The HP ENVY 6155e is an all-in-one inkjet printer. It uses a basic two cartridge ink system that's compatible with HP 68 Black and HP 68 Tri-Color cartridges, as well as the HP 68 EvoMore Black high-yield cartridge; there's no high-yield tri-color option available. It has a simple flatbed scanner. Connectivity options include USB, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct, as well as support for Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service. It's compatible with the HP Smart app, which lets you perform various tasks and adds more functionality, like mobile fax and optical character recognition.
This printer is part of the HP ENVY 6100e series of all-in-one printers. There are many variants; they all offer the same functionality and performance, but the model names differ according to the region, retailer, and color. See the Differences Between Variants section for more information.
The HP ENVY 6155e is okay as a family printer. It produces sharp and detailed documents with minimal printing artifacts. Printed photos also look detailed, although it tends to over-brighten them, resulting in vivid, albeit inaccurate, images. Nevertheless, the photo quality is fine for casual, at-home use. The major issue with this printer is its high cost-per-print; the page yields are very low, so you'll need to replace the ink cartridges often if you print frequently. Otherwise, the flatbed scanner produces detailed scans, and its hinges are adjustable, making scanning thicker items like textbooks easier. As for connectivity, there's a decent range of wired and wireless options, so this printer is easily accessible from various devices.
Prints high quality documents.
Produces detailed scans.
Produces detailed photos.
Very high cost-per-print.
High maintenance requirements if you print a lot.
Poor color accuracy.
The HP ENVY 6155e is middling for small and home office use. Though it produces sharp documents, the print speed is slow, and the ink cartridges have very low page yields. This results in long wait times, very high recurring costs, and excessive maintenance requirements for an office with high-volume printing needs. The 100-sheet input tray capacity doesn't help in this regard, as you'll need to add more sheets regularly if you print a lot. Finally, the basic flatbed scanner produces excellent quality scans but lacks features like an ADF that are useful for many offices.
Prints high quality documents.
Automatic duplex printing.
Decent connectivity options
Very high cost-per-print.
High maintenance requirements if you print a lot.
No ADF.
Slow print speeds.
The HP ENVY 6155e is not bad for student use. Its print and scan quality is excellent, as documents look sharp and scans appear detailed. The scanner is just a simple flatbed scanner, but it has adjustable hinges that accommodate larger items like textbooks. The major issue with this printer is its high recurring costs due to low page yields; you'll have to replace the cartridges frequently if you print a lot. Its input tray only holds 100 sheets, adding to the regular maintenance requirements. Print speeds are also poor, pushing just eight black and four color pages per minute, so it's best not to wait until the last minute before printing your term papers. That said, the HP Smart app is excellent, easy to use, and feature-rich, and there's a decent range of wired and wireless connectivity options, so you can easily access the printer from various devices.
Prints high quality documents.
Decent connectivity options
Feature-rich mobile app.
Very high cost-per-print.
High maintenance requirements if you print a lot.
Slow print speeds.
The HP ENVY 6155e is passable for black-and-white document printing. Document quality isn't the issue, as it produces detailed and sharp documents. Rather, it's very slow, only printing up to eight document pages per minute, and it has very low page yields, resulting in high recurring costs and maintenance requirements if you print a lot. Thankfully, there's a high-yield cartridge that'll last longer.
Prints high quality documents.
Automatic duplex printing.
Very high cost-per-print.
Slow print speeds.
The HP ENVY 6155e is satisfactory for photo printing. It produces detailed photos and excels at resolving small details. While it can reproduce a fairly wide range of bright hues, darker shades don't fare as well, resulting in a vivid, over-brightened image and the loss of some detail from color contrast. Similarly, it has poor color accuracy. The photo print quality is fine for casual or at-home use but won't cut it for professional or enthusiast environments. Finally, ink yields are very low, resulting in high recurring costs; you'll have to replace the cartridges often if you print a lot.
Produces detailed photos.
Resolves small details well.
Supports a wide range of photo paper sizes.
Very high cost-per-print.
High maintenance requirements if you print a lot.
Poor color accuracy.
The HP ENVY 6155e has a decent color gamut. It excels at reproducing bright hues, although it struggles with darker shades, resulting in the loss of some fine details. However, color accuracy is poor; photos appear over-brightened, resulting in a vivid, albeit inaccurate image. Overall, this printer's color quality is fine for casual use but not for professionals or enthusiasts.
Poor color accuracy.
Document print quality is excellent on the HP ENVY 6155e. It produces sharp and detailed documents with minimal artifacts, making it acceptable for use in professional environments.
Prints high quality documents.
The scanner produces excellent scans that are clear, detailed, and with neutral colors. That said, it's a basic flatbed scanner, so it lacks features like an ADF, duplex scanning, and so on.
Produces detailed scans.
No ADF.
This printer is slow. It only prints up to eight black-and-white or four color document pages per minute, and it takes well over a minute to print a single 4" x 6" photo. Thankfully, it supports automatic duplex printing, so you don't have to flip the pages manually when printing double-sided.
Slow print speeds.
This printer incurs high recurring costs. Its ink cartridges yield few prints, so you'll have to replace them often if you print frequently or in high volume.
Very high cost-per-print.
We tested the HP ENVY 6155e, a model in the HP ENVY 6100e series of all-in-ones. All variants in this series offer identical features and performance; the model number changes depending on the region, retailer, and color.
Model | Region/Retailer | Color |
---|---|---|
6120e | Europe, Asia | Portobello (714L8B) |
6122e | Europe, Asia, Africa | Twilight (714L9B) |
6130e | Asia, Africa | Portobello (714M1A) |
6131e | Oceania, Asia | Juniper (714M0A) |
6132e | Europe, Asia | Portobello (714J2B) |
6133e | Oceania, Asia | Dawn Dusk (714M9A) |
6152e | Asia, North America (Walmart) | White (714L7A) |
6155e | North America | Portobello (714L5A) |
See our unit's label.
The HP ENVY 6155e is an adequate all-in-one inkjet printer. Though its document print quality and scan quality are excellent, sub-par page yields diminish the printer's appeal. This results in high recurring costs and excessive maintenance requirements if you print frequently or in high volume. It's also very slow at printing, and its simple flatbed scanner isn't particularly feature-rich. Many printers from brands like Canon produce more detailed and color-accurate photos at this price point.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best inkjet printers, the best home printers, and the best cheap and budget printers.
The HP ENVY 6155e and HP ENVY 6555e are two very similar all-in-one inkjet printers. The major difference is that the 6555e comes with an ADF-equipped scanner, while the 6155e only has a flatbed scanner. Otherwise, both produce sharp documents, detailed photos, and excellent scans. Their major issue is low page yields, which results in high recurring costs and maintenance requirements.
The HP ENVY 6155e is the new iteration of the HP ENVY 6055e. While both are basic all-in-one inkjet printers, the 6155e is much better for every use case. It produces much better quality documents, photos and scans, and is also better built overall. Both printers suffer from low page yields, though, resulting in high recurring costs if you print a lot.
The HP ENVY 6155e and Brother MFC-J1010DW are both all-in-one inkjet printers, but the Brother is better for almost every use. It produces sharper documents and more detailed scans, yields significantly more pages, and prints faster. The HP produces more detailed photos, but the photos are more color-accurate on the Brother; as neither is appropriate for professional photo printing, the right choice comes down to personal preference for casual use.
The HP ENVY 6155e and Canon PIXMA MG3620 are both budget all-in-one inkjet printers. While the two printers trade blows in terms of performance, the Canon offers much better value overall. This is because it yields significantly more pages, cutting down on recurring costs and maintenance requirements if you print a lot. Otherwise, it's a toss-up. Photos look overly bright from the HP but overly dark from the Canon; they are more color-accurate on the latter, though. Similarly, both printers produce sharp and detailed scans, although the Canon's look slightly over-exposed. One feature that the HP offers is a great touchscreen; it makes it easy to use the printer and receive important status updates.
The HP 6155e feels well-built overall. Though generally solid, the plastic used in the front panel (where the logo is) exhibits noticeable flexing and audible creaking; the output tray also uses flimsy plastic, making these areas feel cheap.
There's a lot to like about the design. The power cord is removable, making it easy to replace in case of damage, and there's a physical power button you can use to power cycle the printer. You can also easily access paper jams from the cartridge bay by removing the paper jam access cover or from below by extending the input tray and turning the printer on its side. The output tray has an extendable piece you can tuck away when not in use, which will help prevent accidents and save space on your desk. Unfortunately, there's no vertical paper guide, though. This is a problem when printing photos, as you must place the paper properly in its non-removable input tray, or the sheet rollers won't be able to grab onto it. Finally, there's no damper on the scanner lid, so it will slam down if you let go of it.
This printer requires quite a bit of maintenance. As an inkjet printer, there's the typical risk of printhead clogging if you don't use it for long periods. Thankfully, there are a couple of maintenance tasks that you can run from the printer or HP Smart app to help, such as printhead cleaning and printhead alignment. The ink cartridges have very low yields, so you must replace them often if you print frequently or in high volume.
To change the ink cartridges, turn the printer on and lift the top cover; the cartridge tray will move to the center of the cartridge bay. There are stickers clearly indicating where the color and black ink cartridges belong. The printer prompts you to perform an alignment task each time you change the cartridges, but you can skip this step if you deem it unnecessary. Accessing paper jams is similarly straightforward. You can access the sheet rollers by lifting the top cover and removing the cover below. Alternatively, you can gain access from the bottom of the printer by extending the input tray and turning the printer on its side.
Access the user manual on HP's website.
The HP ENVY 6155e has an excellent display. It substitutes buttons for a full touchscreen with a smooth, glossy finish. The user interface feels responsive and snappy, and it uses big, easy-to-see icons and fonts. By contrast, the on-screen keyboard is quite small and can be challenging to use for people with small and large hands alike; thankfully, you shouldn't have to use it very often. There's also audio feedback with adjustable volume when interacting with the display. Visibility is good when looking directly down at the display, but reflections from its glossy finish make it more difficult to view from the side. Finally, the glossy finish is a fingerprint magnet, so you'll want to keep a microfiber cloth nearby.
The HP ENVY 6155e has a very low page yield, so if you print frequently or in high volume, you'll have to replace the ink cartridges often. You'll also need to replace the color cartridge even if one color runs out since the printer uses a tri-color cartridge, forcing you to discard the remaining ink. Only a high-yield black ink cartridge is available, the HP 68e EvoMore Black; it has an advertised yield of around 320 pages.
As an HP+ device, this printer comes with three months of free ink through the HP Instant Ink service. However, setting this printer up as an HP+ device blocks the use of third-party cartridges, which are typically cheaper, even if you never subscribe to the Instant Ink service or choose to unsubscribe after your free ink trial. Additionally, the printer must have a continuous internet connection to function, even when printing via USB, as HP continually updates the firmware to block the use of third-party cartridges.
The printer displays a warning when ink is running low; however, it doesn't stop you from printing, so you can easily end up with faded or incomplete pages.
There are two software-based OCR options. The HP Smart App allows you to save scans as searchable PDFs. The app also has a Text Extract function, which produces a new text document with just the text; you can save this document as a PDF. It works well but can occasionally make mistakes, particularly with special characters.
The print quality of black-and-white documents is excellent. Text looks crisp and legible, and most fine elements are present, though they appear slightly soft. There's also some graining present throughout the document, particularly in larger blocks of gray in charts, graphs, and tables. Printing in the High Quality mode deepens the contrast but doesn't resolve the graininess.
The HP ENVY 6155e prints excellent color documents. Text is legible, colors are nicely saturated, and fine details like lines on a graph are present. That said, fine details are also slightly grainy, as are larger blocks of color, like bars in a bar chart. Printing in the High Quality mode resolves these minor issues.
The input tray can hold 100 sheets of plain paper or up to 10 envelopes, while the output tray has a capacity of 25 sheets of plain paper.
You can set custom paper sizes from 3" x 5" (76.2mm x 127mm) to 8.5" x 12" (215.9mm x 304.8mm) when printing single-sided and 3" x 5.5" (76.2mm x 139.7mm) to 8.5" x 11.7" (215.9mm x 297.18mm) when performing duplex printing.
The HP ENVY 6155e has a decent color gamut. While it excels at bright hues, it can't reproduce dark shades well. As a result, photos lose some fine detail, like the feathers on the red bird in the parrot photo; you can see the difference when comparing the same photo printed on the professional-grade Canon PIXMA PRO-200. There's also visible graining throughout many color transitions.
The HP ENVY 6155e has poor color accuracy. It tends to over-brighten colors, resulting in a vivid, albeit inaccurate image. Most colors are visibly inaccurate, though skin tones, blues, reds, and grays are the worst. While some people will like this kind of image when printing photos at home, it isn't suitable for professional or enthusiast photo printing.
The HP ENVY 6155e is excellent at reproducing small details. You can easily differentiate background details from foreground objects; the printer's particular use of halftones slightly softens the appearance of fine details, though. The lack of contrast also detracts from the level of detail a bit.
HP advertises two-sided photo printing; however, we haven't tested it as we don't have double-sided photo paper at this time.
The HP ENVY 6155e supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, and features a seal-healing function to automatically detect and resolve connectivity issues. Though the printer uses Bluetooth for its initial set-up with the HP Smart app, it doesn't support printing or scanning via Bluetooth.
If you set up the printer as an HP+ device, the device requires a constant internet connection to function, even if you're printing with a USB cable. You can skip the HP+ activation during the initial set-up process and print without an internet connection.
This printer is compatible with the HP Smart mobile app. You can use this app to order supplies and manage your ink subscription, as well as perform tasks like printing, scanning (with your smartphone's camera or the printer), cloud scanning (which saves your scans to the cloud), copying, and sending mobile faxes. It also provides access to printable templates that you can use for projects like making greeting cards, calendars, and more.
While you need drivers to use the printer on Windows devices, installing HP Smart streamlines the process. This app automatically installs drivers, keeps them up to date, and allows you to configure the printer. Neither macOS nor Chrome OS devices require drivers to use the printer.