HP Deskjet D5560 Printer Review

HP's Deskjet D5560 is aimed primarily at standard, private correspondence.

The model is quite tidy in its textured and high-gloss black case. It's around the standard width for any personal inkjet device, but is significantly less deep when compared with many. Nonetheless, once you fold down the paper tray and expand the swing-out paper rest, that makes the output tray, it raises the machine's footprint considerably. This tray design sticks out on the front of the device by more than the length of an A4 sheet.

Paper or photo blanks feed out of this fold-down tray, turn through 180 degrees and then feed out on the surface of the input stack. There isn't any cover to the feed tray, therefore you'll likely prefer to flip it up out of the way when not printing, meaning you'll need to store the paper somewhere.

The control panel is unusual due to the set up and the distinctively constructed mono Liquid crystal display panel. There are four buttons, one for paper feed, one so that you can terminate a printing job, a third which will switch on the printer's wireless connection and the fourth which will switch the unit off and on. The display shows you the wireless signal strength and ink levels in 25 % blocks making use of purpose-designed symbols.

At the rear is a USB socket and a low voltage DC input, that requires power from a small black block supply. USB is necessary temporarily for the purpose of set-up, even if you choose to hook up the device wirelessly.

The wireless set-up is very simple and it is handled automatically by the set-up utility on the driver CD. Additionally you get copies of HP Solution Centre, Smart Web Print and also Microsoft's Windows Live Photo Gallery. Drivers are supplied for Windows and also OS X and are obtainable for Linux as a download.

The machine uses two ink and head cartridges, one just for black ink and the other tri-colour. If you pull down the front cover, the head carrier shifts to a convenient middle location and therefore clipping both the cartridges in place is actually fast and simple.

In normal print mode the Deskjet D5560 concluded the five-page black text print in 1:06, which equals a speed of 4.55ppm. The lengthier, 20-page document took 3:26, improving the rate to 5.83ppm, but nonetheless much more modest than the supplied specifications. Our five-page black text and colour graphics document required 2:02, a speed of 2.46ppm. In comparison with other, likewise priced inkjet units, these rates are quite good.

The caliber of prints we obtained was in general decent, even though there's some slight feathering of ink into plain paper upon black-text characters. Text is densely black, though and colour business graphics are usually sturdy and vibrant, with little manifestation of dither patterns. Registration of black text over colour backgrounds is extremely good and additionally there are not any indications of haloing.

Although it isn't intended as a photo printer, our test picture prints on HP glossy photo paper were excellent. Colours are natural and shades really smooth, with out displaying print textures. Fine detail is exact and descends in to the more dark shades along with those in bright light.

As is standard practice for HP, the HP Deskjet D5560 printer ink cartridges can be purchased in Standard as well as Value versions, with the Value cartridges providing increased yields.

The Deskjet D5560 may look like a pricey printer to run yet print quality is fine, print speed is reasonable plus the Deskjet D5560 is unquestionably a simple device to take care of, however even at entry-level costs you should consider the total cost associated with ownership, not merely the price tag on the container.

HP Deskjet D5560 printer cartridges are to be found here.