handle 60-inch rolls and media up to 22 milliliters thick. It has an automatic cutter and a take-up reel to cut down on the need for user interaction wherever possible. A maximum optimized resolution of 2400x1200 dpi guarantees sharp output quality, and the addition of photo black and light gray inks help to enhance black-and-white output.

The inkjet system can use a maximum of eight separate HP Z6800 ink cartridges, which is a lot to maintain and a lot of added expense. Replacement Designjet Z6800 ink cartridges do have larger yields than the included supplies, however.

With a focus on high-quality, large photo production printing, it is easy to see the target buyer for the Z6800. Unfortunately, it's very high upfront price and expensive HP Z6800 ink put it out of reach of all but the largest production environments, despite its excellent output quality and fast speeds.