HP DeskJet 5940 Photo Inkjet Printer

The HP DeskJet 5940 Photo Printer is a sibling of the 5440 inkjet printer and offers minor improvements for an extra $20. The PC and MAC compatible DeskJet 5940 prints at a max optimized 4,800 x 1,200 dpi and provides sharp and crisp texts and graphics, but only average photos with moderate banding and pronounced graininess. It can however print these photos up to a surprising 8.5 x 24 panorama mode and it has a Pictbridge port for direct printing from your digital camera. The printer uses the same high quality HP Vivera inks in two cartridge, four color mode (HP 98 Black Inkjet and HP 95 Tricolor Inkjet) or replacing the black with a photo ink cartridge (HP 99 Photo) for higher quality 6 ink color print mode. The DeskJet 5940 however can utilize higher capacity ink cartridges (21 to 14 ml over the 5440’s 5ml) for more economical bulk ink usage. Despite it though, all these extra inks are expensive and since they aren’t individual they may be expensive in the long run. Speed wise, text and graphic printing is a faster max speed of 24 pages per minute while a 5 x 7 photo on high prints at a swift 45 seconds. Overall, the DeskJet 5940 is a slight improvement, but the photo quality is still average. The price and performance though is still a good but for budget minded students or causal users.