HP DeskJet 4155e Review

The HP Deskjet 4155e is a bit of a conundrum. It does excel at photo printing, but its excessive operating costs and general operating errors make it hard to recommend. Keep in mind that this machine cannot print duplex documents. Its high photo quality, coupled with its low initial purchase price, does make it stand out from the pack. If you don't print very often, this may not be a bad option.

Performance Comparison

Text Quality

The HP Deskjet 4155e did poorly in our text quality tests. Here we made prints of different sized text and examined them under a microscope. As you can see in the photo below, the text exhibited blurriness and a lack of crispness at the edges. We also observed inconsistent fills for bolded text and an inability to maintain sharpness for thin fonts. That said, the text quality is what we'd expect from such a low-cost printer.

Graphics and Photos

The HP DeskJet 4155e performed surprisingly well in our graphics and photos test metric. Prints were consistent, and at least from afar, details were sharp. However, under close inspection using a microscope, there was some very faint striping in parts of the images, and the details aren't as sharp as they seemed at first glance.

That said, the colors were vibrant and sharp, and the HP DeskJet 4155e demonstrated respectable photo and graphic printing performance in our testing, considering its modest upfront cost.

Operating Cost

The HP Deskjet 4155e operating costs are undoubtedly high. Every 120 pages of monochrome prints will cost you $18, or $74.96 per ream. Color prints will set you back $94.95 per ream. That works out to 15 cents per page for black and white prints and 19 cents per page for color prints, which is nearly double the average cost for the entire test group.

With such high ink costs and frequent ink resupplies you'll quickly find this printer's upfront cost misleading. So, if you use your printer frequently, this unit isn't actually as cost-effective as it leads on. However, this could still be a decent budget printer if you'll only use it occasionally.

Ease of Use

The HP DeskJet 4155e performed pretty well overall in this metric but is limited by its small display screen. The initial setup is quite simple and is aided by the support of a mobile app, which we found to be easy to operate. The HP DeskJet 4155e also has a tiny display to indicate ink levels, paper loads, WiFi status, etc. That said, it makes pleasant noises to indicate when print jobs are complete, and ink cartridge replacements are simple.

Printing Speed

The HP DeskJet 4155e has no duplex printing capability; as such, it struggled a bit in our speed testing. During our mixed photo and text document test, this model crawled along, finishing the task in a slower 3 minutes and 45 seconds.

Full-page images took 5 minutes and 13 seconds, while our 10-page simplex test document printed in 59 seconds, or at a rate of 10 pages per minute — seven pages per minute less than the average for the test group. Again, this printer cannot print duplex documents, so potential buyers need to be aware of this limitation when considering it against other printers.

Should You Buy the HP DeskJet 4155e?

At a glance, the HP DeskJet 4155e doesn't look like a bad buy with its low purchase price, high-quality photo prints, compact size, and decent all-around performance. However, our testing revealed that its operating costs negate any cost savings you might be thinking you're getting by purchasing such an inexpensive printer. That said, if you're someone who doesn't print often, but when you do, you want photo (and other) prints to be high quality, and you don't need duplex printing ability, then the 4155e is an okay option.

What Other Printers Should You Consider?

Ultimately, the HP Deskjet 4155e is hard to recommend to anyone outside of the casual printer user who wants high-quality photo prints. Options like the Epson Workforce Pro WF-4820 present a much lower operating cost while still producing high-quality photographs. Of course, for greater text quality, faster speed, and more reasonable operating costs, you'll want to take a look at a more premium printer like the HP OfficeJet 8015e Wireless Color.