HP DeskJet 500 (1990)

What the HP DeskJet 500 was

The HP DeskJet 500 was a desktop inkjet printer that Hewlett-Packard introduced in 1990 under the product number C2106A. The HP Computer Museum records a launch price of US$729, describes the machine as HP's third-generation 300-dot-per-inch inkjet printer, and notes that it had the same form factor as the previous DeskJets but with an enhanced feature set. Wikipedia identifies those predecessors as the original HP DeskJet (1988) and the DeskJet Plus (1989). It was one entry in HP's long-running DeskJet line of consumer and small-office inkjet printers.

Its place in the DeskJet line

According to the HP Computer Museum, the DeskJet 500 was HP's third-generation 300-dpi inkjet; Wikipedia identifies the models it followed as the original 1988 DeskJet and the 1989 DeskJet Plus. HP kept the same form factor as the earlier models, so the 500 closely resembled its predecessors while offering, in the museum's words, an enhanced feature set. Wikipedia records that the DeskJet 500 raised print speed to about three pages per minute, compared with roughly two pages per minute for the original 1988 DeskJet.

Print technology: inkjet at 300 dpi

The DeskJet 500 used inkjet printing at a resolution of 300 dpi, per the HP Computer Museum. Like the rest of the DeskJet family, it relied on HP's thermal-inkjet method, in which each nozzle briefly heats the ink to eject a droplet on demand, as described in Wikipedia's history of the DeskJet line and in the thermal inkjet printing reference. Specifications that could not be traced to an authoritative record for this exact model — including onboard memory, host interfaces, and the ink-cartridge part number — are omitted here rather than estimated.

Fonts and printer-language emulation

A distinguishing feature of the DeskJet 500 was a pair of cartridge slots. The HP Computer Museum notes that the printer included two font cartridge slots, similar in concept to the font cartridge slots on the LaserJets, into which cartridges could be inserted to add extra fonts or to provide emulation for the Epson FX-80 or IBM Proprinter — dominant dot-matrix printer languages of the era. This let the DeskJet 500 stand in for those impact printers in software that had no native DeskJet driver.

Documented specifications and what is unknown

Authoritative records agree on a compact set of facts: a 1990 introduction, product number C2106A, a US$729 launch price, inkjet printing at 300 dpi, and two font/emulation cartridge slots (all from the HP Computer Museum), plus a print speed of about three pages per minute (Wikipedia). Figures commonly listed by resellers and spec aggregators — such as the interface type, onboard memory, ink-cartridge number, physical dimensions, and warranty terms — are not reproduced here because they could not be confirmed against an authoritative manufacturer, museum, or archive record for this model. A short, fully sourced page is preferred over a padded one.

Place in printing history

The DeskJet 500 sat in the middle of HP's early DeskJet line, after the 1988 HP DeskJet and the 1989 DeskJet Plus and before the colour-capable variants. Wikipedia identifies the DeskJet 500C, introduced in October 1991, as HP's first 300-dpi colour printer, and the DeskJet 550C, from October 1992, as its first dual-cartridge colour DeskJet; the base DeskJet 500 itself was a monochrome model. By combining 300-dpi output with faster printing and cartridge-based font and emulation support, it helped carry HP's inkjet franchise from its 1988 debut into the colour era of the 1990s.