Deciding on an excellent printer is easier than ever, all thanks to online retailers and reviewers. Today you can find multiple premium product features in standard home printers, so no matter what you choose, it is likely that you will get good value for money.
Nonetheless, there are some standout printers among the many choices available in the market. A common issue among home printers is poor design and high ink costs, which can be avoided if you carefully consider all features before purchasing.
The entry-level all-in-one printer from HP – the Envy 5055 All-in-One Printer is designed for home and small office use been. The Envy 5055 is designed to be compact, sleek, and lean. It offers low running costs when used with instant ink, minus some convenient features that could prove to be deal-breakers for some of you.
In today’s review, we will look closer at HP Envy 5055 All-in-One Printer and evaluate its design, its strengths, and the features that it lacks. If you have been eyeing this printer and have been wondering about its value for money, this HP envy 5055 review will be ideal for you!
Basic Specifications
| Dimensions (inches) | 17.52×14.45×5.04 |
| Weight | 11.93 pounds |
| Functions | Print, Scan, Copy |
| Maximum Standard Paper Size | Legal |
| Print speed (up to) | 10 ppm black, 7 ppm color |
| Number of Ink Colors | 4 |
| Number of Ink Cartridges/Tanks | 2 |
| Wireless Connectivity | 2.4 and 5.9 GHz wireless |
| Cloud support | iCloud, Google Drive, and Dropbox. |
| 2-side printing | Available |
| Bluetooth Connectivity | Available |
| Warranty | One-year limited hardware warranty |
| Amazon rating | 4.2 out of 55,160 customer ratings |
Pros
- Affordable initial purchase price
- HP Envy 5055 Instant Ink saves printing costs
- Easy to set up and operate
- Great print quality
Cons
- Slow throughput
- Automatic Document Feeder not included
- USB Flash drive and SD card support not included
- Without Instant Ink cost per page is high
Build And Design
In terms of design, the Envy 5055 is very similar to another higher-end printer, the Envy 7855, excluding the automatic document feeder (ATF) that feeds multipage pages to the scanner. The matte black body and scanner lid give this printer a sleek look, the two-tone finish is modern and stylish that will look great on any home desk or in a small office.
The Envy 5055 has a recommended monthly throughput volume of around 1000 sheets, and the design reflects a standard horizontal paper tray instead of a top-loading style, which takes more space.
There is also a modest touch screen display measuring 2.2″, which is sufficient for a printer this size. The screen is monochrome and as a crisp easy to read and use interface, which is, unfortunately, a little slow to respond after taps.
HP has incorporated a standard memory of 258MB, which makes it easy to load large printing tasks effortlessly for the printer. You can find the USB 2.0 slot at the rear of printing, but you cannot use it for printing via USB.
HP Envy 5055 Features
According to our HP 5055 review, if you do a feature vs. price comparison of the HP Envy 5055, then you will undoubtedly be surprised at the range of impressive features that HP Envy 5055 at a reasonable price.
Connectivity features include a dual-band WiFi that directly links your PC via USB or Wireless Direct (generally known as HP’s equivalent of WiFi direct). HP’s Wireless Direct is a peer-to-peer network protocol that enables you to wirelessly connect your mobile device with the printer without needing a proprietary router.
Other third-party connectivity apps consist of Apple AirPrint and Mopria. HP also offers its ePrint utility for printing attachments and emails. Nevertheless, this printer does not support Ethernet connectivity or direct USB printing.
The HP Envy 5055 features a horizontal loading tray. The printer input tray can hold up to 100 papers, whereas the output tray can only hold 25 papers. The output capacity is reasonably small, and might not be ideal for people that require bulk printing.
Speed
If you desire quick printing speeds, then the HP Envy 5055 isn’t for you. The Envy 5055 has an average speed of 10ppm for black and white prints, which is great for a color printer. On the other hand, for color prints, the average rate is 7 ppm, which is similar to other comparable printers.
However, the print quality of 5055 matches and sometimes exceeds the variety of professional quality photo printers. A standout feature of this model is the automatic duplexing, which allows users the convenience to print on both sides of a page. This feature saves time, money, and materials.
Performance
The Envy 5055 is an inkjet printer designed to produce high-quality prints of vibrant graphics and text, and it excels in this task. We were pleasantly surprised at how well a home printer like the 5055 was able to print crisp photos.
The maximum sheet size this printer can handle is 8.5 x 11.7 inches, and the minimum size you need is 3 x 5-inch, this means that you have the flexibility to work with a variety of paper, envelopes and photo paper. As an inkjet printer, the Envy 5055 offers excellent quality prints which are to be expected from this type of printers.
As far as performance as a copier is concerned, this model has a speed of 8ppm for black and white printing and 4ppm color copies. These speeds are somewhat underwhelming, and so is the low maximum copy resolution. However, the ID-card copy feature is a great addition.
A Smart Software Bundle
The Envy comes with the HP Smart App driver and HP Photo Creations, which aren’t particularly impressive. Because a Smart App is more than just a driver, let’s start with Photo Creations. While much of its functionality is automated, it’s essentially a lightweight photo editor similar to Canon’s Easy-PhotoPrint Editor, plus a collection of templates such as photo-book layouts, calendars, and greeting cards.
The HP Smart App printer driver is compatible with Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. However, depending on your HP printer, its functionality extends far beyond simply communicating between computers and printers. For example, you can use the camera on your handheld device to scan documents to a printer or the cloud.
Smart Tasks from Smart App is a set of customizable workflow presets that automate repetitive tasks like scanning to your favorite cloud site, scanning to email or local folders on a networked PC or server, and printing remotely.
Smart App also converts scanned pages to editable text using optical character recognition (OCR), a feature frequently required by a separate bundled program.
Printing Cost
One of the best features of HP Envy 5055 is FREE ink for the first two months. All you have to do for free first two months is to enroll in HP Instant Ink during printer set up. After the 2-month free trial period, you can purchase one of HP Instant Ink plans, starting at $2.99 per month (shipping and recycling included).
HP Instant Ink’s smart feature allows your HP Envy 5055 to order ink automatically. So you get the HP Envy 5055 ink delivered right at your doorstep, and you never have to face the hassle of ordering ink or keeping a check on when the ink is ending. However, if you do not subscribe to HP Instant Ink, then the ink cost per page is quite expensive.
HP Envy 5055 All In One Printer Video Review
HP Envy 5055 All In One Printer FAQs
Is HP ENVY 5055 a good printer?
For the price, yes! HP Envy 5055 is an excellent choice. It has its pros like and cons; however, if you do the price vs. feature comparison, HP 5055 will not fail to impress you. This affordable home-office printer offers a range of features that are available with high-end printers like the HP Envy 7855.
Does the HP ENVY 5055 print photos?
HP Instant ink makes HP Envy 5055 one of the best budget printers for printing photos. You can conveniently print a huge selection of pictures of any size up to 8.5 by 11 inches for $10 a month.
Is HP ENVY 5055 Wireless?
Yes! HP Envy 5055 is a wireless, dual-band Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth Smart printer, that allows you to print from any smartphone, tab, laptop, and PC without any lengthy setup procedure.
Does HP ENVY 5055 come with ink?
Initially, you receive 1 black and white, and 1 color ink cartridge. You can also enroll in HP Instant Ink during printer setup for free ink for 2 months. After the 2-month trial, you can purchase an HP Instant Ink package according to your printing needs.
Do We Recommend HP Envy 5055?
Yes! HP Envy 5055 is an excellent home-based office printer that offers print, copy, and scan features. Although, the 25-page limited output tray and no USB printing feature might not be an ideal option for many. However, the excellent performance or reliable output quality makes this printer worth every penny.
According to HP envy 5055 reviews, this all-in-one printer ticks all the boxes if you are looking for the best wireless printer that offers all features that would make printing incredibly convenient and impressively efficient for you.
Why HP ENVY 5055 Might Not Be Right For You
Although the HP ENVY 5055 is an affordable printer designed especially to cater to the needs of a family with many useful features, it does have some weaknesses that might put you off from buying it.
A major strength of the ENVY 5055 is its crisp print quality for photos, but it comes at a price! If you print photos often, the low yield of the ink cartridges can become costly.
Unfortunately, it is also not as fast at printing black and color documents as some of the other comparable printers available on the market. So, if you are willing to compromise speed and affordability for decent printing quality with amazing color accuracy, HP ENVY 5055 will be a great choice.
Another downside of the 5055 is the flatbed design, which lets you scan a single page, so long multi-page documents are difficult to scan with this printer. Furthermore, this model lacks external storage support, but on the upside, the HP Smartphone App allows you to do tasks on the 5055 remotely.
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Lucas Brown
Lucas is an IT student completing his studies in Networking. He worked at Ycombinator as a research analyst. He loves to write about his technology experiences. He also enjoys traveling and captures the best moments with his Canon 5d lens. He is a review specialist at Reviewsed.