The Good And Bad Of The HP Color LaserJet 2550L Printer

The printer is somewhat boxy and two tone gray in color. It is very light in weight and compact. The four HP printer toner cartridge are arranged in a carousel that helps to save space over many other printers.

The Good Qualities
The low initial cost is the greatest advantage of this printer. Even when purchased new, it was one of the least expensive color laser printers for its day. To lower costs, HP designed the machine to be adjusted through the software rather than install an LCD screen in the printer.

There are two major complaints about this printer. First, it does not have a paper tray unless you purchase on as an option. Second the consumables for the machine are very expensive.

Unless you purchase the paper tray separately, paper is fed into this machine through a slot behind the front panel. This means that the panel must be left in the open position most of the time. Many owners of this printer do not like the configuration because it allows dust to get into the inner workings of the printer.

The Ugly
The Laser Jet 2550l uses a separate drum that needs to be replaced regularly. With this machine, it is not uncommon to have to replace the drum every five to six months. Cost of the replacement drum is about one third of the cost of the printer when new.

Toner cartridges also must be replaced on a regular basis. These cartridges have a chip that counts down each print that is made. When the printer is set to print only black, the color toners count down for each print made. Therefore, consumers often report having to replace toner cartridges that are half to one third full, simply because their chip has counted down to zero. There are rumors that replacement chips can be purchased on the Internet that allow these still full toner cartridges to be used.

Color prints produced on the machine seem to be at best mediocre. Flesh tones are too bright and other colors are too dull. In addition, it is common for pinks to look purple and greens to look blue. Speeds of the prints are very slow by today's standards. Color prints slow the machine to 3.1 ppm. Black text prints are excellent but only produced at 12.1 ppm.

The HP Color LaserJet 2550L printer broke the price barrier in its day. It set a standard that brought the prices of both black and color laser printers into the range of ink jet printers so that they could be affordable for many home computer users. However, the technology for laser printers has improved since this printer was introduced and there are better printers available for the money today. While consumers may find many of these used machines being offered at low prices they should be warned that the cost of consumables and the fact that they must be replaced even when not empty makes this a less than desirable printer. It is also important to always have HP printer toner on hand. Printer toner cartridges is the ink that the printer uses to print your documents. You can purchase HP Color LaserJet 2550L compatible toner online or in stores.