The HP ENVY 5055 is a simple all-in-one printer that's meant as a budget option for those with basic needs. Its flatbed scanner meets the needs of most families or students, but the lack of an automatic document feeder makes it less suitable for those who need to scan multi-page documents. It has a two-cartridge system and both cartridges have poor yield, making its overall cost-per-print quite high. Also, it prints at a snail's pace when it comes to black and color documents, although it's much faster at printing photos compared to other printers. Photos look decent, and surprisingly, the printer's color accuracy is excellent. There's no ethernet or external storage support, but thankfully, you can perform most tasks wirelessly with HP's mobile app.
Our Verdict
The HP ENVY 5055 is a mediocre printer for family use. Although it prints fairly decent photos, it gets very expensive if you print often due to the cartridge's low yield. Additionally, it's slow at printing black and color documents. The scanner only has a flatbed, so it's not the best option if you need to scan long multi-page documents. On the upside, it has excellent color accuracy, and it's compatible with the HP Smart mobile app, which lets you perform most tasks from your smartphone.
- Excellent color accuracy.
- Decent photo printing quality.
- Decent mobile app support.
- Terrible black and color page yield.
- High cost-per-print.
The HP ENVY 5055 is a terrible printer for small or home offices. The scanner lacks an automatic document feeder to process multi-page documents. Its black and color page yields are both low, which means you have to replace the cartridges regularly if you print a lot. It's also slow at printing black and color documents, and it lacks an ethernet port.
- Terrible black and color page yield.
- No automatic document feeder.
- Slow printing speed.
- High cost-per-print.
The HP ENVY 5055 is a poor printer for students. Both the black and color ink cartridges run out quickly, so you end up having to replace the cartridges often, which adds up fast if you print regularly. Furthermore, it's slow at printing black and color documents. It does have decent connectivity options, though, but sadly, there's no support for external storage devices of any kind.
- Decent mobile app support.
- Terrible black and color page yield.
- Slow printing speed.
- High cost-per-print.
The HP ENVY 5055 is a bad printer for printing black and white documents. The black cartridge runs out very quickly, so it needs to be replaced often, making it expensive to print in the long run. Also, it's slow at printing black and white documents.
- Terrible black and color page yield.
- Slow printing speed.
- High cost-per-print.
The HP ENVY 5055 is a decent printer for printing photos. It prints photos at a fairly quick pace and the photos are of decent quality. Color accuracy is excellent and it can print on glossy photo paper. Unfortunately, its cost-per-print is quite high, so it can get very expensive if you print a lot.
- Excellent color accuracy.
- Decent photo printing quality.
- Terrible black and color page yield.
- High cost-per-print.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the HP ENVY 5055 in black, which is the only color available for this model. There's a variant sold for Black Friday called the HP ENVY 5070, and for the most part, we expect its performance to be the same.
Popular Printer Comparisons
The HP ENVY 5055 is a budget all-in-one printer. Compared to other printers in the same price range, it's a bit sub-par. For roughly the same price, you can easily find one that has a significantly better cartridge system, which helps you save money in the long run. For other options, you can also check out our recommendations for the best photo printers, the best all-in-one printers, and the best cheap printers.
The Canon PIXMA TS5320 is much better than the HP ENVY 5055. Although the Canon also has a two-cartridge system, it can yield many more pages of black and color prints, keeping the long-term cost reasonably low. The Canon has better photo printing quality and has wider connectivity options, but the HP has much better color accuracy.
The Canon PIXMA iX6820 is a better overall printer than the HP ENVY 5055. The Canon has a much better cost-per-print and prints better quality photos. The HP does include a mediocre scanner and better connectivity options, but the Canon supports more paper options, including tabloid.
The HP ENVY 5055 and the Brother MFC-J805DW INKvestment Tank are both similarly decent photo printers. However, the Brother is better performing in all other aspects and is more versatile. The Brother is well-built, its cartridge system produces higher page yields, and its cost-per-print is much more affordable too. It also has a scan sheetfed with an automatic document feeder. Conversely, the HP has better color accuracy, and it can print photos much quicker.
The HP OfficeJet 5255 is an overall much better printer than the HP ENVY 5055. The OfficeJet has a better build quality, its scanner has an automatic document feeder, and although it has a 2-cartridge system like the ENVY, it can yield more black and color pages, making it more cost-effective over time. Also, the OfficeJet has a slightly faster printing speed and more connectivity options. For photo printing, the ENVY has a slight edge, as it prints photos faster and they're of higher quality.
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