HewlettPackard DeskJet D2560 Printer

The eternal promise of gadgetland — that devices will keep getting cheaper and better — continues to play out among low-end printers.

Hewlett-Packard’s newest printer for families, students and the home office, the DeskJet D2560, and a multitasking sibling that also does scanning and copying, the F4280, were announced last week and will ship this spring. They focus on being simple and reliable, without camera-card slots, wireless features or display screens — just a single U.S.B. port.

Their reworked mechanical guts aim to provide jam-free paper traffic while working faster than last year’s similarly priced models, rolling out 26 black-text pages a minute, 20 in color.

New ink cartridges produce droplets of 1.3 microliters for crisp text or smooth photo gradations, making two ink cartridges simulate the output of the six or so in photo-specific printers.

HP says these printers are built to last, and standard replacement cartridges will cost . It might make sense, for a few dollars more, to buy a whole new printer every year. MARTY KATZ