Club Printer

Lexmark is known for its affordable and convenient printers. The type of device Lexmark seems to specialize in would be the 4-in-1 multifunction with low maintenance cost and a low initial price tag. In the case of the X6650 you’ll be getting a copier, scanner, faxing machine, printer and WiFi all for around $130. This particular printer is a part of the Home and Student Series. of Lexmark color printers. It also has a twin brother, the X6675 that belongs to the Small Office Pro Series and comes with a longer warranty period.
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Add to that an automatic document feeder with a capacity of 25 sheets that ensures easy copying and faxing of multiple pages without having to manually put the sheets of paper into the scanner, PictBridge that allows printing directly from a compatible digital camera and two memory card slots on the front of the device (supporting SD, xD, Compact Flash, MMC and MemoryStick cards) and you can say you got yourself a deal.

The design of the printer was kept nice and simple and you won’t have to be a scientist to figure out what every button does, or to set the printer up when you receive it. It will take a user probably under a minute to insert the two ink cartridges in their designated places. As soon as that is done the printer will ask for paper so that it can print an alignment page.

Before someone considers purchasing this device, mostly because of its extremely convenient price, they must be aware of the fact that low prices usually involve some sort of compromise on quality, speed, functionality or sometimes maintenance cost for the future.

There are several such compromises to be made in the case of these Lexmark color printers. One of them is versatility when it comes to wired connectivity. Its user will be limited for using this printer on a single PC with the help of a USB 2.0 connection. There is no Ethernet port on it so through wires it won’t work as a workgroup printer. The list of ‘what you won’t be getting’ also includes the duplexer (so if you want to print on both sides of the paper you’ll have to do it manually). Instead of a color display you’ll be getting a small two-line display that works just for setting things up and not for previewing photos.

The printer makes perfect use of the two ink cartridge system and is equipped with a black and a tri-color cartridge (cyan, magenta, yellow). To get better quality for photo printing you do however have the option of switching the black cartridge for an extra tri-color photo cartridge that switches you to six-color printing. Obviously no user expects to buy exceptional quality and the speed of light from a printer that costs less than $150 and offers several functions, including faxing which is usually expensive. In fact, the Lexmark X6650 should look and act cheap, but it manages to offer average. Which is obviously more than you’re paying for.

If you’ve been shopping for a portable photo printer lately you’re probably very familiar with Epson’s PictureMate line or the Canon Selphy printers simply because they are the best known options for mobile printing. Lexmark, also based in the USA like many other technology companies specializes in providing more affordable alternatives to products from consecrated brands.
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They develop and manufacture printing as well as imaging products. While the many Lexmark photo printers on the market do offer good quality, you’ll be pleased to know that they also joined the portable printer race with their P350. The Lexmark P350 comes with a white and silver case and a handle that folds up and it’s meant to inspire portability.

It measures 9.2 x 5.8 x 5 inches and weighs 4.1 pounds and can in fact be carried around with no problem. Sadly the printer ceases to appear such a great travel buddy the moment you find out that there is no optional battery pack available on the market. It is true that similar products released in the same period of time don’t have battery options either, but it would have been nice to be able to purchase one nonetheless. As technology, the Lexmark P350 is a thermal inkjet printer.

Right on top of the printer you’ll discover a 2.4 inch LCD screen that swivels allowing for multiple viewing angles depending on what’s more comfortable for its user. For control you’ll be getting four directional (arrow) keys, an OK button and a back button. Aside from the aforementioned ones you’ll also be getting print and one-touch red-eye-removal buttons.

The input tray is situated on the back of the printer and can handle as many as 25 sheets of photo paper whereas the output tray is right in the front. Also on the front you will find a USB port and the memory card slots. There is a very high number of memory cards the printer supports including Compact Flash, Memory Stick, SD, MMC, xD and variations.

The printer uses a single cartridge (tri-color) with pigment ink and can handle quite a few sizes of paper of up to 4 by 8 inch (which is a somewhat atypical format). Upon it’s release on the market this printer also introduced two new technologies to the public, Lexmark’s Evercolor II ink technology and Perfect Finish Photo paper. The Evercolor ink is, as mentioned before, a pigment based ink that promises a quicker dry time as well as prints that are waterproof.

P350 is pretty versatile as printing and can offer direct prints from a memory card, compatible digital camera, PC or even Bluetooth devices (provided you buy a Bluetooth adapter separately). At the moment of release P350 was one of the most affordable Lexmark photo printers around. While this doesn’t make it the highest quality printer and it’s printing speed is rather on the slow side compared to competition it remains a satisfying choice. Only clear inconvenience is the lack of a battery pack (optional or included) because it makes the device feel less portable.

If you check out everything that it offers, the Lexmark X9350 seems like the ideal multifunction printer for your home or small office. Its price is good too and it retails for somewhere around $300. You’ll get pretty much everything you need in the X9350 including printing, faxing, scanning, copying and yes, even decent quality pictures without being forced to keep the printer connected to the PC.

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The PC-less photo printing happens due to the great PictBridge technology that allows producing photos straight from your compatible digital camera. Moreover, the printer also has a built in card reader that also allows direct printing.

Because it includes an automatic document feeder as well as a duplexer, you can just set off to have a cookie while it’s doing its job, and know for sure you’re saving paper and money because it prints on both sides of a sheet. Since it’s network ready, all the users in your office will have no problem queing jobs and relying on the same printer. For an all-in-one inkjet the size of the Lexmark X9350 is more than reasonable.

It weights less than 23 pounds so you won’t need the whole office to assist if you plan to move it to another spot. The design somehow reminds you of Apple’s philosophy. The device is simple, roundish and white with brushed silver areas. Paper handling was kept rather simple. The input tray has a capacity of 150 sheets and its cover works as the output tray as well. For a higher capacity of paper Lexmark provides an optional secondary input tray.

A 2.4 inch fold-able color LCD and a simple menu make navigation easy and convenient. The LCD can also be adjusted so that the user picks the best angle for viewing. Navigating is done with the help of four direction keys and an OK button. There’s also an alphanumeric keypad that serves a clear purpose, it ensures that the user can conveniently dial fax numbers or change the number of prints/copies required.

The color all in one printer features two ink cartridges, a black and a tri-color (cyan, magenta and yellow). If you want higher quality and fidelity when printing photographs, the black tank can easily be swapped with another tri-color one. The cost of the ink tanks is rather affordable and you’ll be able to purchase one for around $25. This seems a bit odd because in the case of certain devices from Lexmark you usually pay a more than convenient price initially then end up spending a whole lot on replacing the ink.

So if this printer is so great, why is it much cheaper than most of the competing devices? There are two major points that make this device satisfying yet not great. One of them is the printing speed. Scanning speed is satisfying, at around 6 ppm for color and 8 ppm for mono, but the speed of printing is almost disappointing at around 2 pages per minute in color. The quality of the prints isn’t brilliant either. Even when replacing a black cartridge with a second tri-color one for six-color printing you won’t get great results.

As a conclusion, according to its specifications the Lexmark X9350 should be top of the line. Unfortunately, aside from all the bling like an ADF, duplexing and great faxing features, this color all-in-one printer doesn’t do so good in exactly what is important, speed and quality.

When Lexmark introduced its first small-format dedicated photo printer, the P315, last year, my reaction was unenthusiastic. But its replacement, the P350 ($129.99 direct) makes it clear that the P315 was the hardware equivalent of a 1.0 software release. This year’s model is fully ready for prime time.

The P350 is faster than the P315, has the ability to print from a computer, and prints photos that are essentially waterproof. The P315’s photos were so lacking in water resistance that even after ample drying time, they would still smudge when touched with moist hands. But I held a freshly printed photo from the P350 under running water and rubbed it, with no visible effect.

Output quality is certainly good enough for snapshots to hand out to family and friends. Every photo I printed displayed true photo quality, with subjects ranging from landscapes to snowscapes to portraits. That said, a few flaws prevent it from being ideal. In our test photos that include people, for example, skin tones looked a touch yellow. In most cases, the color shift simply made people look tanned, but in one case, the face looked jaundiced. (more…)

Inkjet all-in-one machines are definitely beginning to take over from inkjet printers as the main consumer printing device. For very little more money, you have all the extra functionality of scanning and copying. Lexmark has a range of all-in-ones to suit all prices and the Lexmark X5470 sits above its entry-level devices and offers faxing as well as photo printing.

Lexmark’s text print is of reasonable quality, if a little heavy. There’s little spatter evident, but it still looks slightly overprinted. Colour graphics are not too hot, either, with obvious banding in areas of solid colour. This is particularly true of colour photocopies, where the main colours are also reproduced considerably paler than when printed direct.

Photo prints, as we’ve noted before on Lexmark machines, are considerably better than plain paper prints, relevant to their main rivals. Colours are a little over vivid, but nothing objectionable, and there’s some micro-banding noticeable, though prints are still OK for everyday use. (more…)

Lexmark is certainly making the most of its all-in-one printer design. The ‘box with a chunk cut out’ look of all its budget multifunction machines is continued in the X3480, though here there’s a small control panel added and memory card slots on the right of the front panel.

Here are some paragraphs form the review made by PcMag. The slots support most of the major formats of memory card, including xD and MicroDrive, but not the older SmartMedia. There’s PictBridge too, so you can print directly from compatible digital camera.

A small LCD screen displays menu items and options in real English, which is an improvement over the simple indicator lights most machines in this price bracket use. (more…)

The Lexmark X342n ($399 direct) makes a great first impression. With a metallic front panel that’s set off by the dark-gray case surrounding it, it looks good enough to fit into the kind of office where décor matters. It also has the right price for an AIO for a small office, a busy home office, or a small workgroup in a larger office. And it can work as a standalone fax machine and copier, as it comes complete with both a flatbed scanner mounted on a monochrome laser printer and a 50-page automatic document feeder in the scanner lid. Unfortunately, what’s inside the case isn’t as well designed as the outside. Even though the X342n does a reasonably good job as a printer, fax machine, and copier, it delivers less than I’d expect for the price. (more…)

Those looking for a moderately priced AIO would do well to check out Lexmark’s X7350 printer. It’s practically identical to its big brother, the Lexmark X8350, save for a few fancy accoutrements such as memory card slots and a color LCD. Even without these, the X7350 delivers virtually all of the features you could want in an all-in-one (AIO) printer for the home. Just make sure you can live with the quality of its text and photo output. (more…)

There’s no getting around it: The most compelling feature of the Lexmark X1270 is its low price. At $50 it is, for the moment, the least-expensive all-in-one (AIO) you can find. The burning question is, exactly how much AIO does this buy? Unfortunately, not as much as you might like.

The X1270 is obviously aimed at the home user. Yet in addition to printing, scanning, and copying, the device offers two features that many home AIOs don’t. It comes with fax software (though it doesn’t have a built-in fax modem), allowing you to use your PC’s fax modem (that is, if your PC has one). The Lexmark X1270 also allows you to scan directly to email, adding a scanned image to your message as an attachment. (more…)

Furnishing a home office on a $200 budget? Lexmark’s ready with a color inkjet printer, scanner, and copier in one desk-space-saving unit, complete with features often absent at this price such as a full-function fax, automatic document feeder, and flash-card slots, preview LCD, and optional six-ink color for photo printing.

The Lexmark X8350 succeeds the model X7170 as the top of the company’s inkjet-based multifunction lineup. But while that machine was all business — small business, anyway — Lexmark calls the X8350 an Office All-in-One Plus Photo, with features such as six-color borderless printing, digital-camera memory-card slots, and a color preview LCD. These target home-office entrepreneurs who stop work at five o’clock to organize their photo collection or help the kids with school reports, as well as small offices that create flyers or handouts with photos (e.g., real estate agents). (more…)