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Old July 21st 03, 07:23 PM
Russell E. Owen
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In article ,
(Brendan R. Wehrung) wrote:

The new issue of PC Magazine has ratings on printer brands and they give
Lexmark products almost an across the board "E", awarding HP an A+.

I write this as a satisfied Lexmark user, aside from the cost of ink--but
I don't print that much that I use more than two sets of carts a year.

Has Lexmark quality declined since I bought my Z52, or is there a vast
audience of unsatisfied users out there? I seem to remember a *lot* more
complaints about HP than Lexmeark here, although this will reflect that a
lot more HP printers are sold.

I've bought a Z65 against the purchase of my next computer (I'll keep my
present one as a fully-equipped backup) and wonder if I should have.


My own experience with Lexmark (based on owning one Z53) is that they
have excellent customer service but that the printer is only fair.

My original one came with a defect (the final powered roller wasn't,
making paper eject flaky), then the color cart died (making *all*
printing impossible). Note that it was not out of ink -- I had hardly
printed any color at all -- it simply died. Anyway, they replaced the
cartridge under warrenty. But it left me very uneasy that a defect in
the color cartridge could disable B&W printing (which is basically all I
do). (Note: this problem of not being able to print B&W while the color
cart is dead may be a limitation in the MacOS driver; I am not sure it
would affect Windows users).

I've never bothered to shell out the bucks for the photo catridge
(making it a 6 color printer) because it seems too clumsy to have to
swap cartridges. Also, I know the photo color comes with a special
storage box, but I still don't trust it. I don't print very much and it
seems an invitation to dry out. And the cartridges are so expensive that
it would be terrible to have it dry out.

The output with 4 colors is mediocre -- grainy. I guess this should be
no surprise (hy sell a photo color cartridge?) but I've seen a 4 color
HP of the same generation that could do quite a bit better so I admit I
was somewhat disappointed.

However, I am quite happy with its black and white printing. I also
refilled the black cartridge once (only once in 2 years of owning this
printer; I don't print much) and that went fine. So it suits me for now.
Eventually I'll get something that can print good photos (and that
doesn't have to have cartridges swapped to do it).

-- Russell