HP Photosmart C5380 printer ink cartridges

The HP Photosmart C5380 printer uses five seperate ink cartridges, black, cyan, magenta and yellow along with a dedicated photo black cartridge. All these are available in two capacities, the standard HP364 cartridge and the high capacity HP364XL offering better value.

HP Photosmart C5380 Review

HP's recent Photosmart C5380 is a great quality device, that has very few disadvantages and it's among the best multifunctions for the selling price and also a great selection for families.

Very little has altered aesthetically from the C5380's forerunners. This device includes exactly the same gloss white fascia of HP's other inkjet products, having a simple control scheme along with a modest colour Liquid crystal display for PC-less functionality.

USB 2.0 is the only connection option. Still, the machine has a built-in memory card reader, along with support for MemoryStick, SD, xD, CompactFlash cards and a secondary USB port for use with PictBridge-capable equipment.

What the C5380 does not have in connectivity, it more than makes up for with print quality. We have experienced issues with the caliber of prior HP inkjets but the C5380 is a transparent indication of alteration in this respect. Text documents are extremely clean as well as legible, and very similar in quality to similarly priced mono laser printers. Colour documents that have graphical parts are better still, having sharp text complemented by detailed as well as radiant colours.

Photographs contain excellent, radiant colours, surpassing the results of Canon's. The C5380 is among the very first mid-range inkjet machines we have run into which is not liable to any banding problems. The outcome is a brilliant quality photo, unmarred by the concerns frequently related to inkjet models. The sole minor niggle we found with the C5380's quality was signs of the print rollers' track marks apparent under direct light. Quite simply, the C5380 supplies the finest print quality we have observed at this kind of low cost point.

The C5380's print rate is likewise breathtaking. A draft quality text document will print at an average 20.6 pages a minute, with the first page released in 15.3 seconds, decreasing to 10.9ppm at normal quality. Graphical documents are just a little bit slower, with draft quality documents printing at 18.75ppm and also normal quality documents at 6.3ppm. Picture printing rates of speed are generally rather slower: an ordinary 4x6in picture will print in 27sec, and additionally an A4 photograph at normal quality prints in 1min 14sec. Even though these speeds are certainly not the fastest we have noticed, the C5380 prints more quickly on a more regular basis than other devices. The standard of CD/DVD printing is outstanding. Quality is highly reliant on the printable media used, but the printer managed to churn out high quality CDs and DVDs. Colours aren't as radiant as pictures made by the machine, but fine detail levels remain pretty high. The media we employed throughout tests was a little liable to smudging in dark colours, although typically we were pleased with the final results.

The accompanying software is outstanding; as a result of an easy-to-follow procedure which directs the user through media selection, template design, picture and text editing as well as print options. There are not all-encompassing options - Canon's proprietary software gives extra room for photo and text customisation - nevertheless for many users this should not be an issue.

Irrespective of this printer's quality, consumables aren't excessively pricey. With four high-capacity HP Photosmart C5380 printer ink cartridges it is not the least expensive multifunction available, but it is not going to hurt your wallet either.

The sole shortcoming of the C5380 is it's scanning. Detail isn't hard to find at an optical resolution of 4800dpi - and this definitely facilitates very detailed monochrome scans - however scanned images are generally under-saturated, producing images paler than the source. The C5380's scanner can certainly be frustrating. Although the cover's hinges can move a bit allowing scanning of thicker material, they aren't flexible enough to adjust to a thick book with no chance of breaking.