« [ A NEEDLE IN A DIGITAL HAYSTACK ] | Main | [ REVIEW—NOKIA N73 telephone camera ] »
November 09, 2006
[ REVIEW—LEXMARK P350 printer ]
Price: $180
Recommended
The low-down: The Lexmark P350 printer is a dedicated standard size (15cm by 10cm) colour printer.
There are slots on the printer for every type of memory card and also a socket for a USB memory stick. There is also the usual Pictbridge connection. It also connects to a computer via USB cable but the P350 is marketed as a stand-alone printer that will do the job without a PC.
It is small, nicely styled and has a lift up handle for easy transport. There is a pop up LCD screen to facilitate simple editing and controls.
The special feature of this new printer is that it uses Lexmark’s pigment inks (rather than the more common dye inks) that are claimed to resist fading for up to 200 years in ideal storage conditions -- that is in the dark!
Like: The P350 looks good and it comes with a remarkably comprehensive printed manual. (The supplied manual is in draft form and we are assuming that this is how the finished book will appear.) The promised long print life is a desirable feature of any printer.
Dislike: We printed via the computer and found that there was some graininess in the prints, particularly in open shadow areas. We also found that colour was not well-matched on the PC and the printer -- this is an issue that can be fixed with fiddling of the system but we have found with other printers that there has been better correspondence of screen and print colour.
Verdict: The Lexmark P350 produces sharp, punchy -- perhaps over-saturated -- prints in a reasonable time. It takes about 75 seconds to produce a print which is a bit slow by the best standards. Contrast is a little high.
For anyone looking for an inexpensive printer that will produce decent output without having to come to grips with the mysteries of Photoshop the P350 is worth a look.
Posted by terry at November 9, 2006 12:47 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://bleedingedge.com.au/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1126
Comments
I just noticed that these are selling for $159.00 at Aldi supermarket this week.
Posted by: Robert Ashman at November 10, 2006 12:55 AM