HP OfficeJet 5610

This is one of the few printers in this Buyer's Guide that enters our field from the ranks of business (office) equipment. Even so, with typical prices in a range from $88 to under $100, it still falls at the low end of the price spectrum for MFC printers. It offers reasonable monochrome and color print and copy speeds of 20 ppm and 13 ppm, respectively, and respectable fax speeds of up to 20 ppm as well. The duty cycle, however, is a relatively modest 1,000 pages per month (suitable for home and home office use, but probably not for more commercial environments).

The OfficeJet 5610 features a pretty standard "over-the-top" automatic document feeder.

Print quality goes up to 1200x600 dpi for black output, and up to 4800x1200 for color photos (1200x1200 dpi, with four separate color jets). The 5610 includes a 33.6 kbps Group 3 fax modem, handles both monochrome and color faxes and can automatically switch between telephone and fax use (ring and fax-carrier detect).

Consumable prices range from $16 to $25 for color cartridges (cyan, magenta and yellow) and from $16 to $18 for black cartridges (higher prices deliver higher quality or print quantities, depending on products selected). Special treated glossy photo paper (water- and smudge-proof) costs about $0.40 for 8.5x11" sheets and $0.25 for 5x7" sheets. This printer also works with all modern versions of Windows since 98SE plus Mac OS X 9.1 and later versions.