HP LaserJet Enterprise 500 Color MFP M575dn

There's a lot to like about the HP LaserJet Enterprise 500 Color MFP M575dn, including its blazing speed; its excellent graphics quality its ability to print from and scan to multiple destinations; and a ginormous color touch screen for controlling its various functions. Set against those pluses, though, are slightly sub-par text and photo quality, a relatively meager paper capacity, the lack of standard fax capabilities, and a hefty price tag. Still, it's well worth a close look by workgroups and small businesses looking for a workhorse laser multifunction printer (MFP) able to print good-quality color graphics.

You'll probably want three people to move this goliath into place, as the M575dn?which measures 23 by 26.1 by 21.8 inches (HWD)?tips the scale at 102 pounds. The M575dn can print, copy, and scan, but not fax. An optional fax card is available for $299 direct, or you could buy the M575f, which adds both fax capabilities and a built-in stapler, for $2,699. the M575dn can print from and scan to a USB thumb drive, scan to email, save to a network folder, or send to an FTP server. Its 8-inch color touch screen lets you control these and other functions, including secure, password-protected printing. (It has a built-in 250GB secure hard drive.) Among the options is a "placeholder" icon for the fax, in case you spring for the option.?

On top of the printer is a 50-sheet reversing automatic document feeder (RADF), capable of scanning or copying both sides of two-sided, multipage documents. The M575DN has a standard paper capacity of 350 sheets, split between a 250-feet main tray and a 100-sheet multipurpose tray, and has an automatic duplexer for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper. With an optional 500-sheet tray ($319 direct), the maximum paper capacity is 850 sheets. That's still less than even the standard 900-sheet paper capacity of the Editors' Choice Lexmark X548dte, which has a maximum paper capacity of 1,450 sheets. The HP's maximum monthly duty cycle is up to 75,000 pages; the X548dte's is 85,000.

The M575DN can connect to a network via Ethernet (including Gigabit Ethernet) or to a computer via USB; optional Wi-Fi is available.

Printing Speed
I timed the M575dn on our business applications suite (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing), at an effective 8.5 pages per minute (ppm). That's very fast for a color laser MFP, and a good speed considering its 31-page per minute rated speed for both color and monochrome that's based on printing text documents without graphics or photos?our test suite includes text pages, graphics pages, and pages with mixed content. It's even faster than the Lexmark X548dte, with a tested speed of 7.0 ppm and a modest 25 page-per-minute rated speed for both color and monochrome, as well as the OKI MC561, which tested at 7.2 ppm and has a rated speed of 31 ppm for monochrome printing and 27 ppm for color printing. The HP LaserJet Pro 400 Color MFP M475dn, geared to smaller offices than the M575dn, limped in at a mere 3.2 ppm.

Output Quality
Text quality was slightly sub-par for a laser, which is still fine for typical business uses, though I'd draw the line at desktop publishing or marketing materials that require smaller fonts. Graphics quality was above par, good enough for printing out marketing materials. The only flaw worth mention was that some black backgrounds appeared slightly faded. Photo quality was slightly subpar for a color laser. Prints tended to be a little on the dark side, and there was some loss in detail in both dark and light areas. Other issues included dithering (graininess), and posterization (abrupt changes in shading where they should be gradual).

There's a lot to like about the HP LaserJet Enterprise 500 Color MFP M575dn, and it's worth consideration by a small to mid-sized business looking for a workhorse color laser. Like the Editors' Choice Lexmark X548dte, it prints high-quality graphics and has a large color touch screen and a built-in hard drive. It's even faster than the impressively swift Lexmark, and supports HP's ePrint functionality. But the HP lacks the X548dte's fax capabilities, stumbles a bit on text and photo quality, and has much smaller standard and optional paper capacity, yet sells for considerably more.

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