Color 3550N
Network-ready and dependable, the HP Color 3550N put one color laser on the office network and shared it across the whole team — a practical step up for workplaces outgrowing a single-user printer. Its black cartridge is the Q2670A (HP 308A), stocked here under the shelf title Compatible HP 309A (Q2670A) Toner Cartridge Black; order by the Q code and the title cannot mislead you. Color comes from Q2671A, Q2672A and Q2673A, the three 309A color cartridges, which this page sells bundled as a single 3 color set.
Sharing changes how a printer gets used: the 3550N sat where everyone could reach it, and its queue held a mix of one-page letters and long reports from different desks. That pattern rewards an office that keeps toner ahead of the queue — when a shared machine stops for an empty cartridge, it stops everybody, not just one person.
Toner Cartridges for Color 3550N
- Compatible HP 309A (Q2670A) Toner Cartridge Black — the black cartridge for this model.
- Compatible HP 3550 (Q2671A Q2672A Q2673A) Toner Cartridge 3 Color Set — the three color cartridges in one box.
Which cartridge should you buy?
On a shared machine the black cartridge does the heavy lifting — most queued jobs are documents, and documents are mostly black. Keep a spare Q2670A within reach of the printer rather than in a storeroom across the building; the two minutes saved are everybody's two minutes. The colors move more slowly but empty without respect for deadlines, and since this page stocks them as one 3 color set, buying the set when the first color fades leaves the other two as shelf spares for the next change. Compatible cartridges here are covered by a 1-year warranty with 1-year returns, which suits a shared office machine that cannot afford experiments.
Chip, toner and everyday use
A networked printer cannot be nursed along — nobody owns its warnings. Teach whoever sits nearest it two things: a toner-low message is a shopping reminder, not a stop order, and a cartridge that has just been fitted needs its sealing tape fully removed before the door closes. Compatible cartridges carry the chip the 3550N expects, so levels report normally on the panel. Keep spare cartridges sealed and upright near the machine; toner keeps well that way, and a shared printer with its spares beside it rarely stays down long.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the 3550N use the same toner as the standard 3550?
Yes — networking is the only difference that matters here. Both machines run the Q2670A black and the same three color cartridges, so toner bought for one fits the other.
Why does the black run out so much faster than the colors?
Because a shared office printer mostly prints text. Letters, invoices and reports draw almost entirely on black, while the colors only work when a page actually carries charts, logos or photos.
The panel says toner low but prints still look fine — is the chip wrong?
No. The warning is deliberately early, giving a shared office time to get a replacement in before quality drops. Keep printing, but treat the message as the order point rather than waiting for faded pages.
More printers that use the same cartridges
Sharing a cartridge family with the Color LaserJet 3550N, the models below all draw from the same toner shelf — handy when you manage more than one of these machines and want one set of cartridges, the Q2670A black plus the Q2671A through Q2673A colors, to serve the group:
HP 308A-311A, HP 308A-309A, Color LaserJet 3750N, Color LaserJet 3750DTN, Color LaserJet 3750DN, Color LaserJet 3750, Color LaserJet 3700, Color LaserJet 3550N, Color LaserJet 3550, Color LaserJet 3500dtn, Color LaserJet 3500dn, Color LaserJet 3500N, Color LaserJet 3500, Color 3750N, Color 3750DTN, Color 3750DN, Color 3750, Color 3700N, Color 3700DTN, Color 3700DN, Color 3700, Color 3550, Color 3500dtn, Color 3500dn, Color 3500N, Color 3500, COLOR LASERJET 3700N, COLOR LASERJET 3700DTN, COLOR LASERJET 3700DN