The Difference Between HP Envy and OfficeJet Printers

Having a reliable printer is key, whether you’re an artist, a professional, or just plain busy. Who has time to deal with faulty printers? That’s why I love the HP line of printers. They create high quality prints, last a long time, and reliably alert you when you’re running out of ink. But, what printer should you get? The HP Envy and the OfficeJet printers are popular choices. What makes them different and which line of printer should you get?

The HP Envy line of printers are great for photo and color printing. The HP OfficeJet line of printers are great for high volume printing, copying, scanning, and faxing without as much emphasis on color quality.

Just because OfficeJet printers are well-suited for offices doesn’t mean that they don’t fit in well in home offices as well. In fact, an OfficeJet might just be the perfect choice depending on your needs. Let’s look at more specifics relating to the HP Envy line of printers and the HP OfficeJet line of printers so that you can choose the best printing companion for you.

Top Reasons to Buy a HP Envy Printer

HP Envy printers are well known for their abilities to print well in color. Photos, brochures, cards, stickers, you name it; if it’s a color print, the HP Envy will do well with it. 

The HP Envy printers are great all-in-one printers. In fact, many of them are labelled as “all-in-one” printers, like one of my favorites, the HP Envy 5055. 

The term “all-in-one” can be annoying because it makes it hard to determine what the focus actually is. Ok, you do everything, but what do you do well? I’m not going to order spaghetti at a sushi restaurant. C’mon, you can’t do everything.

Well, the HP all-in-one printers do a LOT of things really well, but if you want it summed up into two points, here’s how I’d classify whether the HP Envy line of printers are right for you:

• If you DO print photos and/or in color
• If you DON’T print, copy, fax, or scan in high volumes at once

If you want a broader overview, here are some of the general features of HP Envy printers:

• Printing, copying, faxing and scanning
• Input of 125 pages
• Output of 25 pages
• Print speeds 13-15ppm black, 8-10ppm color depending on the model
• Scan to your email
• Separate tray for photos
• 4×6 photo printing and anything up to 8.5×11
• Two sided printing
• WiFi, bluetooth, or USB connectivity
• Borderless printing (cruical for printing photos!)
• Touchscreen display
• Printing from the HP Smart app with your phone or tablet

As we’ll talk about in the next section, OfficeJets have a more specific high volume, black and white printing function. This might be exactly what you need for regular home use, but I generally find that the HP Envy is a better catchall for the typical printer user. It’s also great for artists who need to print photos, illustrations, or copies of their artwork.

Here are some of my top HP Envy printer choices.

HP Envy 5055 All-in-One Printer

I’ve written a full blown review on the HP Envy 5055 because I love how inexpensive it is given its high quality. This is an all-in-one printer, but you’ll notice it’s a bit more simple than the others When you look through the list of features on this HP Envy 5055, they aren’t as extensive as the list I posted above. It’s inexpensive though and it’s great for anyone who wants an inexpensive, high quality printer without as many snazzy features and doodads. 

Check out the HP Envy 5055 printer on Amazon here!

HP Envy Photo 7855 All in One Photo Printer

The HP Envy Photo 7855 includes more features than the HP Envy 5055, rivaling the list of general HP Envy features I posted above. If you print a lot of photos, this is the printer for you. It even has an SD slot where you can slide your card right in and print your photos instantly. You can even send photos to your printer from the HP Smart app when you aren’t even home. This printer takes instant photo printing to the next level. It’s a bit more pricey than the 5055, but it’s worth it if you print photos and/or want some additional features.

Check out the HP Envy Photo 7855 printer on Amazon here!

Top Reasons to Buy an HP OfficeJet Printer

The HP OfficeJet printers are designed for office use. Let’s get stereotypical about offices for a second to understand what this means. 

My short time working at an office meant that the printer and copier NEVER STOPPED RUNNING. We must have been personally killing a rainforest. Like, really. It’s 2020, can’t we figure out how to do things with a little less paper? I can sign my name with my finger on a tablet for goodness sake, why do we still need to print out every form ever made?

But I digress.

Offices are very print heavy places. Usually, the common fare for offices include boring printouts. I mean, I think all of us could do with a stunning pop of color on our drab office forms every once in a while, but there are probably bigger workplace issues to focus on. 

If I haven’t already made myself clear, OfficeJets do really well with documents at high volume. This includes scanning, faxing, copying, and printing. Their printers DO print in color and they do it well, but high quality color printing isn’t as much of an emphasis as it is with the HP Envy series. 

To be clear, these aren’t like those monster printers you usually see in large offices. No, these are smaller, everyday printers for people who do a lot of printing in their home offices or small business.

They pride themselves on professional print quality suited for businesses, so yes, they do deliver great print quality.

Summed up into two points, here’s how I’d classify whether the HP OfficeJet line of printers are right for you:

• If you DO need higher volume printing
• If you DON’T need a lot of photo printing

If you want a broader overview, here are some of the general features of HP OfficeJet printers:

• Printing, copying, faxing and scanning
• Input of 200-500 pages depending on the model
• Output of 60-100 pages depending on the model
• Printing speeds 20-24ppm black, 10-18ppm color depending on the model
• Scan to your email
• Print anything up to 8.5×11
• Borderless printing
• Two sided printing, copying, and scanning
• WiFi or ethernet connectivity
• Automatic document feeder for 35 pages
• Touchscreen display
• Printing from the HP Smart app with your phone or tablet

There are a lot of similarities between the Envy series and the OfficeJet series, so let me point the differences very clearly:

HP Envy Printers

• Input of 125 pages
• Output of 25 pages
• Print speeds 13-15ppm black, 8-10ppm color depending on the model

HP OfficeJet Printers

• Input of 200-500 pages depending on the model
• Output of 60-100 pages depending on the model
• Printing speeds 20-24ppm black, 10-18ppm color depending on the model
• Two sided printing, copying, and scanning (no copying on all models)
• Automatic document feeder for 35 pages

As you can see, the OfficeJet printers are all about speed and volume. If this matters to you, you’ll want to get an OfficeJet. Here are some great ones to choose from.

HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 All-in-One Wireless Printer

This HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 is an inexpensive choice that packs a punch. Despite it’s economical price, it prints quickly and rivals the features of other printers in the OfficeJet line. What really stands out about the OfficeJets is that not only do they print double sided, they also SCAN double sided. How cool is that? Even at this inexpensive price, this OfficeJet Pro comes with that neat feature.

Check out the HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 printer on Amazon here!

HP OfficeJet Pro 9025 All-in-One Wireless Printer

The HP OfficeJet Pro 9025 is the superstar of the HP OfficeJet line. There are others that are more expensive, but hey, we’re trying to find the best bang for our buck here. This isn’t to say it’s cheap, but the extra money you spend is made up for in power and printing speed. This printer is at the top end in regards to printing speeds and paper capacity. It prints 24ppm in black and 20ppm in color. It also has a 500 page input and a 100 page output. It can print a whopping 24 pages a minute! Yeah, I’d pay an extra pretty penny for that speed increase if I had high volume printing needs.

Check out the HP OfficeJet Pro 9025 printer on Amazon here!

There are a lot of similarities between the HP Envy line of printers and the HP OfficeJet line of printers. One is more geared towards photos, while the other is more geared towards office use. Either way, you’ll end up with a high quality printer that will get the job done.