It can be hard to find a good printer that works well for your family. Today we are road testing the HP Envy 5542 to see if it meets the needs of a family with a lot of printing to be done.
About The HP Envy 5542
The HP Envy 5542, HP’s shiny new offering to the printer world. HP is pretty much the only brand of printer I’ve ever owned (although never one this fancy!). Mine always came from the post office and I’m pretty sure my last one only cost me $10 on sale! I’ve always liked them because they are instinctive to use and you don’t have to sell your first born to afford a new ink cartridge. Of course, it was nothing fancy like this one- I can see why they call it the Envy!
The HP Envy has all the bells and whistles you could possibly want from a printer- you can print directly from your phone or tablet, which is perfect for us as my daughter’s grade use iPads at school and she creates most of her assessments on it. You can print remotely through the app so they can even print stuff from school and have it waiting when they get home. The other thing I love is that you can set it to print double sided- which will save so much paper in this house as I think we go through one small tree a month.
HP Envy 5542 - scanner and photocopier
It also scans and photocopies with the touch of a screen. We scan a lot here- my son likes to build online resources for his assignments by scanning his resource texts for various assignments and filing them (he’s the most organised in the house!) Oh and did I mention stealth mode (ok they call it quite mode but still…) it means it doesn’t sound like a small plane is landing in the house every time you print.
It also has a built-in 10x15 cm photo tray so you can easily print photos without having to cut the A4 paper after printing etc. I’m pretty sure my daughter will be all over this function! Its microdot gloss finish means it looks amazing, plus it doesn’t leave fingerprints on the page when they inevitably print and grab as they run for the door in the morning. It's the perfect thing to help organise my teens and their school work.
Other ways I’m helping my teens get organised are:
The traffic light system of folders- a red, yellow and green folder for them to file their assessments in. The green means they have a long time to work on it, the yellow is assessments and exams coming up soon and the red are for immediate attention. They sort them weekly into the right folders to help them stay on top of things.
Creating a ‘technology box’- they check their phones into the box when its study and work time so that they don’t get distracted. They still have a laptop or iPad but the iPad has no social media apps on it.
A good weekly planner- with work, friends and staying at their dad’s house they can get very busy so we need to have a good planner so we know who is where and when they will fit their study in. Planning is essential for them to manage their workload because no one wants to pull an all-nighter.
To help get your family organised for school pick up an HP Envy for $99 at www.jbhifi.com.au
Shelley
What a great comp for this time of year. Why do i need a HP Envy in my home, well my old printer has just died and this one looks/sounds like it blows it out of the water anyway. My kids are younger but it doesn't stop the need for printing, with one that loves to colour and on that loves to read, this would come in so handy. Thanks so much. 🙂
Karen
Can this printer print #10 envelopes?
Maraya
I'm not sure sorry!
Lisa
I could do with one these in my house! Paper usage overload-I think I would use the double sided function til it burns out-one mistake and its -"I need to start again!" It's also the first year all three kids are at school and I think my prehistoric printer may be need to go into retirement. Unfortunately buying for the school year feels like buying a small car so it will have to wait.....unless I'm lucky enough to win a nice shinny new one 😉
Samantha
Oh isn't she pretty! Our printer broke in our recent cross country move... This would certainly be useful for Miss Olive as she starts her new school this year!
Jo @ You had us at hello
Thanks for the review! I just by chance hooked my HP Envy up yesterday and I'm in loooooooove! I bought it on sale months ago and waited for my old printer to die first. It's still kicking but the ink ran out so rather than spend a small fortune buying ink I upgraded our office. WOW! I keep printing from my phone because it's so cool!! haha! I'm so freakin impressed and learnt a few new tricks from your review so THANK YOU!
karina l
To print endless photos of my two babies...for the grandparents!
Deborah
This would be great not only for the kids but myself as well the printer we have is so old don't think you can buy the cartridges any more so this H P would come in very handy have followed on Instagram thanks
Deborah
Oops wrong Instagram name sorry debgay100 should be this
Claire L
This HP printer looks awesome! It feels like we have only ever had HP printers and laptops too, and I can't deny it's time to upgrade - with my daughter starting Year 1 this week, and both parents working from home until late at night most of the functions here (including stealth mode) would be perfect for us!
Anatasia
Wow perfect timing in need of a new printer to start studying for my new career 🙂 looks like a winner with all the functions on it!
Magaly
I need this printer, I have one that only prints. I need to scan as well and all the other fancy stuff would come in handy!
Gezz
I'm a HP fan too we have 2 HP laptops and always use a HP printer. I would like to win one so I can give it to my parents as their printer just broke and they have been getting me to print stuff for them.
Joan Soler
I would love to win this for my kids. Specially for my 2 teens uses a lot of printing
brother printer support
I am using HP Photosmart D7560 printer it is good but HP Photosmart D7560 is a cheap printer. But the quality of the prints it produces is anything but cheap, with very decent color accuracy and good detail.