HP 63 Ink Cartridge Review – Reliable Everyday Printing?

Quick Verdict

If you're hunting for a HP 63 ink cartridge that just works without fuss, this genuine HP tri-color option delivers the reliability you'd expect from the original manufacturer. The 100-page yield is modest, and the per-page cost isn't the cheapest on the market, but for light-duty home and small-office printing it holds its own. I'd rate it 4.2 out of 5—it earns the recommendation, but only if you understand what you're signing up for.

What Is the HP 63 Ink Cartridge?

The HP 63 is a tri-color ink cartridge that combines cyan, magenta, and yellow into a single cartridge shell. It's designed for HP's mid-range consumer lineup—machines like the DeskJet 2600 series, Envy 4500 and 5000 series, OfficeJet 3800 and 5200 series, and the HP AMP line. You get one cartridge in the box (part number B7RT2AA), and it slots in without any firmware warnings or alignment delays on supported printers.

I installed mine in an OfficeJet 4655 that had been sitting dormant for three weeks. The printer recognised the cartridge immediately, ran a quick alignment page, and was printing in under four minutes. That ease of setup is worth noting—it's the kind of thing you don't appreciate until you've wrestled with a third-party cartridge that your printer stubbornly refuses to acknowledge.

Key Features

• Tri-color formulation: cyan, magenta, and yellow in one cartridge
• Approximate 100-page yield at 5% page coverage per colour
• Compatible with over 60 HP consumer printer models across DeskJet, Envy, OfficeJet, and AMP families
• Genuine HP formulation engineered for consistent colour reproduction
• HP ocean-plastic recycling programme incorporated into cartridge housing
• Plug-and-play installation with automatic alignment on supported HP printers
• Part number B7RT2AA for straightforward ordering

Hands-On Review

The first thing I printed after installation was a shipping label—black text on white label stock, nothing glamorous. The text came out crisp, with no banding or feathering, and the barcode scanned first time. I was relieved, because I'd half-expected the cartridge to need a head-cleaning cycle before behaving itself.

A few days later I ran a mixed print job: a colour infographic for my daughter's school project and a two-page text document. The infographic colours were reasonably vivid—not gallery-quality by any stretch, but punchy enough for a classroom poster. The yellows in particular leaned warm, which some users might prefer and others might find slightly oversaturated. By day five I'd printed roughly 35 pages total, and the cartridge indicator on the printer app was sitting at around 65% remaining.

What surprised me was the ink consumption balance. On a tri-color cartridge, you lose one colour and replace everything—that's the trade-off versus separate cartridges. In my case, magenta depleted fastest, which meant I was watching the 'replace cartridge' warning appear while cyan and yellow still had life left. For a household that prints a lot of photos, this inefficiency adds up.

Two weeks in, I was at roughly 70 pages total. The cartridge alert triggered just under HP's rated 100-page figure, which tracks with the 5% coverage assumption. Your mileage will obviously vary based on what you actually print. I also noticed that idle periods—even short ones overnight—didn't seem to trigger any drying issues, which speaks well of HP's ink formulation.

Who Should Buy It?

The HP 63 ink cartridge is a solid fit if:

• You own a compatible HP DeskJet, Envy, OfficeJet, or AMP printer and want a guaranteed-compatible OEM cartridge
• Your printing volume is light—under 30 pages per month—and you don't want to buy in bulk
• You value simplicity over cost-per-page efficiency and prefer not to fiddle with third-party cartridge settings
• You appreciate HP's environmental messaging and would rather buy recycled-content products

Skip this if you print heavily every week and want to minimize ink costs—in that case, look at HP's own XL high-yield variants or consider whether a laser printer makes more sense for your workflow. Also skip it if your printer specifically calls for the HP 65 or another cartridge series; the HP 63 won't work in machines designed for those alternatives.

Alternatives Worth Considering

HP 63XL High-Yield Tri-Color — If available for your specific printer model, the XL version typically delivers 2-3× the page yield for a modest price increase. Better value per page if you print regularly.

Brother INKvestment Tank Cartridges — Brother's tank-based ink systems offer dramatically lower running costs, though they require a different printer entirely. Worth considering if you're in the market for a new machine.

Epson EcoTank ITS Series — Supertank printers use bottled ink rather than cartridges and can slash per-page costs by 80% or more. Again, a hardware switch is required, but the long-term economics are hard to argue with for moderate-to-heavy users.

FAQ

Final Verdict

The HP 63 ink cartridge does exactly what it promises: it slots into your compatible HP printer, produces respectable colour and sharp black text, and keeps printing without drama. The 100-page yield is honest but limited, and the tri-color design will frustrate anyone who goes through one colour faster than the others. For occasional home use, it's a perfectly reasonable choice. If you find yourself hitting 'replace ink' every few weeks, though, I'd strongly encourage looking at the HP 63XL or a high-capacity alternative down the road.