A lot of features, fair quality, flaky drivers
Written: May 10 '04
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Pros: A lot of features, pretty good printing quality, stand alone fax, and an ADF
Cons: Flimsy build quality, poorly written (and bloated) drivers/software, and tiny ink cartridges.
The Bottom Line: So many features for so little price, it's impossible to be all things to all people for $199. But this printer tries, and does it fairly well.
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| blautens's Full Review: Hewlett Packard LaserJet 5510 All-In-One Thermal P... |
I purchased this printer at OfficeMax for $199, and connected it to my mother's Windows XP Pro PC to replace an aging HP DJ693. I wanted an all in one with an automatic document feeder (ADF), as it greatly adds to the simplicity when trying to explain how to use it. It does add to the mechanical complexity, though, and although the feeder has worked well (under admittedly light use), it feels awfully flimsy compared to the ADF on my older HP 6350 series scanner (a couple of years older and about $400 more, though). This was the least expensive all-in-one with stand alone fax AND an automatic document feeder I'd ever seen.
The color copies are adequate, text is crisp on good quality inkjet paper, and photo printing is fairly decent, especially on HP 4x6 Photo Paper. Faxing works well, but is that a challenge any more?
The software, though, is, ummm...concerning. I use PaperPort v8.0 (retail version) on my own PC, but since it didn't come with this one, and I didn't want to pirate it, I decided to try the HP Director scanning package. It kind of stinks. First, it's the worst kind of bloatware - absolutely huge, and it takes FOREVER to install, only to check for updates (you'd better have broadband!) and do much of it over. Second, its interface is bleak and unattractive, and not as clean as the PaperPort versions I'm used to. Third, it doesn't play nicely with Windows XP Pro (verified by other people on the HP forums), and quite often the HP software can no longer connect to the scanner, as Windows XP has decided to replace the HP drivers with its own drivers, and although you can scan from Windows utilities, the HP Director and ALL of the HP software itself is useless. This renders the front panel scanning controls useless, as well. The official HP answer is to uninstall and reinstall the drivers, a 45 minute process even on a P3-733 with 512MB RAM, a fast HD, and a broadband connection. This is no screamer, but it certainly is an unreasonable amount of time, and the amount of files it copies is TREMENDOUS.
Also, the printer uses only two cartridges, a multi color and black, and they appear to be VERY small. I imagine the cost per page will be very high due to frequent cartridge replacements. It's not nearly as frugal as some multi cartridge Canons. Of course, it's only $199, though. And I knew that caveat going into this, so I can't complain, I suppose.
Although I'm skeptical of the build quality, other than the shoddy software, everything seems to work well (even with thick stock or unusual sizes) and the output is more than adequate for most.
But HP, please, please, make up with Scansoft and start bundling PaperPort again!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
blautens
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Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 1 member
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