HP 5500 Toner
LaserJet 5500 Toner Cartridges

HP 5500 Printer Review

The HP LaserJet 5500 color laser printer is aimed at the small to medium office market. It is capable of handling a high volume of printing on a day-to-day basis, and its fast speed and reliability make it a good choice. Like many HP printer models, a user can save on per page costs by purchasing a compatible HP toner cartridge that is backed by our satisfaction guarantee

The HP 5500dn ink toner printer features duplexing (two-sided printing), allowing it to print on both sides of the paper automatically, which not only cuts down on paper costs, but allows for the printing of booklets, pamphlets, and other formats which require printing on both sides. The 'd' in the product name refers to its duplexing capability. The unit also features networking capability (referenced by the 'n' in the name) which includes a built-in ethernet port. Utilizing the ethernet port allows it to be easily shared across a network of connected PCs, without the need for a host computer to connect it to the network. Instead the unit acts as its own print server. Other models includes the 5500N, 5500DTN, and 5500HDN.

The design of the machine is quite bulky, probably due to the large cartridges which are the complete opposite of the slimmer Brother toner cartridges. At 27 by 43 inches, it is quite a bit taller than most lasers, and its heavy weight of 132 pounds makes it extremely difficult to move around the office, even with help.

Print speed is average, at around 21 pages per minute. This speed will likely be adequate for most offices, but it is worth shopping around at competing products, as many lasers are somewhat faster and less expensive than this one.

Where the unit really fails is in print quality, however. Though text quality is generally good, there is some banding present, and graphics prints show many artifacts and cross-hatching. Fine lines are sometimes lost in places as well.

The HP LaserJet 5500 toner cartridges will not disappoint. Made for high volume printing environments, these HP 5500 toner cartridges will not need to be replaced very often, like lower end HP 2840 toner cartridges. At 12,000 pages per color laser toner cartridge and 13,000 pages per black printer toner cartridge, the HP LaserJet toner cartridges offer a low cost per page.

Overall, the LaserJet 5500 is a very capable laser printer with good speed and many nice options. However, its bulky design, high price, and inconsistent print quality make it less attractive than its competition.