REASONS TO BUY
User-friendly
Fast printing
Great for documents
REASONS TO AVOID
Somewhat pricey
Heavy
Lackluster images
HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw Review
This hefty powerhouse is a solid choice for quick and high quality printing
Credit: Abriah Wofford
RELATED: Best Home Printers of 2024
Our Verdict
The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw stands out as a top-notch color laser printer tailored for homes and small offices, particularly excelling in document printing. It delivers superb prints characterized by sharp text, true blacks, and consistent quality and clarity. However, its performance is not as outstanding when it comes to printing vivid graphics or reproducing accurate images. So, if your primary focus is on swift document printing, excellent text quality, and cost-effective operation, this is the model to choose. But if you need more than the occasional graphic or photo, you'll want to consider one of the other exceptional models we tested in our top-ranked home printer review.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product
HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw | |||||
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| Awards |  |  | |  | |
| Price | $399 List $299.00 at Amazon | $160 List $99.99 at Amazon | $220 List $149.99 at Amazon | $150 List | $280 List $199.99 at Amazon |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Bottom Line | This workhorse is a strong option for document printing | A good document printer for home office use | A great budget-friendly printer that performs well in every metric and excels at affordable, high quality photo printing | Fast black and white printing, reasonable operating costs, and solid performance make this a great choice for a homes and small offices | Good but not great printing performance, with incredibly low operating costs |
| Rating Categories | HP Color LaserJet P... | HP OfficeJet 8015e... | Epson Workforce Pro... | Brother Monochrome... | Epson EcoTank ET-2800 |
| Operating Cost (25%) | |||||
| Text Quality (25%) | |||||
| Graphics and Photos (25%) | |||||
| Ease of Use (15%) | |||||
| Printing Speed (10%) | |||||
| Specs | HP Color LaserJet P... | HP OfficeJet 8015e... | Epson Workforce Pro... | Brother Monochrome... | Epson EcoTank ET-2800 |
| Type | Laser | All-in-one inkjet | All-in-one inkjet | Laser | All-in-one inkjet |
| Capabilities | Print, scan, copy | Print, scan, copy, fax | Print, scan, copy | ||
| Estimated Lifetime Cost of Ownership | $822 | $646 | $634 | $434.00 | $301 |
| Resolution (Black) | 600 x 600 dpi | 1200 x 1200 dpi | 4800 x 1200 dpi | 2400 x 600 dpi | 5760 x 1440 dpi |
| Resolution (Color) | 600 x 600 dpi | 4800 x 1200 dpi | 4800 x 1200 dpi | Unspecified | 5760 x 1440 dpi |
| Supported Paper Sizes | Letter(8.5 x 11); Legal(8.5 x 14); Executive(7.2 x 10.5); Oficio 8.5x13(8.5 x 13); 4 x 6(4 x 6); 5 x 8(5 x 8); A4(8.3 x 11.7); A5(5.8 x 8.3); A6(4.1 x 5.8); B5(JIS)(7.2 x 10.1); B6(JIS)(5 x 7.2); 10x15cm (3.9 x 5.9); Oficio 216x340 mm(8.5 x 13.4); 16K 195x270mm(7.6 x 10.6); 16K 184x260mm(7.2 x 10.2); 16K 197x273mm(7.8 x 10.7); Postcard (JIS)(3.9 x 5.8); Double Postcard(JIS)(5.8 x 7.9); Envelope #10(4.1 x 9.5); Envelope Monarch(3.9 x 7.5); Envelope B5(6.9 x 9.8); Envelope C5(6.4 x 9); Envelope DL(4.3 x 8.7); A5-R(8.3 x 5.8); | Letter; Legal; Government Legal; Executive; Statement; 4 x 6 in; 5 x 7 in; 13 x 18 cm; 8 x 10 in; 10 x 15 cm; L; Photo 2L; Envelope( #10, Monarch, 5.5 bar); Card (4 x 6 in, 5 x 8 in) | 3.5 x 5", 4 x 6", 5 x 7", 8 x 10",8.5 x 11", 8.5 x 14", A4, A6, half letter, executive | Letter, Legal, Executive, A4, A5, A6, B5, B6 (tray) Envelope, Custom Sizes (3.0-8.5" (w), 5.0-14" (l)) (manual feed) |
4 x 6", 5 x 7", A6, Half Letter, Letter, A4, Executive, Legal, User definable (from 2.2 x 3.4" to 8.5 x 47.2") |
| Measured Dimensions (excludes extensions) | 15.4" x 16.5" x 9.7 " | 18.1" x 13.4" x 9.2" | 14.8" x 13.7" x 9.1" | 14.0" x 14.2" x 7.2" | 14.8" x 22.8" x 10.0" |
| Measured Weight | 32.1 Ib | 18 lb | 15.0 lb | 15.1 Ib | 9.3 Ib |
| Paper Handling Input | 250 Sheets | 225 Sheets | 250 Sheets | 250 Sheets | 100 Sheets plain paper, 20 sheets photo paper |
| Monthly Duty Cycle | 40,000 Pages | 20,000 Pages | 5,000 Pages | 15,000 Pages | Not specified |
| Auto 2-Sided Printing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Ink Cost per Ream: B/W | $26.67 | $34.98 | $28.56 | $18.95 | $1.55 |
| Ink Cost per Ream: Color | $34.40 | $22.21 | $23.94 | NA | $0.93 |
| Claimed Pages Per Minute | 22 | 24 | 15 | 32 | 10 (black) 5 (color) |
| Measured Pages per Minute: Single-Sided B/W | 19 | 15 | 24 | 30 | 10 |
| Connectivity | Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port; built-in Fast Ethernet 10/100Base-TX network port; 802.11n 2.4/5GHz wireless; Walkup host USB port | 1 Wireless 802.11a/b/g/n | 100Mbps Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, USB 2.0 | Wireless 802.11 b/g/n, Hi-Speed USB 2.0, Wi Fi Direct | Hi-Speed USB Wi-Fi 4 (802.11 b/g/n)9 Wi-Fi Direct |
| Operating System Compatibility | Windows 11; Windows 10; Windows 8; Windows 7; Windows Vista; macOS 10.12 Sierra; macOS 10.13 High Sierra; macOS 10.14 Mojave; macOS 10.15 Catalina | Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7,Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit, Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit (SP1), Windows Server 2012 64-bit, Windows Server 2012 R2 64-bit, Windows Server 2016, Chrome OS Windows XP and Windows Vista not supported | Windows 10 Windows 8, 8.1 (32-bit, 64-bit) Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit) Mac OS X 10.6 — macOS 10.13.x11 |
Windows 8.1, 8, 7 / Windows 10 Home / 10 Pro / 10 Education / 10 Enterprise Windows Server 2016 / 2012 R2 / 2012 / 2008 R2 / 2008 Mac OS X v10.10.5, 10.11.x, 10.12.x, 10.13.x Linux |
Windows 10, Windows 8, 8.1 (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows 7 (32- bit, 64-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows Server 10 2003 SP2 or later, 2008, 2008R2, 2012, 2012R2, 2016, 2019, 2016 Mac OS X 10.6.8 — macOS 10.15.x11 |
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Our Analysis and Test Results
The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw is an excellent printer that rivals some of the most exceptional models we've put through our comprehensive testing.
Performance Comparison
A great document printer with respectable photo printing performance and relatively low operating costs.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Text Quality
To examine text quality, we used a microscope to scrutinize each printer's ability to generate sharp text prints in black and white and maintain a high level of text resolution from one print to the next. Overall, we found the HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw did a consistent and exceptional job compared to its peers.
The text quality of black and white prints was great across all of our tests. We deeply analyzed prints, using magnification to reveal things that are not visible to the naked eye. Under this level of scrutiny, the HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw offered impressive performance with consistent clarity. We observed no blemishes, smearing, or spreading, and absolutely no streaking or bleed-through.
The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw offers near perfect text printing.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
What was very obvious from this model that many other printers fail to get right is blackness. The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw prints blacks that are truly black, solid, and never light or washed out.
However, when it boils down to text resolution and clarity at a very small text size, we did notice an ever so slight loss of edge detail. Again, this is hardly noticeable and requires some rather intense scrutiny. Overall, we were very impressed with the text quality in prints produced by the HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw.
If you zoom in extra close, you'll see just how sharp the text quality is on the HP Color LaserJet Pro.
Credit: Lesley Robinson
Graphics and Photos
The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw didn't shock or awe our team in our graphics and photos testing metric.
Although photos were lacking, charts and graphs produced by the HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw were acceptable.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw produced photo prints that were generally crisp with a high level of resolution and were consistently pixelation and patch-free. However, the most glaring and consistent issue was oversaturated blues that dominated images and made otherwise exceptional prints mediocre.
The HP Color printers produce faded-looking images.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
We generally observed decent graphics and photo prints in our testing, and while this printer did severely oversaturate some colors, it still offers consistent, albeit average, graphic and photo printing abilities.
You'll notice a teal tint to the blue test strip produced by the HP Color LaserJet.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Operating Cost
The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw did well in our operating cost metric compared to most other home printers we've tested. We calculated the replacement for black ink to cost around $72 in total, with 1350 pages used before replacing. This averages out to $26.67 for 500 sheets. The ink replacement of 500 colored pages came out to a total of $34.40. Both black and white and color printing costs are on par with what you can expect from most other home printers.
Those aforementioned reem and ink consumption costs work out to about 5 cents per black and white page, and 7 cents for color pages. These operational costs are a little better than the average, based on numbers generated from our entire test group of 8 cents for black and white pages and 11 cents for color pages, meaning you'll get a little more mileage out of this printer than you would with most others.
Ease of Use
The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw is a user-friendly printer that is easy to set up and easy to use. The initial printer setup is straightforward, and the printer comes with clear instructions. The brief process involves loading paper, selecting the 'English' language setting and 'USA' for location, turning on the WiFi, and then manually connecting to WiFi. Making that Wifi connection worked perfectly on the first attempt.
There is no need to download an app before you can begin printing with the HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw, and the four toner cartridges come pre-installed. There was also no pre-flight calibration print operation to run with this model, as there is with many others. Printing from either a laptop or a smartphone via the app was simple and painless.
A large display makes operation intuitive and easy.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
The interface earned our praise for its 1.5 by 2.5-inch color touchscreen display, which makes it easy to navigate through the various menus and settings. This was straightforward and intuitive in general. There is also a power button along with three other buttons on the side of the screen to aid in navigation. They include home, back, and "?". Our test team had zero issues navigating menus, but we do recognize that it felt a little bit cramped and believe it could be difficult for someone with larger fingers to operate.
Paper trays are in the front and easily accessed, as are the four toner cartridges. The customer service was also great, and both the app and the company's website are easy to use. The live chat offered on both platforms was pleasant and helpful. We were pleased with the overall ease of use, which seems to be a hallmark of HP printers these days.
A large paper tray is located at the front of the unit and is easy to use.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Printing Speed
The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw is a fast printer and was only outpaced by a couple of printers in our competitive product lineup. In our mixed text and photo speed test, the M255dw accomplished a 10-page test print in a swift 51 seconds and performed just as well in our high-resolution photo speed test, finishing the task in a brisk 31 seconds.
This model also does a good job at printing both simplex and duplex text prints, completing our 10-page document test using duplex settings in 46 seconds, or an average of 13 pages per minute, while it performed the same test using simplex settings in 31 seconds, averaging a quick 19 pages per minute.
For a quick comparison, the fastest printers tested performed the 10-page tasks at 17 pages per minute and 33 pages per minute, respectively, while the average for the test group was 10 pages per minute using duplex settings and 17 pages per minute using simplex settings.
This model makes swift work of large and complicated tasks.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Should You Buy the HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw?
The HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw is an excellent color laser printer designed for use in homes and small offices where it excels at document printing. It produces high-quality prints with sharp text and consistent text clarity but isn't quite as exceptional when it comes to printing rich graphics or clear, vibrant, and color-accurate photos. If you are exclusively interested in fast document printing with high text quality and good operating costs, then you'll be pleased with the M255dw.
What Other Printers Should You Consider?
While HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw is a top recommendation and a great choice for document printing, there are printers that offer better photo printing in a more harmonious balance of features and cost, like the lower priced HP OfficeJet 8015e Wireless Color. Of course, if you are interested in the most economical printers, you'll need to consider the Epson EcoTank ET-2800. This offers incredibly low operational costs, making it one of the best long-term investments, even if its upfront price tag is a bit hefty. Lastly, if you are looking to extend the versatility of a home office printer, then it may be worth taking a look at the all-in-one HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw. The HP adds scanning, copying, and faxing to its feature list while taking up very little space in the home office.
A good buy for those focused on quality and affordable document printing.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
—
Lesley Robinson, Genaveve Bradshaw, and Benjamin Hickok
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