IT Pro Verdict

HP changes the landscape for workgroup colour printing as the M553dn delivers a superb range of features and rock-bottom running costs. It’s fast as well and the new toner provides quality output whilst keeping power consumption to an all-time low

Reasons to buy

+
Compact design; High print speeds; Good output quality; Low running costs and power consumption; Fast duplexing

Reasons to avoid

-
No integral wireless

By Dave Mitchell

published 13 May 2015

in Reviews

Clever cartridges

HP offers two toner cartridge capacities with the standard K version good for 6,000 pages and C, Y and M each lasting 5,000 pages. Capacities for HP's high-yield cartridges are quite remarkable for a workgroup laser with K holding out for 12,500 pages and C, Y and M managing 9,500 pages apiece.

Other consumables are a 54K page toner collection bottle and a 150K page 220V fuser unit. Add these together with the high yield cartridges and you have competition-beating running costs of a penny per mono page and only 6.4 pence for a colour one.

There's no need to do the toner shimmy when replacing a cartridge as you drop them straight into the printer without having to shake them first. It's a lot less messy too, as the toner seal is inside the cartridge and is automatically removed when you install it.

HP's new ColorSphere 3 toner has many benefits as it has a harder shell and is more durable. The softer core has a lower melting point so keeps costs down even further as it requires less fusing power.

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Dave is an IT consultant and freelance journalist specialising in hands-on reviews of computer networking products covering all market sectors from small businesses to enterprises. Founder of Binary Testing Ltd – the UK’s premier independent network testing laboratory - Dave has over 45 years of experience in the IT industry.

Dave has produced many thousands of in-depth business networking product reviews from his lab which have been reproduced globally. Writing for ITPro and its sister title, PC Pro, he covers all areas of business IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, network security, data protection, cloud, infrastructure and services.