Jack of all trades (Lexmark X75)

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Product:	Lexmark X75
Date:	31/05/03 (480 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Price, Neat and Compact, Quiet

Disadvantages: Pricey Cartridges

When we decided to upgrade our computer last month, we decided that we would get a new printer and scanner to go with it, to replace our brick of a scanner and somewhat smaller Lexmark Z12.

We decided to buy from Dell.co.uk and chose the Lexmark X75, partly because we have a Lexmark Z12 and have had no problems with it and partly due to the price and partly because being an All-in-one saves space on the computer desk.

The printer came with a black, and a colour cartridge and a USB cable as it is not possible to connect it via a parallel port. The unit looks a bit weird, like a normal jet printer, with a scanner stuck on the top, but it means that if you are short of space, it will fit on a smaller shelf than a normal scanner.

To install the printer, there is a sheet which guides you through step by step. From opening the Operating System (either Windows or Mac) to cancelling the ?add hardware wizard? and then installing the software from the discs. Once the software is installed, it asks what cartridges you have installed and whether they are new or used, and then aligns them for the best quality (using a printout of arrows in boxes), then asks if you would like to print a test page.

The first thing that struck me was how quiet the printer was, then I was amazed by the quality of the print - the test page has a lovely photo of a peacock on and the definition was.

Once installed, clicking on the icon on the desk top brings up the ?All-in-One? centre main page which is the main scanner screen and has options to Copy, enlarge or reduce, scan to the photo editor, which is part of the software, email or fax, edit using OCR which came on the discs or edit using another photo editor. You can also chose the quality of the copy, or the program you wish to send the images to.

Using the start menu you can open the ?All-in-One? centre main page, the photo editor and the solution centre, which has how to (basically the he
lp pages), troubleshooting, maintenance (install and align cartridges), contact information and advanced (status - the voice and appearance, networking and version) buttons there are links on all of these for the different parts of the Lexmark website.

The OCR Package that comes with the All in one is very good. I scanned in a page, and it scanned exactly right. I was very impressed.

Although the cartridges are quite pricey at about £25 - £30 they can be refilled, but I would recommend taking them to someone who can do this properly, and hopefully someone will soon bring out a replacement version.

All in all I think that this is a good buy at about £90.00

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