HP Smart Tank 5105 – continuous ink system printer
The HP Smart Tank 5105 at $399 brings the work of affordable ink tank printing to consumers. It joins the 7000 series that have been such a success with small business and workgroups.
Ink Tank printers cost a little more upfront, but HP includes up to 6000 mono or 8000 colour pages (at 5% coverage) in the box. When low-cost printers can cost over 50 cents a page, students and heavier users can quickly recoup the additional capital costs over a cheap inkjet.
As an entry-level printer, the HP Smart Tank 5105 has:
- 12/5 pages per minute mono/colour plus first page out time of about 15 seconds
- Duty cycle up to 3000 pages per month
- Single-sided print
- Refillable ink tanks – the print head is a replaceable consumable after 30,000 prints (price and availability TBA). See HP Smart Tank Printers – Replace the printhead | HP Customer Support.
- USB, Wi-Fi 2.4Ghz (self-healing) and Bluetooth LE connection
- Single-page scanner (no fax or ADF)
- Up to 100 sheets, 75gsm paper rear load input
- Up to 30 sheets, 75gsm paper front output
- Supports 88.9 x 127 to 215.9 x 355.6mm (A4 is 210 x 297)
- Plain paper: 60 to 90 g/m²; Envelopes: 75 to 90 g/m²; Cards: up to 200 g/m²; Photo paper: up to 300 g/m²
- Footprint 434.66 x 580.65 x 259.37 mm x 5.03kg
- Works with Windows and Mac
- Android and iOS smartphone HP Smart app with print and scan features
- Uses HP32, 1345ml, Black ($29.16) and HP31, 70ml, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow (each $25.92) total $106.92. Only refill the ink when empty.
- Warranty: 12 months or 30,000 pages (whichever is first).
- Officeworks exclusive Website
- Manual
CyberShack’s view – HP Smart Tank 5105 is suitable for consumers that print more
You buy it because it is very low cost to run. You recoup capital costs after about 500 sheets (a ream) compared to a $99 inkjet.
HP tells us that it has eliminated the need for purging ink after power-on (like most wasteful inkjets) and does not need a sponge inside to soak it up. Providing you can get a replacement print head; it should be a keeper.
