Taking a look at the HP Color LaserJet 2550n printer using HP Color LaserJet 2550n replacement toners reveals a nice and inexpensive workgroup laser jet printer that Hewlett-Packard has obviously designed to fit a certain niche. Mainly, it’s one that includes printers that are easy to join to small workgroups, yet are also durable and easy to maintain. It’s found at nice prices all over the Internet, including units that are either used or refurbished.

When it comes to an HP color and black and white printer that delivers printed output at a decent speed (up to 20 pages per minute in black-and-white), the LaserJet 2550n seems well suited to living up to that role. Color output, on a page per minute basis, comes out at about 4 pages. It’s obvious, then, that the printer will be used more for regular black and white duties than for regular color print tasks.

The clarity and crispness of the output product of this particular printer is more than acceptable at 600 dots per inch (dpi). This is in keeping with the value-pricing of the printer and the capabilities of the 2550n that HP’s built into the machine. The ability of the Color LaserJet 2550n toners to deliver crisp output depends on one of HP’s image enhancement technology suites, which manages the job nicely.

Hewlett-Packard has built several different wired connectivity technologies into the printer, including an Ethernet 10/100 port as well as more traditional parallel port and USB 2.0 port connections. For any IT specialist who needs to join the printer quickly to a small workgroup, the job when it comes to this HP model will certainly be easy enough. This alone could be the deciding factor when it comes to buying or not buying the printer.

With 64 MB of RAM standard, the printer should be able to handle most print tasks in a small workgroup. If that’s not enough memory, the printer can be upgraded to 192 MB, though one should assess just how much memory is needed outside of what would probably be required from any normal small workgroup. A nice 264 MHz microprocessor completes the package, and handles its duties seamlessly and with no hiccups.

Total onboard paper storage capacity is 375 sheets, which is divided between a number of different trays of various sizes and purposes. Total paper handling capacity ranges all the way up to 875 sheets when optional paper trays are used. The printer’s fairly durable too, with a 30,000 page-per-month duty cycle standard. It’s recommended monthly range is between 1,000 and 4,000 pages, though, so keep that in mind.

Given that this HP unit is a true laser jet printer, occasional replacement of its four printer cartridges (magenta, yellow, black and cyan) will be required. When it comes to the different operating systems that the printer can run off of, the range is quite large, including Windows XP and many different Macs, as well as Linux/UNIX and even Windows Vista platforms (it’s certified to handle Vista with the addition of certain optional software).

All of these characteristics combine to make the HP Color LaserJet 2550n printer a nice value-priced business and workgroup machine that is sure to appeal. This is also because a refurbished unit can be found for around $350, while good-quality used versions with lots of life left in them go for about $250. This was a popular printer for Hewlett-Packard, which also means that plenty of parts and other accessories will be quite common.

That’s one of the great things about Hewlett-Packard – longevity. You’ll easily find Color LaserJet 2550n cartridge for this printer from any online retailer offering HP toner. When toner is offered at a great price, it just makes sense to get the most value for your dollar.