HP OfficeJet Pro K5400 – Competent Inkjet Printer

Pros

The HP OfficeJet Pro K5400 delivers almost laser quality text prints at respectable text printing speed; the per-page printing cost of the printer is really low and it comes with a 24×7 phone support.

Cons

Considering the fact that it is a single-function inkjet printer, the HP OfficeJet Pro K5400 is a tad expensive; the photo prints from the printer isn’t that entire great and the printer on a whole are expensive.

Introduction

The HP OfficeJet Pro K5400 is an affordably priced high-quality color inkjet-printer intended for small or medium size businesses. The base model of the printer with absolute no frills start at an affordable price of $150, and the print costs for the printer are low as well. We have seen a lot of inkjet printers in this price range prints comparatively slower than the K5400 and are multifunctional printers, and this is the reason why its hard to compare this printer with others from its class, as the multifunctional printers does a lot more than this printer.

You can easily get a monochrome laser printer for just a little more money, and can get better text prints than the K5400, but to get color at that price you will be hard pressed and the low-cost laser printers surely won’t produce photographs. Though the K5400 is not the conventional single function printer we see in the market, but still there is a lot to like about this office inkjet printer.

The printer is comparatively faster, and the text and graphics prints offered by the printer are not all that impressive, and one added advantage here is the ability to print photographs. Though, the printer fills a very narrow niche, but still we recommend this printer for small offices, which can’t spend lavishly on printer and don’t want certain features like scanning or copying, and has no problems in getting an inkjet printer over the laser printer, because of its ability to print photographs. This printer is also a nice option for the college students looking for a decent printer offering high-quality text prints and is ready to spend a little more than the price of a super budget printer.

Design

The HP OfficeJet Pro K5400 comes in a black-and-white body and looks a lot more stylish and sleeker than some of the other HP printers having standard putty color scheme, but the printer still looks firm enough for an office. The body of the printer measures 19.5 inches wide by 15 inches deep by 8.1 inches tall and weighs just a tad more than 19 pounds. So the printer is heavy, especially considering the fact that it is a single-function inkjet printer.

The single paper tray of the printer juts out from the frontage of the printer and functions as a paper-handling center. Positioned at the bottom of the printer is a 250-sheet input tray having adjustable paper guides. The output tray is positioned on top of the printer and has an extendable arm which helps in stopping the long prints from dropping down.

The control panel for the printer is limited with only four LEDs, which corresponds to the separate ink tanks and there also are three buttons: cancel, feed and power. On the left side of the paper tray is a door that conceals the four ink tanks of the printer. HP offers high-capacity and standard ink tanks for the printer. the standard black in tank for the printer costs around $20, while a color tank costs around (cyan, yellow and magenta) costs $15, while the high capacity ink tank variants of the printer costs around $25 and $35.

System Configuration

Price: $184.01 – $417.95
Manufacturer: HP
Part Number: C8184A
Printer Type: Ink-jet – Color Workgroup printer
Operating System Supported: Apple MacOS X 10.4,   Apple MacOS X 10.3, Microsoft Windows 2000 Microsoft Windows XP
Copier Type: None
Dimensions (W x D x H): 19.5 in x 15 in x 8.1 in

System weight: 19.4 lbs
Supported Media Type: Envelopes,   Labels,   Photo paper,   Index cards,   Greeting cards,   Plain paper and Transparencies
Printer Features: Borderless printing
Software Included: Drivers & Utilities
Peripheral / Interface Devices: USB port (companionable with 2.0 specification) and CD-ROM
Microsoft Certifications: Certified for Windows Vista

Performance

HP specifies two set of print speeds for their OfficeJet Pro K5400: first one is for draft mode, in which the HP specifies 36 pages per minute (ppm) for black text printing and 35ppm for color printing; the second one is for in best-quality mode, where the printer gives 12ppm for black text printing and the 10ppm for color text printing. The “best-quality” mode of the printer is also tagged at “near laser.” In our lab testing the K5400 delivered the speed of 10.16 ppm for black text printing, which is rather closer to HP’s advertised speed. In our PowerPoint presentation test, the Pro K5400 delivered the speed of 6.11ppm and a for a page of graphics it took 6.21ppm. The print speeds for the printer were impressive and considering the fact that it is an inkjet printer, the K5400 was significantly fast.

The text print quality of the printer was pretty decent for an inkjet printer and the text was rich black with well formed characters. Though, the closer examination of the text revealed some uneven edges and hardly noticeable wicking. So the “Near laser” description for the text quality of the printer was just perfect as the print quality here was really great and better than most of the inkjet printers we reviewed in recent times. The graphics revealed decent color gradients in addition to agreeable color saturation and correctness. The photo element of the printer showed decent details, although was a bit washed out. Also as the printer is not at all a photo printer, but still is decent for occasional photo printing.

Support

The HP OfficeJet Pro K5400 gets one-year standard warranty from HP, which is similar to the warranty offered by the competitors. There also is an option of extending the warranty. Under warranty period the consumers will get toll-free telephone support 24×7, for free. HP’s website also offers downloadable drivers, manuals and software; online chat and e-mail with the tech support; a troubleshooting guide and FAQs.

Word from the Experts

The HP OfficeJet Pro K5400 is a single-function color inkjet printer, which competently fills a petite niche in the small and medium size business arenas. The fast, low cost prints and high-quality text prints makes this a decent printer for the offices with are on budget and who doesn’t have any major printing needs in number, but does want the color graphics and photo printing ability.