HP Envy 6555e Wireless Printer Review: Solid Home Choice

Quick Verdict

The HP Envy 6555e wireless printer is a competent all-in-one for home users who print regularly but don't need office-grade speed. Setup took me about fifteen minutes on a Friday evening, and by the weekend I was running homework assignments and a few borderless photo prints without a hitch. The touchscreen is genuinely smooth, the ADF handles multi-page scanning without complaint, and the dual-band Wi-Fi held its connection even when I moved the printer to the far corner of the house. That said, the HP+ ink lock-in is a real constraint — you will pay ongoing subscription costs after the trial, and there's no workaround. At around the $100 mark it's fairly priced for what it delivers, but make sure you're comfortable with the Instant Ink ecosystem before you commit. Score: 4.2/5.

What Is the HP Envy 6555e?

The HP Envy 6555e is a wireless all-in-one inkjet printer built for home environments — the kind of desk where someone might need to churn out a homework packet on a Tuesday night, scan a insurance form on a Saturday morning, and occasionally print a borderless 4x6 photo that actually looks good. It sits in the mid-range of HP's consumer lineup, positioned above basic single-function models but short of the heavy-duty EcoTank or OfficeJet Pro territory.

At its core the 6555e handles color printing, flatbed scanning, and copying with an automatic document feeder on top — a 35-sheet ADF that genuinely earns its place when you're working through a stack of school forms or receipts. The 2.4-inch color touchscreen is the main control surface, and it responds crisply to taps in a way that feels several steps above the fiddly button arrays on cheaper HP models. Print speeds cap at 10 ppm black and 7 ppm color, which is adequate for light daily use but noticeably patient if you're trying to clear a 20-page report before a meeting.

Key Features

• Print, scan, copy, and fax from one compact unit
• Automatic duplex (2-sided) printing saves paper
• 35-sheet ADF handles multi-page copy and scan jobs
• Dual-band Wi-Fi with auto-reconnection keeps the printer online
• HP Smart app for mobile print, scan, and copy from any device
• HP P3 technology for screen-accurate color on photos and graphics
• HP AI formatting removes unwanted web clutter from printouts
• 3-month Instant Ink trial included with HP+ activation
• 2.4-inch color touchscreen for intuitive local control
• 100-sheet input tray and 60% recycled plastic body

Hands-On Review

I unboxed the HP Envy 6555e on a rainy Sunday afternoon when I had a backlog of travel receipts to scan and a couple of permission slips to print before the week started. Setup was blessedly uncomplicated — powered it on, connected to my dual-band router through the touchscreen, and activated HP+ when prompted. The HP Smart app on my phone picked it up within seconds, which meant I could send the first print job from the couch before the printer had even settled onto its final spot on the desk.

What surprised me was the HP AI formatting feature. I had a cluttered web page — full of sidebars, pop-up banners, and auto-playing video residue — and the 6555e stripped it down to just the article text before printing. No wasted ink on navigation menus, no half-printed ad banners eating up the margin. It's a small thing, but after months of manually screenshotting and cropping pages on a clunky older printer, it felt genuinely useful.

Photo quality is where the HP P3 technology shows its hand. I ran a few test prints on HP's premium photo paper — nothing scientific, just snapshots of a weekend hike — and the colors were noticeably punchier and more accurate to what I saw on my monitor than what I'd been getting from a three-year-old budget printer. The 6555e isn't a photo lab replacement, but for 4x6 prints to stick on the fridge or tape into a travel journal, it's more than adequate. By day three I had the ADF running twenty pages of scanned documents for a freelance project — smooth, no paper jams, the feeder just chewed through them.

The Wi-Fi connection held steady through two weeks of testing. I should mention that I initially placed the printer too far from the router and got a brief connectivity hiccup on day four. After relocating it about twelve feet away with a clear line of sight, the dual-band radio found a stable 5 GHz signal and I haven't seen a drop since. HP's claim about automatic issue resolution seems backed up by the firmware's self-healing behavior — it reconnected without me touching anything.

Who Should Buy It?

The HP Envy 6555e is a natural fit for households with school-age kids, remote workers, or anyone who prints a few times a week but doesn't need a workhorse that churns out hundreds of pages daily. If you regularly print borderless photos, borderless documents, or school projects, the ADF and auto-duplex features will save you real time. The touchscreen and HP Smart app make it approachable for less tech-savvy family members who might otherwise avoid a network printer.

That said, skip this model if you're a heavy-volume user — the 100-sheet tray and modest ppm ratings will frustrate you. Also skip it if you're committed to buying third-party ink cartridges to save money long-term. Once HP+ is activated, the lock-in is permanent and non-negotiable. And if you print less than once a month on average, the subscription costs after the trial may not pencil out against buying cartridges as needed.

Alternatives Worth Considering

If you want to sidestep the HP+ subscription model entirely, the Epson Expression Home XP-4200 offers similar all-in-one functionality with standard third-party cartridge compatibility and slightly faster black-and-white printing for around the same price point. It lacks HP's AI formatting and P3 color tech, but for raw print-and-go utility it's a clean alternative.

For households that print heavily, the Canon PIXMA G7020 supertank printer eliminates cartridge replacement entirely with its refillable ink tank system. The upfront cost is higher, but per-page ink costs drop dramatically if you're printing dozens of pages every week. The trade-off is bulk — the G7020 is a larger, heavier unit that takes up more desk space.

On the budget end, the HP DeskJet 2755e covers the basics — wireless, color inkjet, HP Smart app — for noticeably less money. You sacrifice the ADF, auto duplex, and touchscreen, so it's best suited for very light use where a $60 printer makes more sense than a $100 one.

FAQ

Final Verdict

The HP Envy 6555e earns its place as a reliable home printer for the right user. The wireless setup is painless, the ADF and auto duplex handle everyday multi-page tasks without complaint, and the HP AI formatting is a genuinely handy feature I used more often than I expected. Build quality feels solid for a plastic-body consumer printer, and HP's sustainable design commitment — 60% recycled plastic — is a quiet positive if environmental footprint matters to you.

The main caveats are the ongoing ink costs and the HP+ lock-in. If you're comfortable with the Instant Ink subscription model after your free trial, the 6555e's running costs will be manageable. If you want maximum flexibility on consumables, look at the Epson or Canon alternatives above. But for straightforward home printing without fuss, the HP Envy 6555e delivers exactly what it promises.