HP C5280 Ink
Photosmart C5280 Ink Cartridges

HP C5280 Printer Review

The HP Photosmart C5280 ink printer is an MFD that is priced at around $150. As with other AIO printers in its price range, the Photosmart C5280 tries to make up with features what it lacks in output speed and quality. The machine measures 17.8 x 15.2 x 9.3 in and weighs 15.7 lbs. It can deliver monochrome prints at 32 ppm and color prints at 24 ppm using thermal inkjet printing technology. The device is accompanied by an impressive bundle of software that includes Roxio Disc Labeling Software and Photosmart Essentials for editing, sharing, and managing digital photos.

The digital copier on the HP C5280 ink cartridge printer alters document sizes in the range of 50% - 400%. You can preview the document on the 2.4-inch color screen before giving the "copy" command. You can reprint photos via the flatbed scanner, save them to a memory card or to a PC. The scanned document can be edited using the included OCR software and saved in a number of file formats such as JPEG, TIFF, BMP, RTF, HTML, and PDF. The HP C5280 inkjet cartridge AIO uses one black and one tricolor ink tank. The HP 74 Black has a rated page yield of 200 pages; the HP 75 tricolor cartridge delivers up to 170 pages. Using XL-capacity cartridges usually leads to better value with this machine which has a monthly duty cycle of 3000 impressions.

The input tray on the Photosmart C5280 can support up to 125 sheets at a time. The machine is compatible with diverse media such as cards, labels, photo paper, plain paper, envelopes, iron-on transfers, and printable CD / DVD disk. Connectivity is via USB. The four memory card slots on this machine support CompactFlash, Memory Stick, MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, xD-Picture Card, Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Pro. However, PictBridge support is conspicuous by its absence.

The HP Photosmart C5280 inkjet device is a photo-oriented printing machine which delivers better quality in photos as compared to texts. CD / DVD printing can be considered to be the standout feature of this PC and Mac compatible MFD. It is meant for the average home user or a small office that is not fussy about output speeds and connectivity options.