HP Color Laserjet 2550 Printer Series


An entry level colour laser printer, introduced in June 2004 and aimed at affordability. Creates professional documents for small businesses and home offices. A 4 pass colour laser printer process is used with a toner carousel. This achieves fast black and white print at up to 20 pages of letter paper per minute. The printer can be used for colour, the speed dropping to 4ppm. The design gives fairly fast monochrome printing with colour as an option for more occasional use.

  • Color LaserJet 2550L Printer - Q3702A - base or "Light" model
  • Color LaserJet 2550LN Printer - Q3703A light model with network
  • Color LaserJet 2550n Printer - Q3704A network + 2 trays

The low purchase price of the 2550 models made them attractive for small business. The user has an option to use standard life 2,000 page cartridges or 5,000 page longer life cartridges.

One issue people mention is high toner use. As with the CLJ 2500 the print mechanism is based on a carousel and each toner goes through a cleaning cycle every so often (usually on startup). Some toner is wasted as a result.

Color Laserjet 2800 series (2820 and 2840, its a short series) are the same basic printer made multifunctional by putting a scanner on top.

Color LaserJet 2500 series is an older model, slightly slower at black and white print and taking different consumables.

In July 2009 several online retailers were listing these printers at UK prices between £400 and £450 - but no one actually had stock. Production seems to have ended. Refurbished printers were shipping at £300 or so.


Control:

Rudimentary LED's for each toner. Button controls: Go, Job Cancel, Rotate Carousel. Network models support Web Jetadmin


Duty Cycle:

Recommended for low volume work - 250-1500 pages per month. Maximum duty cycle to 20,000 pages but if that kind of use is likely a larger printer with more economical cartridges would be recommended.


19ppm Black, 4ppm Colour

First page out in less than 18 second

600x 600 dpi. HP ImageREt 2400, Ultraprecise toner.


Paper Handling:

A4, A5, B5. Tray 1 125 sheets. Tray 2 250 sheets, A4, A5 etc All margins 4.2mm.

  • Tray 1:125 sheets: 76 x 127 to 216 x 356 mm. 60 to 177 g/m2
  • Optional Tray 2:250 sheets: 176 x 250 to 216 x 356 mm. 60 to 105 g/m2
  • Optional Tray 3:500 sheets: 216 x 279 to 210 x 297 mm. 60 to 105 g/m2

Duplex:

Manual only via software. No auto-duplex is available.


Processor:

Motorola CFV4e 264MHz.


Memory:

64MB RAM fitted as standard. Expandable to 192MB using one industry standard 100-pin SDRM DIMM slot using Memory Enhancement technology (MEt).


Interface:

USB 2.0 and IEEE 1284-B compliant parallel port.


Network:

Built in Jetdirect on ¨N¨ version with RJ45. The network version has a built in 10/100 print server.


Network Protocols:

IP Direct Mode, LPD.


HP PCL 6 and HP Postscript level 3 emulation.


Power:

120V and 220V models:


Power Consumption:

Off 1 Watt, Standby 17 watts, Active 368 Watts.


Dimension:

482x452x325mm


Weight:

21.7kg


Consumables:

Cartridges for the CLJ 2550 fit the multifunction CLJ 2820/2840 as well. Colour cartridges come in two versions, a low capacity 2,000 page version which is economical to buy for occasional colour users and a 4,000 page version aimed at giving better print economy. The cartridges, image drum and fuser are not compatible with the older CLJ 2500 model. HP SureSupply alerts when cartridge is low - online ordering.


Q3960A HP Black Color LaserJet Smart Print Cartridge - 5,000 pages at 5% - Q3960A

Q3961A HP Cyan Color LaserJet Smart Print Cartridge - 5,000 pages at 5% - Q3961A

Q3963A HP Magenta Color LaserJet Smart Print Cartridge - 5,000 pages at 5% - Q3963A

Q3962A HP Yellow Color LaserJet Smart Print Cartridge - 5,000 pages at 5% - Q3962A

Q3971A HP Cyan Color LaserJet Smart Print Cartridge - 2,000 pages at 5% - Q3971A

Q3973A HP Magenta Color LaserJet Smart Print Cartridge - 2,000 pages at 5% - Q3973A

Q3972A HP Yellow Color LaserJet Smart Print Cartridge - 2,000 pages at 5% - Q3972A


Spares:


RB3-0160 - Tray 1 Pickup Roller - RB3-0160-000CN

RF5-4012 - MP Tray Separation Pad, holder and spring - RF5-4012-00CN

RB3-0161 - Tray 2 Pickup Roller Assy Part Number - RB3-0161-000CN (not currently available)

RC1-0945 - Tray 2 Separation Pad (HP Partsurfer says MP/Tray 1) RC1-0945-000CN

RB3-0011 - Feed drive shaft with 8 feed belt ball pulleys and one ribbed drive belt pulley RB3-0011-000CN

RB3-0129 - Feed Roller Assembly - metal shaft and 2 small rubber rollers RB3-0129-020CN

RF5-4067 - Transfer Roller (Long black roller to transfer charge to paper) - RF5-4067-030CN

RF5-4258 Tray 2- 3 Separation Pad RF5-4258-020CN

RG5-6952 Tray 1 Pickup Assembly - RG5-6952-020CN

RG5-7595 Deliver Assembly for Lower Top Bin

RG5-7611 DC Controller - RG5-7611-030CN (Possibly Discontinued)

Q3703-67901 Main Logic Board - Q3703-67901 (Possibly Discontinued)

Q3964-67901 Image Drum Transfer Assy - Q3964-6790

RG5-6890 Laser Scanner - RG5-6890030CN

Copyright G Huskinson & MindMachine Associates Ltd 2012