HP Envy 5540 review - alternatives to buy a photo printer

The most versatile printer on the market

The HP Envy 5540 printer comes with a scanner with copier function, a double tray accommodating A4 paper and 10 x 15 photo paper as well as double-sided and Wi-Fi, but no Ethernet.

Presentation

Mid-range model, the HP Envy 5540 printer is sold for less than 100 €. It sits below our benchmark printer, the HP Envy 5640, which has a larger color touchscreen and a memory card reader. For the rest, the Envy 5540 offers the same features, including a scanner allowing the copier function, a double tray for A4 sheets and photos in 10 x 15 cm format, Wi-Fi and a USB port for direct connection. 

Design

The HP Envy 5540 printer retains the design of the previous models, with beautiful curves, matte black plastic on the sides and a glossy cover with a finish close to the "carbon" effect. The assembly is quality and the materials used seem solid. The set is relatively compact (45 x 41 x 16 cm). In terms of connectivity, there is only a USB port and Wi-Fi. It only lacks Ethernet. 

Easy access to cartridges

The facade is completely stripped down for simplicity. Only the ignition button is present to the left of the 5.5 cm touch screen. The latter is not in color and is limited to a black and white display. The interface remains very clear with the possibility of copying or scanning directly. 

The printer also provides access to "printables" allowing you to print Sudoku sheets, coloring pages, etc. but without any preview; it is therefore each time the surprise - more or less good. The printer can also print the calendar of the month, graph paper, notebook sheets or music paper.

Dual tray for A4 sheets and 10 x 15 photo paper

The double paper tray is very practical. It can load up to 125 A4 sheets and 15 photos in 10 x 15 cm format, which avoids playing with the guides of the main tray; a real plus for photo printing.

The Wi-Fi setup is pretty smart. The printer creates a Wi-Fi network to which the computer or smartphone connects. On the latter, an application allows you to select the home Wi-Fi network and enter the associated password. After a restart, the printer is visible on the network.

A practical application.

Compatible with AirPrint (iOS) and Google Cloud Print (Android), the printer also has its own app in the App Store and Play Store. It allows you to print files, but also to scan documents from the integrated scanner or the smartphone camera. It is also possible to consult the level of consumables and activate the ePrint service. The latter allows you to print by simply sending an email to the printer.

Office automation

Our measurements show that the HP Envy 5540 printer achieves a throughput of 14 pages per minute (ppm), whether in color or black and white. Compared to the benchmark of the category, the Envy 5640, it is a little faster in color and a little less in black and white, the latter reaching 12 ppm in color and 16 ppm in black and white. 

As is the case with HP inkjet printers, the black drying time weighs down the speeds of two-sided printing. The printing of the front is done quickly, but the printer then stops for a good ten seconds for the ink to dry and then prints the back. It took us almost three minutes to print a 5-page double-sided document - a throughput of 0.4 ppm.

Unsurprisingly, the print quality is identical to that of the HP Envy 5640. It must be said that the two printers share the same HP 62 cartridges incorporating the printheads. The graphics are detailed and the color gradients are clearly visible. The texts are perfectly clear.

Photo

The photo rendering is always very good, with many details and relatively faithful colors. As proof, the Delta E - the difference between the reference colors and the printed colors - measured at 7.9. The Envy 5540 does very well in this area, especially for a printer using only two cartridges.

On the other hand, you should not be in a hurry; it takes about 45 seconds to print a 10 x 15 cm photo and 2 minutes and 25 seconds to print a borderless A4 photo. It will simply be noted that the printing of 10 x 15 photos is done faster than with the Envy 5640.

Scanner and copies

Unlike the Envy 5640, a document scan cannot be emailed or stored on a memory card. On the other hand, as specified above, scanning can be done from a smartphone. It takes just 12 seconds to scan a 10 x 15 color photo and 19 seconds for an A4 document at 300 dpi.

The copier also performs very well respecting the quality of the original document, which is not always the case with all-in-one printers. Gradients are respected as are details of color graphics. The text is still so readable. Copying a black and white document takes 20 seconds, compared to 25 seconds for an A4 color document - a decent speed for this type of printer.

Consumption

The Envy 5540 is not very greedy, since it is satisfied with only 10 W in operation. In standby, it still rises to 1.6 W, which translates into a year-round consumption of 14 kW for 1,000 printed pages. In terms of noise, it ranks among the good students, with only 49.5 dB (A) in operation; as much to say that it is relatively silent.

Cost per page

We find the same cartridges as on the HP Envy 5640, which, in their XL version, can print 600 black and white pages and 415 color pages. This gives a cost per page of 4.5 euro cents in black and 6.5 euro cents in color, for a total of 11 euro cents.

Conclusion

The HP Envy 5540 is a very good printer. It misses the maximum score by a bit because of its too small black and white touchscreen and the lack of a card reader. For the same price, the Envy 5640 - last year's top of the line - is more attractive. It uses the same cartridges, and therefore the same printheads, but has a larger screen and a card reader.

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