In Short: The Hewlett Packard Color LaserJet 4550 series is a slight upgrade over the 4500 series. Output quality is good for 600dpi. Paper handling is below par compared with competitive models from Minolta-QMS and Xerox/Tektronix. Speed at 4ppm color and 16ppm monochrome lags way behind its competition. Replacing toner is a little more time consuming but that is a minor inconvenience.

The Bottom Line: Basically the same printer Hewlett Packard has been offering the last few years only now with PostSript3 emulation. It doesn't have the best quality in the color laser market and right now it’s one of the slowest color laser printers available. Works well in the UNIX and the Windows environment. Not the best fit for Mac OS unless your using Microsoft Office for the Mac.