EIGHT points out of of 10. That is how I would rate this fairly compact and speedy laserjet.

In my checklist, the CP3505 received a check in almost all test categories such as print quality, colour vibrancy and speed. One of the few crosses it received was for its price. At $1,519 (its starting price), the machine is one of the pricier colour laser A4 printers around.

The CP3505 works best for secretaries and small office home office users.

For larger office environments, where workers have to share a printer, the CP3503dn ($2,459) is a better investment. It comes with networking options and automatically prints on both sides of the paper.

At the heart of the CP3505 is a 450MHz processor coupled with 256MB RAM. These specifications mean that the printer has enough memory to receive and print up to seven A4, high quality PDF graphics documents at one go.

Hewlett-Packard rates this model at 21 pages per minute for both colour and monochrome documents.

It takes the CP3505 about 45 seconds to warm up; not quite the fastest warm-up time, but anything below 60 seconds is decent.

Print quality is this printer's strength. A test photo of a beach ball lying on a beach illustrates this point.

The pink beach ball contrasts nicely against the aquamarine sea in the background and the powdery white sand in the foreground. Using the best 1,200 x 600 dpi print quality, you get smooth photos with no hint of print dots.

The printer yields sharp text prints as well - even six-point Arial fonts are readable - and there are good business-friendly tools too.

The cost-conscious office administrator will appreciate the Usage Page function. With it, the machine prints a document that lists number of pages churned out, the types and size of paper used; good for keeping track of print costs.

FINAL SAY: An expensive printer but you get sharp prints, and quickly too.

HP Color LaserJet CP3505
From $1,519; Toners: black costs $216.80; cyan, magenta and Yellow are $279.10 each
Get it from authorised HP dealers