HP Color LaserJet Enterprise 5700dn Review: Color Output for a Managed Print Fleet

The enterprise case starts with control

The 5700dn is a print-only color laser device, rated by HP at up to 45 letter-size pages per minute in black or color. Its recommended monthly volume is 2,000 to 10,000 pages; the 80,000-page duty-cycle figure is a different measure. A small office occasionally printing a presentation and a department steadily producing shared reports will therefore get very different value from the same hardware.

Cartennas sees its strongest case in an existing managed fleet. The buying question is whether administrators will use its controls to make shared printing predictable. A fast device left with unmanaged queues, unrestricted color jobs and inconsistent supplies can increase spending without making document delivery more reliable.

Paper handling affects the queue more than the headline speed

The standard inputs are a 550-sheet tray and a 100-sheet multipurpose tray, with automatic two-sided printing. Keeping a full ream in the main tray reduces the friction of topping up a partly empty cassette. The multipurpose path also lets an operator handle a distinct medium without repurposing the department's normal paper supply.

Consider a team that prints a long report immediately before several users send short jobs. The delay each user experiences includes the work already queued, document processing and any interruption for media. It is not the reciprocal of 45 ppm. This is why queue separation, default duplex settings and media availability belong in the value assessment.

A letter-size general office laser should also be judged using the actual output. Fine chart lines, small reverse text, full-page color fills and the department's chosen cardstock can reveal limitations that an ordinary text sample hides. The model's color capability is useful for business communication; it is not evidence of calibrated proofing performance for a print production department.

The supplies policy is part of the product

HP states that dynamic security restricts this printer to cartridges using a new or reused HP chip, and that updates can block cartridges that previously worked. HP also distinguishes reused HP chips from non-HP chips, so describing every remanufactured cartridge as prohibited would be inaccurate.

The consequence is practical: a purchasing team cannot evaluate an unusually cheap toner quote independently of the firmware policy. A supply that passes today's sample test may not provide a stable fleet standard if its compatibility relies on a chip the printer is designed to reject. Freezing security maintenance to preserve a toner arrangement creates another operating cost.

Price the expected black and color page mix separately, including supply reserves at locations where replenishment takes time. A mostly monochrome department with occasional specialist color needs may spend less by concentrating color work on fewer devices. A department whose documents require color every day has a stronger case for keeping that capability close to users.

Security features need an owner

HP's specification includes enterprise authentication, encrypted management options and controls such as 802.1X and SNMPv3. These capabilities can make the printer easier to fit into an established network and identity policy. They do not establish that a particular installation already meets that policy.

The administrative benefit arrives when the print team can deploy a consistent configuration, maintain certificates and identify the device in monitoring. An expired certificate can turn a hardware purchase into an access incident; an unowned shared queue can leave confidential jobs in the wrong place. The case for this enterprise model is stronger when those responsibilities already have an operational home.

What the owner evidence supports

The exact-model owner feedback available on HP's site includes positive comments about speed and output, but the published sample is small. That is useful directional evidence, not a reliability study. Broader complaints or praise for unrelated HP devices should not be counted as additional 5700dn observations.

We would therefore make a conditional recommendation: choose the 5700dn for a managed color workload with a clear supplies policy, then prove the high-volume documents and finishing requirements before standardizing. If the organization only needs occasional color and has no fleet-management requirement, its enterprise features may add less value than a less expensive device or a shared departmental color service.