HP Deskjet 5550 Inkjet Printer (HP-C6487CA2L)

Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 5550

Deskjet 5550 Inkjet Printer (HP-C6487CA2L) Review, by Dan Littman September 19, 2002

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• Reviewed by: heymull

  Strengths: Very high reliability. Both USB and parallel inputs. Shorter case than most printers. Positive locking cartridge: contacts do not slide, reducing wear and tear.

  Weaknesses: Wider case than most printers, barely (!) fits in 19" rack opening. The "auto-alignment" procedure uses too much ink. Smaller than average ink cartridge capacity. Slow color print in high resolution.

  Overall: Used by our company for our customer's use. We test, repackage, and ship a week later. Overall a very good performer. Zero percent failure after 100 units, better than most of HP's "right-out-of-the-box" failure rate. Uses too much ink during auto-alignment. Can't stop auto-alignment without turning unit off.

• Reviewed by: bkircher

  Strengths: Great Color Prints, quiet, automatic paper sensoring, easy setup, price ($90-before rebate) is cheap, can print on both sides of paper, faster than my aging HP 932

  Weaknesses: ink costs are higher than cannon i850, printing speed is slower than cannon i850, need different ink cartilages than my old HP 932

  Overall: I recently replaced my aging (3 yeaar old) HP 932 printer with the HP 5550. I seriously considered the Cannon i850 but the cannon's inability to print on both sides of paper (can't make greeting/birthday cards the way I prefer) sold me on the HP. I paid $90 (before the rebate) at Walmart (local) for a new 5550. My HP 5550 can print a 4 by 6 color photo on their premium photo paper in 78 seconds--cannon i850 advertises 48 seconds.

• Reviewed by: lanedrar

  Strengths: Very easy to install. This is my first purchase of a printer, I originally purchased because of name and price. Service my needs as a teacher and full time college student.

  Weaknesses: A little noisey and a little slow on some print jobs.

  Overall: I recommend this printer to any first time buyer. It will service your basic and some advanced needs. The print jobs are of very good quality. I would purchase this printer again if necessary.

• Reviewed by: berno

  Strengths: Good value for the money. I find it satisfactory for a backup printer.

  Weaknesses: Chintzy construction, not as beefy as the previous HP printers 694C & 950C

  Overall: If you want a simple workhorse printer without a lot of bells & whistles, the 5550 is the perfect printer. Perfect for students who write reports & want to use pictures or graphics.

• Reviewed by: amir_tajbakhsh

  Strengths: 5550 is Very easy to use. This inexpensive Printer, Prints Sharp and Clear Text (even in Draft mode!), and photos with almost real colors.

  Weaknesses: Printing is a little slow in High-Quality Mode(Photo/4800dpi). Paper feeder and cartridge lid are very awkward. Extremely high Ink and Paper costs! Noisy & shoddy work, especially in Draft Mode.

  Overall: I've used other HP Printer Models, before (Like 895Cxi, 920c, 970Cxi and cp1700). I preffer 920c & 5550, because of Quality and price. They are 2 very good Home & small office printers. It has the worst case designing in HP products! (Compare it with 920c Nice case.)