HP Color LaserJet 2605dtn
Starting at: $287.00
CNET Editors' Review
CNET Editors' Rating
- Reviewed by: Kristina Blachere
- Released on:
- Reviewed on:
The good: The HP Color LaserJet 2605dtn shows excellent color and monochrome print quality, has a built-in photo card reader and duplexer, and is reasonably priced.
The bad: The menu system is difficult to navigate, paper input is limited to 500 sheets, and software could be more small-office friendly.
The bottom line: The HP 2605dtn has some flaws, but it prints color cheaply and well enough for small offices, individuals, and small corporate workgroups.
Measuring 16.1 by 17.8 by 20.2 inches (width, depth, height) and weighing 52.1 pounds, the HP 2605dtn is not particularly bulky for a workgroup laser, but it is meant to stay put on a desktop. The configuration is classic HP: a 125-sheet output tray on top, two 250-sheet input trays stacked on the bottom of the printer body. The front panel of the printer pops open to reveal the vertically stacked toner cartridges; the image-transfer belt is attached to the inside of the panel. The vertical arrangement (as opposed to a carousel, or a horizontal arrangement) makes it easy to insert and remove the toner and allows faster printing because there's no waiting for each color to rotate into position (this is also referred to as a single-pass setup). Given the cost of this equipment, we were a little surprised by how flimsy the panel door and paper trays feel. In fact, there are no stops on the paper trays, which makes it easy to pull them out for reloading but also means they'll slide right out of the printer body (and onto the floor) if you're not careful when pulling them out. It's also a shame that you can't add any more paper trays, but you can expand the included 64MB of memory to 320MB.
We were similarly unimpressed with the HP 2605dtn's LCD menu. There's no backlight, the LCD is positioned high on the printer so that it's hard to read if you're sitting down, and the menu navigation is confusing. There are four navigation buttons: left and right arrows for scrolling through submenu options, a check button for drilling down into the menu, and a salmon-colored button that cancels print jobs and exits the LCD menu. The problem is that the exit button quits the entire menu, rather than backing up through menu levels, so it's easy to get into the submenus but tricky to get back out. That said, through the LCD menu you can do the usual things, such as reporting on configuration or font lists and specifying which paper tray to use, and you can also access the direct-print functions for the photo card readers, which are located along the right side of the printer. Once you insert a photo card (the printer reads CompactFlash, SmartMedia, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, xD, and SD cards), you can either transfer photos to your computer or print from the card. The direct-print options include printing an index sheet, selecting individual photos or a range of photos, and specifying what size photo to print (from wallet to full-page size). If you want to crop, resize, or do basic photo editing, you can transfer the photos to your computer and use the included HP Photosmart Premier 6 software.
The printer comes with other software: HP Marketing Assistant, which helps you create marketing and sales material; HP Solution Center, which collects and manages all your HP devices under one interface; and HP ToolboxFX, a network management program. ToolboxFX does a good job of tracking the status and configuration of HP printers on a network and also provides a number of troubleshooting, how-to, and demo videos to help you use the printer. What's missing is an account tracking feature, for categorizing print jobs by project. We think that would be useful, given that this color laser will probably show up in small offices and workgroups that track all their work for billing purposes (for example, designers, attorneys, graphics pros).
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Most Helpful User Review
stars 5 of 5 users found this review helpful
"Really like machine, more suitable for home use" By dubhanMac
Pros duplexer, full cartridges, single pass, reliable
Cons a bit slow, hard to read lcd at first until get used to it
Summary I have the dn (no slots). It came ready to work. Took little time to set up. Worked like a charm, 1st time every time. The color and black and white look fine on ordinary paper. I replaced a Samsung clp 500. This is much better. I had no problem ... Expand full review
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Specifications
See full specsQuick Specs
- Printer Type: Workgroup printer - Laser - Color
- Max media size: Legal (8.5 in x 14 in)
- Connectivity technology: Wired
