Last week, I had the fortune to be invited out to HP’s San Diego office for a sneak peek at the two new PageWide presses announced today — and I have to say, I’m impressed.
The first new press, the 42” HP PageWide Web Press T4250 HDR, was running in the demo center giving me the opportunity to see it in action, rather than just specs on the page. I’ve been covering print and graphics for 25 years, and while there have been some spectacular presses over the years, this is the first time I’ve looked at a digital press and thought “Yes, that could actually replace offset for many commercial printers.”
The first thing that raised a few eyebrows was the device’s speed — HP is billing it as twice as fast as its predecessors, at 20,000 B1 duplex sheets and more than 200,000 letter-sized duplex color pages per hour. In performance mode, this press can hit a duty cycle of up to 184 million U.S. letter-size full-color images per month. With run lengths getting ever shorter, there aren’t too many offset jobs that surpass that mark anymore — they are still out there, but for many printers still doing this type of work, this new press will be able to keep up with almost anything they can throw at it.
Add in the fact that it’s a digital press and every one of those impressions can include variable information, and you’ve got something every longer-run commercial printer should pay attention to.
Related story: HP Unveils Two New PageWide Industrial Presses
The quality, even on performance mode, is impressive as well. I had the chance to compare the same image printed on both a quality and performance run, and while I won’t pretend there is no difference at all, to be honest, only the most discerning of print buyers are likely to even notice. Sure, a high-end cosmetic or jewelry brand, or the global food and beverage client that demands exacting quality standards will likely need the higher-quality prints,but for most direct mail, brochure, and catalog types of work, they aren’t going to know or care which mode is used.
I also found it interesting that this press can run any digital or offset stock you want, meaning commercial printers can use what they already keep warehoused, what their customers already know and prefer, and don’t have to make any compromises on that front — coated or uncoated. I can absolutely see this press going into a commercial print operation at first to serve as backup to the offset presses and start handling some of the volume, and quickly taking over most, if not all, of the work that would have gone to offset, and relegating that equipment to the backup instead. And that’s if a shop doesn’t just replace the offset equipment altogether with this press instead of upgrading or adding more offset capacity.
In addition, noted Barbara McManus, vice president and general manager of PageWide Industrial, alongside the press HP is also launching new printhead and ink technologies, which will also improve quality and speed.
“We’re targeting direct mail and commercial printers,” she said, “with the new ink and printhead technologies, we’re able to hit high-coverage pages at unprecedented speeds.”
She continued, “What we want customers to be able to do is any job, any paper, just put it on the press and run. And not have to be thinking about speeds and tradeoffs.”
The PageWide Web Press T4250 HDR will be available later this year.
The New Mono Book Production Press
The second press HP debuted today is the HP PageWide Web Press T500M HD, a monochromatic version designed specifically to meet the needs of the book publishing market. While I wasn’t able to see this one running in person — that press is currently being tested in another HP R&D facility — the specs are equally as impressive, and equally as game-changing for this particular segment.
“This press,” Ashley Gordan, Publishing Segment Manager at HP, noted, “is going to change lives.”
She explained that she had recently come from a preview revealing the press to a select group of publication printers, and “talking with publishers about why this press would matter, why all of what we're doing here will matter to them. And coming into it, we thought we knew why; and we both found that we were right, but also that there was so much more that we didn't know. And they left so excited and so pleased to be part of this early stage of the process that it convinced me 100% that we're on the right path.”
This press is 54” and can run at up to 1,000 fpm, which again rivals offset book production speeds, while also bringing all the benefits and features of a digital press to the table. The fact that it can be hooked up in-line with various finishing options so white paper goes in one end and finished — variable — books come out the other side at those speeds is a compelling picture.
Gordan noted that the press is also designed to better serve publishers that need to produce multiple books on demand, at or near the location where they will be consumed.
“One of the comments that I heard … was they are now looking at smaller footprint warehouses directly adjacent to their front service providers to just to try to keep that continuous inventory management happening at really low levels, really quick turns, and just so that there they have more books, more titles, but fewer copies of each title right there by the printer,” she said.
Another point the HP team made about this press is the sustainability angle — offset book production can come with a lot of waste when it comes to start up, changeovers, and even trying to move between different sizes of books. A digital press eliminates quite a bit of that waste, making for a great talking point a printer can bring to the publishers they work with who have sustainability goals of their own.
HP is planning to have the PageWide Web Press T500M HD widely available in 2026, although it is ready to start talking with customers today about the press and how it might fit into their operations.
Overall, I think it’s safe to say I was impressed with the possibilities of these two new presses. They are a pretty impressive leap forward for digital printing technologies. It will be exciting to see how they perform once they start getting installed in print operations around the world and we can start to get some real-world benchmarks. Until then, both of these presses are worth a look for anyone in the market to upgrade their inventory.
For more details about both presses, as well as a general view of the HP PageWide strategy, and an introduction to the new head of R&D for PageWide, check out these videos below:
Barbara McManus, vice president and general manager of PageWide Industrial
Yale Goldis, commercial products & solutions director, HP PageWide Industrial
Ixia Rodriguez, head of R&D, HP PageWide Industrial
Commentary: HP Unveils Two New PageWide Presses
Last week, I had the fortune to be invited out to HP’s San Diego office for a sneak peek at the two new PageWide presses announced today — and I have to say, I’m impressed.
The first new press, the 42” HP PageWide Web Press T4250 HDR, was running in the demo center giving me the opportunity to see it in action, rather than just specs on the page. I’ve been covering print and graphics for 25 years, and while there have been some spectacular presses over the years, this is the first time I’ve looked at a digital press and thought “Yes, that could actually replace offset for many commercial printers.”
The first thing that raised a few eyebrows was the device’s speed — HP is billing it as twice as fast as its predecessors, at 20,000 B1 duplex sheets and more than 200,000 letter-sized duplex color pages per hour. In performance mode, this press can hit a duty cycle of up to 184 million U.S. letter-size full-color images per month. With run lengths getting ever shorter, there aren’t too many offset jobs that surpass that mark anymore — they are still out there, but for many printers still doing this type of work, this new press will be able to keep up with almost anything they can throw at it.
Video Player
Media error: Format(s) not supported or source(s) not found
Download File: https://www.piworld.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/PXL_20250123_203902608.mp4?_=1Add in the fact that it’s a digital press and every one of those impressions can include variable information, and you’ve got something every longer-run commercial printer should pay attention to.
Related story: HP Unveils Two New PageWide Industrial Presses
The quality, even on performance mode, is impressive as well. I had the chance to compare the same image printed on both a quality and performance run, and while I won’t pretend there is no difference at all, to be honest, only the most discerning of print buyers are likely to even notice. Sure, a high-end cosmetic or jewelry brand, or the global food and beverage client that demands exacting quality standards will likely need the higher-quality prints,but for most direct mail, brochure, and catalog types of work, they aren’t going to know or care which mode is used.
I also found it interesting that this press can run any digital or offset stock you want, meaning commercial printers can use what they already keep warehoused, what their customers already know and prefer, and don’t have to make any compromises on that front — coated or uncoated. I can absolutely see this press going into a commercial print operation at first to serve as backup to the offset presses and start handling some of the volume, and quickly taking over most, if not all, of the work that would have gone to offset, and relegating that equipment to the backup instead. And that’s if a shop doesn’t just replace the offset equipment altogether with this press instead of upgrading or adding more offset capacity.
In addition, noted Barbara McManus, vice president and general manager of PageWide Industrial, alongside the press HP is also launching new printhead and ink technologies, which will also improve quality and speed.
“We’re targeting direct mail and commercial printers,” she said, “with the new ink and printhead technologies, we’re able to hit high-coverage pages at unprecedented speeds.”
She continued, “What we want customers to be able to do is any job, any paper, just put it on the press and run. And not have to be thinking about speeds and tradeoffs.”
The PageWide Web Press T4250 HDR will be available later this year.
The New Mono Book Production Press
The second press HP debuted today is the HP PageWide Web Press T500M HD, a monochromatic version designed specifically to meet the needs of the book publishing market. While I wasn’t able to see this one running in person — that press is currently being tested in another HP R&D facility — the specs are equally as impressive, and equally as game-changing for this particular segment.
“This press,” Ashley Gordan, Publishing Segment Manager at HP, noted, “is going to change lives.”
She explained that she had recently come from a preview revealing the press to a select group of publication printers, and “talking with publishers about why this press would matter, why all of what we're doing here will matter to them. And coming into it, we thought we knew why; and we both found that we were right, but also that there was so much more that we didn't know. And they left so excited and so pleased to be part of this early stage of the process that it convinced me 100% that we're on the right path.”
This press is 54” and can run at up to 1,000 fpm, which again rivals offset book production speeds, while also bringing all the benefits and features of a digital press to the table. The fact that it can be hooked up in-line with various finishing options so white paper goes in one end and finished — variable — books come out the other side at those speeds is a compelling picture.
Gordan noted that the press is also designed to better serve publishers that need to produce multiple books on demand, at or near the location where they will be consumed.
“One of the comments that I heard … was they are now looking at smaller footprint warehouses directly adjacent to their front service providers to just to try to keep that continuous inventory management happening at really low levels, really quick turns, and just so that there they have more books, more titles, but fewer copies of each title right there by the printer,” she said.
Another point the HP team made about this press is the sustainability angle — offset book production can come with a lot of waste when it comes to start up, changeovers, and even trying to move between different sizes of books. A digital press eliminates quite a bit of that waste, making for a great talking point a printer can bring to the publishers they work with who have sustainability goals of their own.
HP is planning to have the PageWide Web Press T500M HD widely available in 2026, although it is ready to start talking with customers today about the press and how it might fit into their operations.
Overall, I think it’s safe to say I was impressed with the possibilities of these two new presses. They are a pretty impressive leap forward for digital printing technologies. It will be exciting to see how they perform once they start getting installed in print operations around the world and we can start to get some real-world benchmarks. Until then, both of these presses are worth a look for anyone in the market to upgrade their inventory.
For more details about both presses, as well as a general view of the HP PageWide strategy, and an introduction to the new head of R&D for PageWide, check out these videos below:
Barbara McManus, vice president and general manager of PageWide Industrial
Yale Goldis, commercial products & solutions director, HP PageWide Industrial
Ixia Rodriguez, head of R&D, HP PageWide Industrial
Toni McQuilken is the senior editor for the printing and packaging group.