Customer Reviews

HP DeskJet 5740 Color Inkjet Printer

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I have a small desk and that's one reason I picked the Deskjet 5740. Both paper trays fold up neatly when not in use, making this one of the most compact printers I've ever used.

My #1 concern was text print quality as I do a lot of correspondence and not that much color photo printing. With inkjet paper (my favorite everyday paper is HP's Bright White Inkjet which goes for $8 for 500 sheets), the results are outstanding. Text is crisp and black... it looks right out of a laser printer!

The Mac OS X drivers are top notch! It can handle inkjet Avery labels, card stock, envelopes, transparencies, and premium photo paper. Plus it gives you full control over ink density, color balance, and ColorSync (Be sure to download the latest printer drivers from HP's website as the CD was a little out of date).

And when you use glossy photo paper, the color photos are just like film. Really outstanding photo printing from HP's "home office" Deskjet line. It can also use the special "Photo" ink cartridge as well as the standard "TriColor" cartridge. The 5740 also accepts HP's jumbo sized black and tri-color cartridges, which are double the size of a normal cartridge at a much better price.

You can't get a better printer for $99!

Since we already have a scanner and a separate photo printer I just wanted a simple deskjet printer to use for family and school projects. I spent a day or so researching a bunch of different types and decided on this one. I couldn't be happier. The print quality is fantastic and although it wasn't a priority for me I was thrilled with the speed it prints both color and black and white pages. Just had a paper jam this morning (did I mention I have kids?)and rather than spending 10 minutes trying to rip the paper out of the machine, it very nicely rolled the whole stack right out. I *love* this printer - and am amazed we got it for under $100.

Just because there is no official "Windows XP" badge on the printer or the Microsoft web site does not mean the printer "is not XP compatible". That just means Microsoft has tested it and certified it for the particular OS. I have owned many HP printers and have found them to be the most reliable. My only issue has been cartridge cost but after having owned a Canon printer with separate color tanks, I'll stick with HP. As a previous poster stated about an Epson, you spend most of the time cleaning print heads. The poor sales guy at BestBuy was correct to say that the HP was trouble free. Of course this is a generality but for the most part, they are. I used to sell printers and the ratio of HP returns to other brands was wide. I would test returned merchandise and find that most items were fine. The problems are usually with the user or the user's computer.

I purchased the 5740 early this year as a replacement to an HP 970Cxi. It was still running great but, my printing needs had increased and I wanted a newer model. At first, I was quite pleased with my purchase. I had used it for both b/w and color prints with no problems and then one day it just stopped printing in color. I naturally replaced the color cartridge thinking it had run out. Nope, that wasn't the problem. I went through all the maintenance procedures they recommend...still nothing. I did the HP chat and he thought it might be a driver issue. I removed the printer and did a new install and for that day, the printer worked fine. I shut down my computer and when I rebooted the problem was back again. Did the whole removal...from the the registry and everything...and a fresh install. Again, it worked fine for the day and then died again. Nothing had changed on my computer...no new software or hardware. Spoke to HP again and he decided the unit was defective and suggested a replacement. I agreed. Sent back the unit, received the refurbished one and once again removed the drivers, etc and reinstalled. Bingo, this one doesn't work either. Removed the 5740 and hooked up the old HP and installed its drivers. No problems. I tried the 5740 on another computer with XP and similiar problems ensued. I've decided it's not my computer...it's the printer. Another reviewer stated the drivers weren't compatible with XP. I'd have to say that I agree.

We bought this about three months ago for typical home use and it has worked great. It is small, fast and quiet. The buttons on the front of the machine are very basic (On/Off, clear jam, cancel print and an indicator for ink level in each of the two cartridges). We are using this on an older PC that runs WIndows 98. The setup was a breeze, but you have to buy the USB cable separately. The software that comes with the printer is pretty standard. Black and white documents are clean and color documents come out good but not good enough to print high-end photos. For the price this is a great value for home use.

I had an HP Printer that held up for 4 years of undergrad and one of law school before I decided to replace it (worked fine, just was a bit slow). Since I had such good luck with my last HP (5 years of printing) I thought I would get this model. I have been consistantly disappointed with it ever since. It constantly reports that it is out of paper when it is not, routinely pulls in 2 sheets at a time, reports paper jams when there is no paper in it, and has lately taken to saying that the ink cartridge can't move, which also isn't true since just turning the thing off and on fixes that problem. Whatever you do, don't buy this printer, if possible I would give it 0 stars.

We bought this printer because our old printer wasn't compatible with our new Mac. I insisted that we buy an HP because our old HP printer was so reliable. This printer, however, drives me batty. It gets frequent paper jams, and I cannot get it to print envelopes straight. Currently, it is printing black print in varying shades of brown, despite the fact that I just replaced the black ink cartridge. Most infuriating, however, is its tendency to just stop working midway through a print job. This happens about 30% of the time. It will simply stop, and I have to go into the printer box on the computer to restart it. It is a huge waste of time and paper (it spits out the half-printed page when you restart it and starts that page over), and just plain irritating. I think maybe I'll check out the other brands when I finally lose it and pitch this one through the window.

This printer is one great printer in its price range! Fast and well built for its weight. The cartriges last a decent time and the colors are good. It's easy to find replacement cartriges too. I did not find the device drivers for Mac OSX to be a problem or the paper handling like the other review. This is not the best ink jet but it may be for the money.

I'll keep this short...

Pros:
Prints QUICK.
Print quality ROCKS. Even pictures. I normally can see the inkjet 'dots', but this is severely limited with this printer.
While cartridges are small, if you print on "Normal" or quick printing, or degrade the saturation on default if you print a lot of for-your-own notes, the cartridges last over a semester of college (that's printing school papers, all class notes, etc)
Never had mine jam.
Ink cartridges aren't excessively expensive, and a few places give you $3 for bringing in old HP cartridges.


Cons:
Itty bitty cartridges.
Can sometimes take in more than one sheet (inconvenient when printing double sided notes)
When using the fastest setting, the printer doesn't so much as "set" the paper in the finished document holder ... it'd be more accurately described as an "emergency ejection"
Printer is a bit noisy on normal settings. On the fastest settings, it wakes the dead.

I bought this printer for a few reasons. First was the print head cartridge combination. I had gotten tired of the innefective print head cleaning of my Espon c-80 (soon to head to the junk pile since I can't get the print head to print reliably anymore) and wanted to avoid that issue alltogether. The second reason I bought it was its footprint, which is great for a small desk (or under the desk in this case). Lastly was price.

However, its paperhandling is horrible, and I concur with a few of the other reviewers complaining about the same issue. The ONLY way it will feed paper (standard 24# white) is by my moistening two fingers and gently pressing the paper forward as the printer seeks the next sheet. Frankly, this is NOT an acceptable alternative. While it seems that some reviewers are not having this problem, the machine I have is a lemon in this regard. I would not recommend this printer.