The Lexmark X4550 was designed as a multifunctional device, equipped with printing, scanning, and copying options. It can be used as a home multifunctional device, which can be used by the whole family, or in small offices that need to benefit from standard qualitative options. The Lexmark X4550 multifunction machine was also equipped with built-in 802.11 Wi-Fi connectivity; this means it can print, scan or send files from PCs and memory sticks without any additional cables. You can configure the wireless option following some easy steps and using the given USB 2.0 cable, and then you can disconnect this cable.

However, the Lexmark X4550 text printing is not very accurate and clear, which can be a little annoying, but it doesn’t look too bad either, compared to other devices of its class. The photo printing is not extraordinary either, while the color cartridges are separated in two: one black cartridge, and one tricolor cartridge. To escape the standard four-color printing, you can install the Lexmark Photo cartridge for six-color printing, which will improve the images’ quality.

The speed of printing isn’t too fast either, which is specific for a home destined multifunctional. You can print 20 pages in black in two minutes time using the draft mode. For 10 colored pages the time will be even more expanded, of up to four minutes and thirty seconds. If you use the four color cartridge, the time will be less, of two minutes and twenty-five seconds. The black and white documents will spare more time, of fourteen seconds per page. The average time spent to copy a color page is one minute and twenty-four seconds.

The scanner works better than the printer, and it has an 8.5 x 11.7 inch flatbed hinge technology and 600 x 1,200 dpi. It can handle well books, magazines, or photos scanning, and the images rendered are crisp and clear. The copies made on simple or photo papers have a nice overall appearance, though they had a slightly red shade.

The scanning can be done to either a wired or a wireless network, and it is closely related to Adobe Photoshop Elements and Microsoft Word software, to which the scans can be directly sent. If you want to scan during a long time printing process, you may have problems with the scanning process, because the Lexmark X4550 device was not equipped with enough power so that it can all times work as a multifunctional device. It is a multifunctional device that will not allow you to multitask too much, but you will benefit from each of its options for faxing, scanning and printing, each option being recommended for individual use.

There is a flash card reader that supports MultiMediaCard, CompactFlash, SD, and xD-Picture Card formats, which can be used with the wireless connectivity option. You also have the possibility to print from the card at once. You don’t have a preview option, which can be consider a con for this multimedia device, but you can print a proof sheet that will guide you to the selection of pictures and sizes you will want to print.

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