We have talked quite some about HP Envy series already. In a previous article, we have compared HP Envy 5540 and HP Envy 5660, two all-in-one printers a few tens of dollars above a hundred bucks. But some people may want to keep looking for some slightly cheaper alternatives for some reasons. Because of that, this time, we have put HP Envy 4520 and HP Envy 5540. These two models are now available around one hundred bucks, and more often than not, you can get either of them without having to go broke. They have quite decent performance. Which one makes the better value for the money?
Design
From the design point of view, these models are quite similar. Both are made to serve your printing, scanning, and copying needs, as well as wireless and mobile printing tasks. Worth a note, HP Envy 4520 is a little more compact than HP Envy 5540, with a slightly smaller and lighter body. The layouts are pretty identical, both feature monochrome LCD touchscreens for easy control, yet HP Envy 5540’s is wider than HP Envy 4520’s.
Performance
Both models are also similar in output quality. They have similar maximum resolutions for printing, scanning, and copying. They do great on black-and-white printing, and not so bad on color printing for casual or personal purposes. The scanning and copying results are also decent and will certainly do well for most jobs. However, HP Envy 5540 can work considerably faster than HP Envy 4520, featuring 12 ISO ppm speed for monochrome print and 8 ISO ppm for color print. As a comparison, the other model only has 9.5 ppm and 6.8 ppm for those purposes. If you hate waiting or need to handle a chunk of papers often, the faster speeds will be very handy.
Features
Both models support similar features, including Wi-Fi connectivity and automatic 2-sided duplex printing so that you won’t have to insert a paper twice in order to print on both sides. However, HP Envy 5540 has larger trays than HP Envy 4520. It has 125-sheet input tray, 15-sheet photo paper tray, and 25-sheet output tray. HP Envy 4520 has no photo tray, only comes with a 100-sheet input tray and a 25-sheet output tray.
HP Envy 5540 vs. 4520
In general, HP Envy 5540 makes the most value for your money. It comes with faster speeds and larger trays. The photo paper tray is a handy addition. However, if you only have a light duty cycle, say, under 200 pages per month, and you really need to save some cash, you can choose HP Envy 4520!