Designed essentially for home use, though office-centric facilities like faxing or an involuntary request feeder, a HP Photosmart 5520 e-All-in-One ($129.99 direct) is a opposite kind of multifunction printer. On a one palm it offers a low-end set of facilities in many ways. Its paper ability is a scanty 80 sheets for example. On a other hand, it offers a slew of features— from Wi-Fi to proceed copy from iOS and Android devices— that are anything though low end. The outcome is a printer that’s simple in some ways, rarely worldly in others, and good value deliberation for home use or for a twin purpose of home and light-duty home bureau printer.

The 5520 seems desirous by a same underlying pattern truth as a office-centric HP Officejet 6600 e-All-in-One ($149.99 direct, 3.5 stars) that we recently reviewed. This is positively loyal to a border that both take a pass on a lot of common extras like an Ethernet connector while charity lots of reduction common extras. For example, both use hold screens for their front row controls, with good designed menus that make them easy to use. More significantly, both offer a collection of facilities that acquire them HP’s nomination of e-All-in-One.

For a 5520, being an e-All-in-One means that it supports HP ePrint (HP’s proceed to copy by a cloud), HP Web apps (a collection of apps accessible by a Web), Apple AirPrint (for copy from iOS devices), and a HP ePrint Home Biz imitation app (for copy from both Android and iOS devices).

Note that to take advantage of ePrint, AirPrint, or HP’s Web apps, it’s not adequate for a printer to be connected by a USB wire to a mechanism that’s on a network. The printer itself has to be connected to a network by WiFi. And for ePrint and Web apps, a network has to be connected to a internet. However, a HP ePrint Home Biz imitation app can bond to a printer directly, either we have a WiFi network or not.

Basics
The 5520′s simple MFP facilities are singular to printing, scanning, and copying. It can also imitation from or indicate to memory cards, though it lacks a USB form A pier for copy from PictBridge cameras or for copy from and scanning to USB keys. Like many home-oriented printers, however, it includes built-in templates we can imitation from commands in a front-panel menu system, including choices for cover paper, graph paper, song paper, and games, with total variations on mazes and Sudoku puzzles generated by built-in algorithms.

The paper ability is singular to usually 80 sheets, though a printer also includes involuntary duplexing (for copy on both sides of a page), that is a acquire choice for saving paper. One advantage of a low paper ability is that a printer doesn’t have to be really large. With a trays entirely extended, a 5520 measures 16.3 by 17.5 by 22.6 inches (HWD), though a printer physique is usually about 12 inches deep. You shouldn’t have any difficulty anticipating room for it on your desk.

Setup, Speed and Output Quality

Setting adult a 5520 is customary fare. For my tests, we connected it by USB wire and commissioned a drivers and program on a complement using Windows Vista.

On a business applications suite, (timed with QualityLogic’s hardware and software), a printer came in during a pretty quick 3.7 pages per notation (ppm). That’s a bit slower than a reduction costly Brother MFC-J430w ($100 street, 4 stars), though MFC-J430w’s quick speed is one of a reasons because it’s an Editors’ Choice. To put both speeds in context, note that a rather some-more costly Editors’ Choice Brother MFC-J825DW ($150 street, 4 stars) scored 4 ppm. Also, note that a 5520 scored good on print speed, averaging 1 notation 3 seconds for a 4-by-6 photo.

Much like a speed, a 5520′s outlay peculiarity altogether is pretty good, though not impressive. Text peculiarity is a step above standard for an inkjet, though it’s offset by graphics peculiarity that’s a step next par. Photo peculiarity is passed on par.

Text is simply good adequate for home use or many business use. we wouldn’t use it for a resume or other outlay that needs to demeanour entirely professional, though some fonts validate as rarely entertaining even during sizes as tiny as 4 points. Graphics are also high adequate peculiarity for many business needs, though we saw pointed banding and occasional streaks of white in plain areas in my tests. Color photos are a compare for what we can design from drugstore prints. However, images with dim areas aren’t as contrasty as they should be, and a black and white print in my exam showed opposite tone tints during opposite shades of gray.

I’d like this printer improved if it enclosed an Ethernet connector, so we wouldn’t be forced to have Wi-Fi to use many of a facilities that make it an e-All-in-One. If we already have a Wi-Fi network, however, don’t mind environment one adult to take full advantage of a printer, or don’t have any need of a Internet or Wi-Fi formed features, that’s not an issue. In any of these scenarios, if we need a printer during home with pretty quick speed and formally high-quality output, a HP Photosmart 5520 e-All-in-One is a some-more than reasonable choice.

More Multi-function Printer Reviews:

•   HP Photosmart 5520 e-All-in-One
•   Samsung SCX-4835FR
•   Dell V525w All-in-One Wireless Inkjet Printer
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•   Canon imageClass D1350
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