HP Officejet Pro X576dw review

Often times, choosing a printer means making tradeoffs between print speed, quality and cost. Laser printers generally deliver lower costs per page at faster print speeds, but can sometimes sacrifice quality when printing photos or images. On the other hand, most inkjets deliver better image quality, but at the cost of higher per-page prints and slower print speeds.

Fortunately, if you're willing to make the initial up-front capital investment in acquiring the Officejet X576dw, HP will reward you with incredibly fast print speeds, beautiful print quality and a very low per-page print cost.

We liked

HP's laser defying Officejet X576dw is an inkjet printer that combines the best of inkjet and laserjet print technology. HP advertises that its Officejet delivers up to 50% better energy efficiency than a comparable laser, but the selling point for many small business and small workgroups will be the device's extremely affordable print costs.

With black-and-white jobs costing 1.3 cents per page and color prints priced at 6.7 cents, the print costs delivered by the Officejet is only 50% of the costs of HP's already excellent Color LaserJet MFP M277dw. Both printers are targeted towards small workgroups and small offices, but the Officejet manages to edge out the laser in key areas, delivering better image quality and faster print output at a more economical cost, making the total cost of ownership cheaper the more you print.

Wireless printing, cloud support and remote print and scan capabilities all add to the Officejet's versatility and value.

We disliked

You'll really have to be picky to find any fault with the Officejet. For those moving from larger enterprise-class office printers, you won't find small amenities on-board, like a document stapler, which comes in handy if you're trying to collate multi-page jobs.

The printer's size may also be a stopping point for smaller offices, but if you can afford the space, the Officejet X576dw will work hard for you.

Those who do a lot of scanning may find scan speeds a little slower due to the fact that the Officejet X576dw doesn't come with twin scan heads. Single-sided scans should be fine, but double-sided jobs are completed at slower speeds than scanners with dual scan heads.

Final verdict

For many small businesses, more affordable print costs alone should be enough to make the Officejet X576dw a top contender when shopping for a new printer, but this inkjet delivers exceptional performance at tremendous value, if you can afford its high up-front cost of ownership.

Setup is a breeze thanks to the touchscreen control panel, and wireless capabilities make this printer a useful tool for small businesses with multi-computer setups.

The Officejet X576dw's price is comparable to many workgroup printers. The PageWide print head technology and new fast drying pigment inks mean faster prints at a much cheaper cost than even laser printers offer.

We found the per-page print cost of the Officejet X576dw to be the lowest of any inkjet or laserjet that we've tested in its category, and this print costs on this printer are 50% of the costs delivered by HP's comparable Color LaserJet MFP M277dw. Your total cost of ownership goes down with each print you make.

You really can have it all with this Officejet: fast print speeds, great print quality and low print costs.