Lexmark Color Laser with scanner/copier (X543DN)
The features included fast printing full color automatic double sided printing (w/o fax option). It will work as a network printer too. It was clearly designed to work with Windows but it is also sold as Mac OS compatible and the User Manual walks you though set-up steps with Windows or Mac OS at the same time. It is thorough. Thank goodness it's in HTML format too.
I'm a long time HP printer user (30+ years) and I wary of other brands. But I haven't had a good experience with HP over the years - they just don't keep their printers drivers up to date (at least not for Mac or Unix systems).
Mac users won't have any problems with this printer and the Mac installer is included. The printer driver did not include a double sided printing option. You have to be working from one of the Microsoft Office applications to notice a third line of options called "Copies & Pages" > "Printer Features". Opening up that list provides all the printer functions like printing form the options sheet feeder (envelope) and you can turn on double sided printing (from the"Layout: menu) if you look carefully enough. You can also choose binding on the long or short side too.
My first mistake was that I assumed the envelope in the single sheet option feeder would give it priority to the main paper bin (as it does on HP printers).
While I am impressed that this printer worked right out of the box (no set-up required). I followed the instructions to the letter installing the "software" before plugging in the printer. But it might as well be using the Generic Postscript driver - nothing special about the driver.
While unpacking it took me about 15 minutes to follow all the colored tape to pull about a dozen plastic shipping pins. Not real hard but I was still surprised at how many of those pins where installed. It is easy to snap off the plastic pins so use care when removing them.
I was not impressed with "pinch and lift" access to the toner drawer - it sticks. But I do like the small square toner cartridges which fit snugly in their respective slots. Each toner box is keyed so you can mix up the colors.
The print quality is excellent. Finally I'm printing off web pages that look just like they do on my monitor. No calibration needed. That's impressive. Color copies and photos look great as well. If you were used to printing color photos off in B&W on a monotone laser printer you'll find the color version more interesting.
The manual also neglects to point out the importance of using high quality polished paper for laser printers (probably because HP sells so much of it). Good paper is really important for sharpness and brightness. When you print to a bond or cotton stock paper it will look fuzzy because of the paper texture. The printer has an option for gloss but I haven't tested that with a photo.
It copies great speed is good once it warms up but warm-up can take 20-30 seconds. Once it's running it does good. I printed out a 40 page PowerPoint file that had heavy black frames. It often took 30-50 seconds to render a page but others came out steady. On a Mac the PDF rendering is done in software not through a chip in the printer. So some of the delay was no doubt on the computer end. However my Mac Pro has a lot of CPU power and RAM to match.
Scanner? - I haven't found any Lexmark installed Scanner applications but I was able to choose the scanner from the "Import" function in Adobe PhotoShop and Preview but not from iPhoto. It works but it's a bit awkward. HP's software takes you directly into a suite of applications that help you edit the picture and print to photo paper of any size and the have all kinds of printing options like masks.
I don't like the rather small vertical output tray in the back and because of that feature I did not order the extra paper bin. You can't expect to stack up much output before you will need to clear the tray. 40-50 pages max.
The sheet feeder worked perfectly. If you fax or copy multiple documents this is a powerful feature.
The control panel layout is well done. The set-up menus are a little awkward to use but fortunately you won't have to use the tiny character panel very often (2 rows of 16 characters). It reminds me of setting the clock on my VCR.
The confusion didn't begin until I wanted to order a new set of cartridges.
First they are hard to find in stores. I checked in every store that sold office supplies and Lexmark printers. But even ordering them on-line was difficult.
Here on Amazon they don't have the cartridge listed in their printer cross-reference tool. (great tool otherwise but apparently it's incomplete).
On Lexmark's web site it doesn't take long to find cartridges but then you start to think you are getting cross-eyed. They seem to have cartridges with different amounts of toner (ink) in them!? Oh no. Is this like the way HP was selling Photosmart inks cartridges that weren't full? I hope not. When I see a toner or ink cartridge I expect that it's a full one otherwise its impossible to compare prices!
So not only are the toners hard to find but you need to be very careful that you are comparing the toner capacities and price.
The "High Yield Toner" was pre-installed - they do not have a replacement part number on them!?
For example they list:
C540X1_G Toner for Extra High yield (C544 and X544 only) -$130
C540H1_G Toner for High yield (C540C543C544X543X544 printers) - $72
C540A1_G Toner (C540C543C544X543X544 printers) - $58
C540X2_G Toner for Extra High yield (C544 and X544 only)
C540H2_G Toner for High yield (C540C543C544X543X544 printers)
I bought these for regular Toner refills:
C540A1CG Cyan (Blue) - $58
C540A1MG Magenta (Red) - $58
C540A1YG Yellow - $58
C540A1KG Black (slightly bigger) - $78
(*These are NOT Amazon prices - they are current prices for comparison purposes only)
Bottom-line double check before you shop for replacement toner. This is a very confusing product in that respect. Lexmark pushes recycling and the boxes have labels to return the toners.
My over all impression is that I really love it. The copy functions are simple and familiar symbols or labels. Software (printer drivers) are easy to update - I hope they will!
This design is a little bit outdated but for the price it's a great way to get into an affordable color laser printer that is clean simple and intuitive. The only interactive display is a tiny 10 letter display (most new printers have an LCD). The user manual is in HTML format so find the menu map and print it out. You can get there through that tiny front panel but it takes a lot of time and a little patients. (I hope it has a Factor Reset option if I ever mess this up...)
Overall I think this is a very affordable color printer. And a full set of replacement toner cartridges (a set of 4 can run $3-450) almost costs as much as the original printer. So you may not want to stock up on new toner - just plan to buy a new printer. Seriously!
But don't worry about the printer functions - it's laser sharp. The ink is durable but it will smear if you get the paper wet. It won't survive a coffee spill.
Pros: Solid color laser printer; accurate scanner with sheet feeder copier functions. Mac drivers.
Cons: Toner is hard to find confusing/deceptive; no single sheet over-ride; no scanner app.
Note: I did not test this printer with Windows.
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