Lexmark Z640, cheaper than adopting a cat and twice as useful (Lexmark Z640 Colour Inkjet)

Member Name: frostokov

Product:	Lexmark Z640 Colour Inkjet
Date:	09/07/08 (125 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can be afforded by archaeologists, good quality prints and handles text documents like a machine (?!

Disadvantages: Ink cartridges can be expensive and leave one asking why, may break

Redefining "cheap" takes a few minutes of thought and the recent purchase of a Lexmark Z640 - a stigma which affordable technology is often haunted by. While the battle between price and sturdiness rages in the 18th floor of an American bauhaus chickencoup, or the Lexmark quality control cupboard, the end-users are left with an unmistakably budget inkjet hero.

However, despite costing less than a controlling stake in Northern Rock (£18 on offer from Argos, usually in the region of £21 but spotted for £14.20 on Tesco online!), the printer maintains an air of robust styling. Sleek silver tones and notoriously dairy nuances work symbiotically to improve the empty space where your broken Hewlett Packard used to sit. More importantly, the print standard is impressive, churning out pages that make the Gutenburg press look obsolete. Bad example, but bottom line is that this printer cannot be outclassed in terms of quality and price price per print.

Whilst economically, this machine stands as a cairn of what the modern world can produce for what the modern man can't not afford, it also exists to plunder the reliability of an otherwise perfectly acceptable printer. I personally have suffered the wrath of ink-cartridge-being-dodgy syndrome resulting in the duotone pink and purple extravaganza that can turn your lake district nature shots into a dutch nightclub. Again, while this is largely attributable to the cartridge itself, this further underlines Lexmark's greatest assault on humanity...

Expensive ink cartridges. Allegedly constructed of myrrh and cinnemon after importation from Orion's Belt, the official cartridges can cost in the region of £30 inc. delivery, arguable 50% more costly than the printer itself. Victims can find these for less from third party sellers (see CartridgePeople) but it must be stated that in personal experience only official cartridges have worked, with cheaper impersonators not even registering.

With what can only be described as perfectly satisfactory software/drivers packaged with the device, the lack of a USB cable can provide a sterling thorn in the customers side, though not from high street stores such as Maplins, Dixons or Currys who will extort a hefty £10 for a cable elsewhere found for less than £3 (Ebay power sellers, Tesco, internet in general). The instructions are thorough and comprehensive, if read, and the box provides all neccessary details regarding the brake horse power that can be extracted from this economy powerhouse.

Overall, this extraordinary product of capitalism proves frontier expanding prices for respectable quality. A reasonable print speed (optimistically up to 14ppm, usually ~3/10ppm), a considerable 4800 x 1200 dpi colour print resolution, 2000/XP/Vista compatibility and a 1.7KG total weight station this modest inkjet as a recommended short-term purchase, but not a replacement of invariably more reliable (expensive) and permanent printers.

Summary: Ideal for students - quick, budget printing, that can handle any task but not a long term investment

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