Top positive review
81 people found this helpful
99.9% Awesome Printer For What It's Worth, But A Indirectly Related Issue May Make You Think Twice If It Applies To You...
By Joseph Le on Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2016
I primarily got this printer for my apartment as I was leaving for college once again. In the past, I had bought one of those cheaper HP printers that Walmart posts on sale during "Back to College" month. That was a huge mistake, so this time, I went on Amazon and was ready to pay just a little bit more for something much more reliable. At the time of Amazon's "Back to College" promotion, the HP Envy 4520 was advertised as their #1 best seller. I nearly bought it after I researched that printer and read all the reviews and came to the conclusion that the price was very fair for what was expected from that printer. I chose this one because I noticed it looked exactly the same as the 4520. I had to research even more about the differences between the two. I will tell you now that I found the major differences are size (The 5540 is bigger than the 4520 by at most, 20%), the printing speed of the 5540 is much quicker than the 4520, it can hold much more paper as well, and the kicker was they were both the same price at the time! I was a little confused, because essentially (at the time when I bought this) you were paying the same price for both, but one was smaller and less efficient, while the other was bulkier, but more efficient. My decision to buy this one was due to the fact that I liked the idea of more efficiency and I couldn't figure out why they were priced exactly the same, when (disregarding the minimal size differences) the 5540 was much better than the 4520. Maybe for others, a smaller, barely noticable difference in quality will entice them to buy the equally priced 4520. Ok, so about the printer itself. I've used it everyday since the day I got it. And I love it so much!! It truly is very quick to print, BUT if the printing it too loud for you (i.e. someone is sleeping) there's a quiet function, which reduces the speed of the print for a quieter print. The quality of the print was very good and it is a very modern and sleek printer. I love, love, love the fact that the black ink and color ink cartridges are separate, because the last HP printer I had, they were not, so even if I had some color left, but ran out of black, I would have to throw the WHOLE thing away! That is a waste of $40+ every time! Setup was very easy and the wifi connection is very steady. The airprint function is very smooth and the eprint from anywhere is also a nice perk, although, for me, eprint take forever to actually print. Now, my complaints are the color scheme HP went for with this model of a printer. Such a nice printer, but they decided on a black and white LCD that attracts scratches and fingerprints easily. Also, I wish there is an ethernet cord, specifically because I'm a college student. Now, this is a completely different issue, but I will mention it just in case you ARE a college student who MAY be living in a location with PUBLIC wifi. DEPENDING on who is in charge of providing the internet (NOT the provider themselves; i.e. Starbucks, but NOT Google), you may face difficulties of connecting your printer to the public wifi because of the standard protocols that public wifi's use to ensure a safe connection. In short, your computer/phone/anything else may not be able to find your printer even if both the printer and device are connected to the same wifi. This is intentional, according to tech support, whom I spoke with. Again, this is a whole different issue not really related to this printer, but it might be something you come across. So, The printer is awesome! Only reason you might be interested in the equally priced 4520 is because you want a smaller version of the 5540. College students (also anyone else this might relate to): Public wifi may be an issue if the wifi is standard protocol and you cannot bring your own router. To each their own, but I've already recommended this printer to my friends who will be using this at private wifi's such as at home. Hope this helps!
Top critical review
2 people found this helpful
Not as good as expected
By L. Sidney on Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2017
I am updating this after 4 months with the printer. I have to admit that I expected more out of this printer than I've gotten. It's OK, but based on the reviews I'd read I expected it to be better than OK. I'll keep this review short. The quality is fine, no complaints about either color or black and white. My big gripe is the print speed--woefully slow! We're talking 5 or fewer PPM in B&W, maybe 2 PPM at best in color. Draft is a bit quicker, but of course you give that back in quality. I also notice that very often the print settings don't take. For instance, I just printed out a 2-sided document, except it printed out on 2 separate pieces of paper. This NEVER happened with my old printer! These little glitches happen all too frequently. Also, and this is my update, the ink cartridge does not last long at all! I've printed somewhere over 100 pages, and already I've finished the demo B&W cartridge and an entire new one! Completely unacceptable. DO NOT BUY THIS PRINTER.
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