HP 560 Ink
Deskjet 560 Ink Cartridges

HP 560 Printer Review

Nowadays, buyers don't hear much about the Deskjet 560 when hitting the stores or the web for a new printer. With its low resolutions and slower-than-average printing speeds, it's no wonder. Compared to newer models with dozens of features and much better quality, this printer doesn't hold a candle. In its prime, though, it was quite a machine.

The main problem with this printer lies in its speeds. When printing in normal mode while using only black Deskjet 560 ink, the inkjet unit can only print 3 pages per minute—newer models can print anywhere from 20-30 pages per minute. When printing with color HP 560 ink, it's even more disappointing. It takes up to 3 minutes to print only one page! Most users won't be satisfied with such speeds, unless printing only monochromatic documents.

Another problem is that although this inkjet unit needs only two HP 560 ink cartridges—one containing black printer ink and the other a tricolor tank containing cyan, magenta and yellow—these tanks will be fairly expensive to replace. With page yields of only 640 pages for tricolor and 790 pages for black Deskjet 560 ink cartridges, they may need to be replaced quite often if printing to maximum monthly capacity. The only affordable option to owning this unit may be buying remanufactured ink tanks from third party vendors—these tanks yield the same amount of HP 560 ink at the same resolutions for only a fraction of the price making any unit a little more affordable for consumers.

Its resolutions aren't very impressive, printing with a resolution of 600x300 dpi using black printer ink and 300x300 dpi in color. Though these may turn some away from this unit, for those printing mostly text documents and graphics only occasionally, this unit could work. However, there are multitudes of more affordable units with higher resolutions, quality and speeds on the market.