GaryD's Full Review: Lexmark X7550 All-In-One InkJet Printer
PRICES ARE FALLING . . . GOOD TIME TO UPGRADE
I had promised myself back in the summer of 2008 I would not buy another printer unless it was a laser. I own a Black and White and a Color laser and a Lexmark inkjet printer. They all function very well and I have been very happy with the results they provided during my period of ownership. However technology has been changing and my Lexmark inkjet printer (though it sports a SD slot for direct printing with a computer present does not support the newer SDHC cards.) The Xerox color laser printer produces nice photos but nothing compared to an inkjet. The saga continues—
It’s time for new cartridges for the older Lexmark inkjet printer and based on my actual usage I find it a wiser choice to just replace the printer outright. In this case I gain even more than I have in the past making the same decision.
Electing to replace an aging printer and opting for one by the same branded manufactures testifies that Lexmark has been doing something right as this will be my eighth upgrade since they dedicated themselves to producing only printers.
None of the printers I’ve upgraded of Lexmark have ever failed during the term of ownership. They have simply been replaced to remain current with present technologies.
LEXMARK X7550 ALL-IN-ONE INKJET PRINTER
What’s the attraction of the Lexmark X7550 All-In-One Inkjet Printer? The price for starters! The Lexmark X7550 All-In-One Inkjet Printer was offered on HSN as a today special value with free shipping and handling, full retail cartridges one black, one color (would have been better to include one color and one photo cartridge to tout the printer’s praises).
Very contemporary and stylish with its two-tone light charcoal gray and off color white hues with a jet black piano gloss paper feeder and scanner loader. Possesses a slightly industrial appearance and the boxy stature is lightly softened by round corners and edges. Extremely sleek suit for most decors.
SECOND
The Lexmark X7550 All-In-One Inkjet is a wireless printer which means I can make it accessible to all the computers in the house without additional equipment or software. This clears some cable clutter and reduces some energy needs thus saving a few dollars over time.
THIRD
None of my previous printers have ever sported two-sided printing including the presently owned lasers. I didn’t believe I needed such a feature in the past – my mistake – there have been instances where this ability would have saved time, paper and aggravation. Manual two-side printing is not an issue provided the amount of printing is not excessive. However when the load is high paper jams, mis-feeding, curled paper outputted . . . you’ve probably been there done that.
FOURTH
The built-in card reader that permits direct printing from your SD/SDHC card is indeed a blessing. Most times you don’t want to boot or wake your computer for a photo or two. The card Reader reads MMC/xD/MS/CF cards and USB with PicBridge. PicBridge allows easy direct connection to most digital cameras via the USB port. The USB supports most thumb drives as well.
FIFTH
The control panel is just above the paper output tray it tilts up in three positions making it easier to view the LCD color screen. One must be somewhat careful when lifting the control panel or it is locked into position and can be a tad troublesome to return back to its zero degrees station. Just beneath the control panel is an arc form made of plastic with raised lines used at stop points to the various degrees of tilting. In the final position you must push up on the arc to retract the control panel. Sometimes this is easier done than others. The positive aspect is once in locked position the control stays put while you navigate with the menu control buttons or dialing. The other angels of incline are not as solid and have given way during navigation. Perhaps I depressed to harshly when confirming actions I wanted the print to perform.
A full color 2.5" LCD aids in using the printer without a computer attached. The screen is in a standard 4:3 format but for a newer printer which is still selling at higher prices one would expect a 16x9 format as we move into the digital media world. I'm not complaining because the LCD screen is crisp, clear and easily viewed by simply adjusting the angle of the control panel.
THE SCANNER / COPIER
The scanner does a nice job for everyday use and for coping documents and photos routinely. I haven’t used it for any major scanning projects but for the Holiday flyers I printed during Christmas the printer did a super job. There wasn’t much difference between the original and the copies. I didn’t need to stand by the printer as the paper input tray holds 100 sheets of standard printer paper. I was taking advantage of the two-sided printing capability also. Even in this price range the printer has a document feeder so no manual feeding was required other than filling the loader.
In approximately eight months the printer has not failed to load material in the loader nor has it had a paper jam. It has managed to print two-sided without issue and no problems have generated by not be able to read the various cards used in my digital devices. Thus far the built-in card reader has recognized all of my standard and high capacity secure digital cards.
THE FREEDOM OF WIRELESS
Operating on 802.11g/b Wireless everyone should be able to enjoy the freedom of not having a lengthy cable attached to their computer (desktop or laptop). Setting this printer up was rather straight forward and pretty easy to do by following the quick guide instructions. A novice with a little patience’s and time can be up and running in about fifteen minutes or less.
You will find an USB cable included with the printer to finish the wireless installation. I did not care for having to attach the printer to a computer during the setup. Mainly due to the placement of the printer made it difficult and forced me to move the printer closer until the setup was complete. Lexmark can do a better job here—wireless should me completely wireless. Once the USB cable has been connected and the setup complete you are free to remove the USB cable and the installation software will notify you on screen. The USB cable is a minor inconvenience during installation but not such a deal one should pass up a wonderful all-in-one printer.
PHOTO PRINTER
The Lexmark X7550 All-In-One Inkjet Printer is from Lexmark’s Professional line. They tout the printer as a photo printer and it does perform well as such but it is not a true photo printer. When in search for a solid reliable speedy color printer that takes up little real estate in your household the Lexmark X7550 All-In-One Inkjet Printer is an excellent choice and you should be pleased with it for years to come. This is especially true if you are using the printer for work or have students in the house needing color reports to dazzle their instructors. However you will find the photos suitable for framing or giving away at a party but you will not be replacing Wal-Mart’s professional photo center or similar resources.
Printing outputs are fast at 25 pages black and white and color of course pages with more than 5% coverage will reduce printing speeds as well as two-sided documents.
The smallest size paper I’ve printed on is 4” x 6” and the largest 8.5” x 11” and the results have been satisfying. You will receive the best quality using the photo and color cartridges concurrently. It would have been nice if Lexmark had shipped the printer with photo and color cartridges since the printer was being promoted at the time as a photo printer. Perhaps in the future Lexmark will take note as I stated this to their customer service rep via phone.
WHAT THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL DOESN’T SAY
In the past one could use a Black and a Color cartridge in a Lexmark printer or a Black and a Photo cartridge together. For even better results a Color and Photo cartridge and you were closer to photo quality. These three options are not available with the Lexmark X7550 All-In-One Inkjet Printer. Only two options are currently published in the manual: Black and Color or Color and Photo cartridges which the latter does not permit the printing of true black tones.
To use the photo cartridge you must place it in the black cartridge carriage. The manual at the time of printing in the box I received did not state this information. When the printer informed me that the black cartridge was near the 100 percent level but the color was depleted I opted for a Photo cartridge to replace the colored one. The printer did not accept — I called Lexmark customer care (very polite but almost useless). After approximately thirty minutes on the phone someone there finally noted that this model had to have the photo cartridge in the black cartridge carriage. Problem was solved but no true blacks and slightly limited choice of cartridge combination.
For the wealth of features and functions encapsulated into the Lexmark X7550 All-In-One Inkjet Printer, the price considering it sports wireless (that will work with the newer wireless “N”) the two-sided printing and near photo quality. The negatives are far out weighted by the positives.
NO COMMENT
No comments will be stated regarding the FAX / PHONE function or on any of the supplied software. I did not install any of the software other than the supplied drivers and I don’t use FAX for communication. No phone line was attached even though the phone cable was included within the packaging of the printer. I don’t foresee a problem with the FAX function for anyone that may want or require it. This late in the electronics game the 33.6 Mhz FAX capability should be mainstream.
The Lexmark X7550 All-In-One Inkjet Printer
In the box there will be: 1 Lexmark X7550 All-In-One Inkjet Printer 1 Phone Line Cable 1 USB cable 1 USA English Instruction Manual 1 Quick Guide Sheet 1 CD with drivers and software (an additional CD may be supplied depending upon place of purchase). 1 AC power adapter 1 AC power adapter cord 1 One year next business day replacement guarantee
Specifications: Brand LEXMARK Series X7550 Model 16Y1000 Recommended Use MFC / All-In-One Printer SPEC Print Technology Thermal Inkjet Output Type Color Black Print Speed Up to 30 ppm Color Print Speed Up to 27 ppm Black Print Quality 1200 x 1200 dpi Color Print Quality 4800 x 1200 dpi Max. Duty Cycle Up to 3000 pages Copier SPEC Copy speed, Black Up to 25 cpm Copy speed, Color Up to 25 cpm Scanner SPEC Scan Resolution, Enhanced Up to 19200 dpi Scan Resolution, Optical 600 x 1200 dpi Scan Technology 48bit CIS Paper Handling / Media Input Capacity, std. 100 pages Media Type Card Stock Coated Paper Envelopes Labels Plain Paper Banner (A4 or Letter) Hagaki Card Iron-On Transfers Photo Paper Media sizes supported 10 Envelope 7 3/4 Envelope 9 Envelope A4 A5 B5 Envelope C5 Envelope DL Envelope 6 3/4 Envelope A2 Baronial A6 Card B5 C6 Envelope Custom (Up to 8.5" x 17") Hagaki Card Index Card Executive Legal Letter 4 x 6" Statement L 2L Chokei 3 Chokei 4 Chokei 40 Kakugata 3 Kakugata 4 Kakugata 5 Kakugata 6 5 x 7" 13 x 18 cm 10 x 15 cm 10 x 20 cm 4 x 8" Borderless Photo Sizes 4" x 6" A4 Letter A6 Hagaki Card L 2L A5 5" x 7" Legal 3.5" x 5" or 89 mm x 127 mm 10 x 15 cm 13 x 18 cm B5 10 x 20 cm 4" x 8" Hardware SPEC Noise Level (Approx.) Print Noise Level, Operating: 50 dBA Scan Noise Level, Operating: 40 dBA Copy Noise Level, Operating: 50 dBA Modem Speed 33.6kbps Ports USB Ports Yes Other Ports PictBridge Certified Port USB pass-through via PictBridge port 802.11g/b Wireless Connectivity Technology Wireless Compatibility Windows Compatible Microsoft Windows XP Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Microsoft Windows Vista Microsoft Windows 2000 5.00.2195 or later Microsoft Windows Vista x64 Macintosh Compatible Apple Mac OS X (10.4.4-10.5.x Intel) Apple Mac OS X (10.3.x-10.4.x Power PC) Physical SPEC Dimensions 17.9" x 13.8" x 8" Weight 17.6 lbs.
Thank you for taking the time from your hectic schedule to read my review. I do hope you have found it informative and useful. Lexmark has been producing printers that withstand the test of time. I give away my older printers and the people receiving them are still using them today.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 139.00 Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
With the Lexmark X7550 All in One Inkjet Printer, you can print with speeds up to 30 ppm black and 27 ppm color. You can save paper, money and the env...More at eBay
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