HP DeskJet 5650: Great print quality for the home user

This printer has worked very well for me. I'm your typical "home" user. I don't print out 50+ page reports, nor do I print out lots of schnazzy colored graphs and charts. I print out the occasional funny email to tape to my fridge and digital photos for when I just can't wait to get them developed professionally.

The first thing I noticed about the 5650, when compared to other comparable printers, is that sleek, stylish design. Granted, most people use the words "sleek" and "stylish" to describe their automobile, not their desktop printer. But I think the 5650 is worthy of these adjectives. There are plenty of people out there, like me, who have a black PC and a black monitor, and a black mouse, and so on. It only makes sense that the printer, which takes up much of your desk anyway, should also keep with the theme and be black too. I'm sure plenty of people will roll their eyes when they read this, but it really was important to me that my printer look good. The design, with it's curving lines and streamlined look, make it more eye-pleasing than some of it's boxy, boring counterparts.

There is a downside, however, to the stylish exterior of the 5650. Because the whole front is smooth, somewhat transparent plastic, dust and fingerprints collect very easily. Being black, the dust is very noticeable.

Another downside to the 5650 is the fact that, for whatever reason, it was designed with a non-retractable paper tray. Because I was so easily oohed and ahhed by the stylish design, I didn't really take the time to notice this fact. Because the paper tray does not fold into the printer, like most do, it ends up taking up more room on your desktop.

Enough about the design. The print quality itself is exactly as you would expect it to be from HP. The print quality for text is very good - crisp, clean. None of those weird inkjet lines that I used to get with my old HP printer. I'd venture to say that the print quality for text on plain paper is as good as a laser printer. The photo printing is also quite good - much better than I had actually expected.

There are three ink cartridges that HP recommends for the 5650 printer. The HP-56 is for black, the HP-57 is for color, and the HP-58 is for photo quality color. I haven't used the 58 yet because the quality of the 57 is completely acceptable to me for my photos. Ink cartridges are expensive, but that's just a fact of life with a deskjet printer.

The 5650 prints very quietly, almost effortlessly. It doesn't yank the paper from its tray and make any noisy "pulling" sounds like the older printers did. If you've got the TV on or other distractions, it's likely that you won't hear it printing at all. The print speed is what I'd guess to be average - about 8 sheets per minute printing with black in normal mode. Photos obviously take longer - about a minute for each in best quality mode.

The 5650 works with both PC and Mac. It comes with a bunch of software, most of which I haven't used. It works with both USB and printer ports. I have mine hooked up through USB 2 and it's worked great. Setting up the printer was quick and easy. I actually didn't load the cartridge right the first time, so I got the familiar little error lights telling me I'm a dingbat. Once I figured out the problem, everything went smoothly.