Unreview: HP OfficeJet K5400

After working with a crippled HP c2000 OfficeJet printer for almost a year, I finally gave up, and purchased an HP OfficeJet K5400. I still have a LaserJet 2420 for black and white, but I found I was missing having color. So far the color inkjets surpass the laser versions, at least in my price range.

The K5400 was selling at Staples for about $175.00. I was so tickled that they would recycle the old printers for $10.00 each, that I went right ahead and followed the salesperson's recommendation for the replacement. At the same time they attempted to sell me a separate warranty, a USB cable, and extra ink cartridges. Had I bought all those, I'm sure I would have spent over $300.00.

This is a "conventional" (i.e. not photo) printer, with 4 ink cartridges. Still, the photo printing is acceptable. The version I bought, which may acount for the difference in price between Amazon and Staples, includes a duplexer and a network interface. I plugged the printer into my hub, and it went out and got a network address from DHCP.

One thing I wasn't used to: the printer actually takes almost 20 minutes to set itself up to align the print heads. I guess hardware is getting dumber, and software is getting smarter.

It is amazing all the disposible junk that comes with the printer, by the time you've unwrapped the ink cartridges and the printer heads.

The sticker on the printer advertises that it is "cheaper than a laser". We'll see.