The HP OfficeJet Pro 9120b is an excellent all-in-one printer, but one with an asterisk: only buy HP ink or it will stop working.

In the world of printers, it’s difficult to stand out from the crowd in terms of design. Of all the manufacturers, HP does the most. We see this again with the HP OfficeJet Pro 9120b (206.53 euros excl. VAT), which combines a sleek white frame with soft black corners.

You don’t have to look for innovations here, but for solidity without too many frills. HP is also the leader in the world of printers in the fight against unofficial ink cartridges. Only use original ink, otherwise you won’t be able to print. Something to consider.

installation

We start with the box, which is more compact than we would expect from an all-in-one printer. Inside, there is little material: a handy bag to lift the printer out (9.5 kg), a small booklet and a power cable. Unfortunately, there is also Styrofoam to hold the printer. Hopefully HP can soon crack the code to house everything in 100 percent paper, like with its laptops.

Among all printer manufacturers, HP is king when it comes to installation. Everything appears clearly on the screen and installing HP Smart from the Microsoft Store (on Windows) is easy and intuitive. After five minutes, your first page is already rolling out. Using the HP Smart app and an HP account, you can print from your phone anywhere.

Small, ugly screen

It is operated via the small 2.7-inch touchscreen. We can’t compliment it more. The resolution is very limited and the thick bezel is outdated. We understand that it’s “just” a printer, but it remains an eyesore. You can tilt the screen to an angle to operate it comfortably while sitting or standing.

You can connect via Wi-Fi (dual band), RJ45 (Ethernet) or USB. For the last two, you will need to provide your own cable. Traditionally, printers do not come with additional cables.

Small but not unimportant detail: the HP OfficeJet Pro 9120b has a small speaker built in. This way you get a very quiet sound signal when a print has arrived, when a scan is finished, etc. It seems small, but this extra interaction makes the experience better.

Just take HP+

The HP Smart app shows you all the settings you want. For important items such as network settings, you must enter the PIN code on the inside of the front cover. This way, HP prevents hackers or other unwanted visitors on your network from accessing the printer settings.

The app also gives you a number of shortcuts such as scanning and specific settings for printing documents or photos. If you have multiple printers in the office, you can find them all in HP Smart. If necessary, you can link it to an HP account.

Adding this printer to HP+ is not an option. You can buy the HP OfficeJet Pro 9120e with HP+ and save 15 euros. HP Instant Ink, HP’s ink subscription, is possible. There you select a monthly volume that is linked to a monthly amount. HP automatically sends you new cartridges so that you never run out of ink. You will soon read how this price compares to the price of printing if you always buy the cartridges yourself.

Print quality

First, evaluate the print quality of the HP OfficeJet Pro 9120b. It is actually excellent, there is nothing to complain about. Font sizes from two points are already legible. From five points, the text is completely intact. The black letters are beautiful and even throughout and the paper is always held firmly in the middle for straight prints. We also see this in the recto-verso test with good results.

This printer is also ideal for PowerPoint handouts. The color quality is remarkably high, with no defects such as line formation. When using photo paper, the quality is even so good that we can print compact photos. The paper tray has space for 250 sheets.

The printing speed is average for an inkjet printer. Printing one page takes seven seconds, printing ten pages takes 36 seconds. From sleep mode we have to wait 17 seconds for the printer to produce the first result. A complete PDF manual (17p) with occasional color images takes just a minute. These are excellent figures for an inkjet printer.

Unstable scanner

Copying is often explained in two sentences in a printer review, but here we need two paragraphs. Copying via the touchscreen doesn’t always work well. Once an error message appeared, we had to restart the printer and the firmware was fixed. Another time we had to wait almost a minute for the scan to start. Another time only half of the paper on the scanner glass was scanned.

This shouldn’t happen. We only noticed one bug after the last firmware installation, but it is still a problem.

Copying (without errors) takes just six seconds using the glass plate. It takes 16 seconds using the top feed. A nice extra: the HP OfficeJet Pro 9120b supports double-sided scanning. The feeder has space for 35 sheets.

Price per print

The printing costs are relatively low for an inkjet printer in this category. There are cheaper solutions, but the quality suffers. The price/quality ratio is good with the HP OfficeJet Pro 9120b. Expect to pay an average of 2.27 euro cents per black and white page and 8.23 ​​euro cents for a color print. Black ink cartridges have a volume of 1,450 pages. The color cartridges last for up to 800 pages.

If we compare the above prices with HP Instant Ink, the printer manufacturer’s subscription formula, we get an interesting result:

If you print very little per month, you will hardly benefit from the subscription. A higher volume, especially if you print a lot of color, will benefit from HP Instant Ink.

Diploma

The HP OfficeJet Pro 9120b (206.53 euros excl. VAT) is an excellent printer, but one with an asterisk. You must use original HP ink. The printer regularly receives new firmware to detect counterfeit ink. If you have this ambition, you are in the wrong place.

It is precisely because of this security chip that we recommend the HP OfficeJet Pro 9120e. It is 15 euros cheaper, has HP+ on board and comes with HP Instant Ink for three months free of charge if you wish. HP+ extends your warranty and offers useful additional functions within HP Smart, such as more security and the automatic recognition of scans of expense receipts. Although the use of original HP ink is restricted with HP+, this is already the case with this printer as standard.

Therefore, go for the E variant rather than the B variant of this printer and save some money for a better experience.

Warranty: two years as standard when taken away