HP 5420 Ink
Deskjet 5420 Ink Cartridges

HP 5420 Printer Review

Want a simple inkjet unit whose only function is printing? The HP Deskjet 5420 may be a good place to look. It has a very inexpensive upfront cost, and the price tag on its HP 5420 ink tanks won't cost users much money, either. It offers borderless printing on documents of up to 8.5x11 inches, and it even offers the Auto-Off feature, which will automatically turn the unit off after 30 minutes of not being used. Built for the home, the 5420 is both Windows and Mac compatible. It also has at monthly duty cycle of 1,000 pages, which is pretty standard.

Using only black Deskjet 5420 ink, about 22 pages per minute can be printed. It also has the capacity to produce 21 pages per minute using only color HP 5420 ink. The black printer ink can create resolutions as high as 1200x1200 dpi, and the color ink has the capability of resolutions of 4800x1200 dpi. Though it is not needed, for high quality photo printing, users should consider buying the optional photo Deskjet 5420 ink cartridge.

The three HP 5420 ink cartridges have relatively small page yields. The black and color printer ink tanks only last 220 pages each, and the photo tank has a very small page yield of only 130 pages.

One thing that makes this standard inkjet unit a little more versatile than others on the market is that using its HP 5420 ink, it can print on an array of media types. Envelopes, greeting cards, photo paper, plain paper, labels and index cards are all supported by the C5420. Need to print on transparencies? This HP can even do that! Most standard sizes are supported too—letter, legal, executive and European sizes all work well with it. For home offices with few demands when it comes to printing, the Deskjet 5420 could be a success.