Already outdated (Lexmark Z11)

Member Name: jens.-g

Product:	Lexmark Z11
Date:	17/02/01 (187 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheap printer, high resolution

Disadvantages: expensive ink, outdated, a little bit slow and noisy

Maybe one year ago, I had been looking for a new printer. Finally I decided to buy the 'Lexmark Z11' because of the very low price ( approximately 70 Euro) and the included colour print cartridge.

Features
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Firstly some words to the features of the printer. The Z11 is able to create coloured or black-and-white printouts in resolutions up to 1200 x 1200 dpi. Unfortunately it does this no so fast as proclaimed - 4 pages per minute is just a joke. Maybe, if you use a low resolution and monochrome text, this may be possible. But pictures in the highest resolutions takes sometimes more than 15 minutes for only one printout. And this is definitely too slow for a modern printer, even if it is so cheap. Additionally, the printer is also a little bit noisy. On the other hand the quality of the printouts is really good.

Unfortunately there is only space for one print cartridge, so you have to decide if you want to print monochrome or coloured. Another disappointing fact: The print cartridges are very expensive, you have to pay approx. 40 Euro for a 'normal' cartridge, for photo quality you need even more expensive cartridges and special photo paper. So if you are out of ink, it's almost better to buy a new printer with one or two included cartridges than only a standalone cartridge. I did just the same by buying the newer Lexmark Z32 two weeks ago.

Now some words about the installation: It's very easy, you've only to connect the printer with the PC using a normal bi-directional parallel printer cable (not included). Finally install the drivers (available for Win 9x, Win ME, but NOT for Win NT) and the Lexmark Z11 is ready for use. Also the well done manual could help you, if there is any unexpected trouble.

Upshot
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Even if the results of the printer aren't bad, I wouldn't advice this product, because the Z11 is already outdated. For the same amount of money you can also get th
e newer version of this printer (the Z12), or for a little bit more even the much better Z32. This Z32 is also my best advice, for less than 100 Euro you get a very good printer with even two cartridges (coloured / black-and-white).

Summary: