Test HP Photosmart D5460: Hewlett-Packard outside - Canon inside?
At a price of about 100 Euros HP has presented it’s Photosmart D5460 as a successor to D5360.
Looked at from the outside there is nothing spectacular. HP’s D5460 shows no significant changes.
But inside a lot has been done. HP’s D5460 now relies on a permanent print head and a five-colour-system with single ink cartridges. These features are used by Canon as well in their Ink-jet printers with single ink cartridges.
This kind of combination has a lot of advantages, but HP somewhat spoils that by taking more money for the cartridges than it deems necessary to us. Contrary to Canon you get ink cartridges in two sizes, but even the XL-cartridges generate higher costs of print than Canon’s.
Hewlett-Packard did some cut of cost: There is no duplex-unit. But you still can print on CD/DVD, and borderless printing is available as well.
To print directly from a memory card you find a small display. Another way to communicate with the printer is a Pictbridge interface for digital cameras.
Druckerchannel bottom line
HP breaks new ground with it’s Photosmart D5460. And the adoption of many features of Canon’s Pixma series is a real improvement.
But despite it’s good and to some extent excellent performance, it cannot really cope with a Canon Pixma iP4500. For the same money the Canon provides a duplex-unit, and comes up with lower cost of print.
But if direct printing from a memory card is essential to you, HP’s D5460 should be your preferred choice.
