Working at a computer store, I have had many opportunities to mess around with various printers and get a feel for their strengths and weaknesses. No printer has impressed me so thoroughly as the Lexmark Z52 has. Its fast, accurate (no more text with rough edges), and has awesome photo-printing capabilities.

For simple text printing, this printer does the work of any laser (but for a few hundred dollars less). Its just as fast, uses waterproof black ink (so it's prints don't won't smudge either), and it prints the same sort of sharp, clear black text that make laser printers popular. Perhaps the only thing a true laser has over it is the fact that toner cartridges will cost you a lot less down the road than inkjet cartridges.

It also prints out photographs that are just amazing. I've personally watched it print dozens of photographs and I've never felt dissatisfied with the output. It's always great looking. And again, as I said before, the printer is fast. Although printing out a full page color photograph with all the highest printer settings can take more than ten minutes, this is actually still faster than most of the Hp printers I've worked with (some of the HP's are a tad faster, but are also 400 dollars).

This printer seems like it can do practically anything. I've demonstrations of text printing fully readable at as small as 2 points (very small text) and even 1 point (thought you'd need a magnifying glass to be able to read more than one word at a time). I've watched dozens of photographs print that are indistinguishable from a real photographs. I've watched it print on cardboard (it has an accufeed pressure-based paper-feeding system that lets it take extra-thick paper).

Of course, like all inkjets it's fatal flaw is that it requires inkjet cartridges that are both expensive and require replacement much more frequently than laser toner cartridges. In the case of the cartridges this printer uses, they hold as much or more ink than other brands and cost about the same. And of course, don't be fooled by the price of the printer. Many people who are looking for high-end printers see a 179.99 dollar printer and walk right on by towards the 400 dollar ones, but the fact of the matter is that Lexmark and Hp could both probably give printers away and make money. Its all about the ink when it comes to profits.





Recommended: Yes