Epson Expression XP-640 Review

The Epson Expression Premium XP-640 small-in-one printer comes from Epson’s Expression Premium range, which consists of the printer’s best-suited for printing at home. The printer comes with two paper trays for loading letterhead paper & snapshot-size photo paper separately but, unfortunately, does not have an automatic document feeder, unlike some of the other top printers out there. Even with that, the printer still rivals some of the best all-in-one printers you can buy. And if you like to do arts and crafts, such as t-shirt design, you should check out our list of the top-rated sublimation printers.

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Epson Expression XP-640

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Why We Like It – Epson Expression XP-640

The Epson Expression all-in-one printer is an exceptional choice, especially if you’re going to be doing a lot of color printing. It’s able to do 4 x 6-inch photos in 20 seconds, as well as borderless photos that measure 8 x 10 inches. Printing speeds are also impressive at 13 pages per minute for text prints and 10 pages per minute for color. For a faster option from Epson, check out our Epson Workflow WF-7210 Wireless review.

Performance

The Epson XP-640 achieves a print speed of between 10 and 13 pages per minute (text and color), but most critics argue that this is quite slow, even for home use. It is still faster than the Canon TS5120 but doesn’t even come close to the 30 pages per minute delivered by the Brother monochrome laser printer. With auto duplexing switched on, the speed picks up just a bit to 5.5 pages per minute. If you have a mixed text and graphics document, the Inkjet printer averages about 5.1 pages per minute, and this improves when printing photos to 2.3 minutes per page.

Design

The Expression Premium XP-640’s design lends it a pleasantly small footprint. It’s almost as compact as the HP OfficeJet 3830 and the HP Officejet 5255 since it measures 5.6 by 15.4 by 19.8 inches, and comes with a slot to print from CDs/DVDs as well as a memory card slot for SD cards. And if you like HP, the brand, you can check out our guide to the top HP Printers. The Epson Expression Premium printer is also quite capable of printing from mobile devices through WiFi AutoConnect or WiFi Direct, and it also connects to a home network through Ethernet or a WiFi connection.

Value

Compared to the HP Envy 5055, the Epson expression premium XP-640 printer does have a lot of value to offer, especially if you’re going to use it a lot to print photos. With 2400 dpi, users are assured of very high print quality when printing text, and exceptional photo quality when printing pictures. The ink costs might be a bit high, though, since the printer only works with Epson 410 cartridges, which tend to be quite expensive. In addition to that, the XP-640 printer relies on Epson 410 ink cartridges that come in photo black, cyan, magenta, yellow and black colors.

Epson Expression XP-640 Wrap Up

The Epson Expression printer can deliver excellent text quality when printing text documents, but that’s only possible if you’re not afraid of dealing with a high ink cost. Black ink, for example, costs $13, and the premium XP-640 small-in-one printer is capable of printing in black even when the color cartridge runs out. Also, be warned that each ink cartridge only comes in a high-yield size. If these sound like maintenance costs that you can grapple with, then go ahead and try the Epson XP-640.