Doesn't Make The Tea But Prints Like A Navvy! (Lexmark Z735)

Name: Aderyn

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Product:	Lexmark Z735
Date:	26/03/07 (226 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Only one cartridge, simplicity itself.

Disadvantages: Not really a photo printer although capable of it

Whether or not you buy one of these printers very much depends on what type of user you are. For a particular type of user this is a perfect choice, cheap to buy, meets its needs and cheap to maintain. However other types of users will find it much too simple, limited and, actually, quite expensive to maintain. When I talk about maintain I am, of course talking essentially about ink cartridges.

Appearance wise, it has a simple look about it and comes in a neutral grey. It’s compact and fits nicely into any of those designed-for-purpose desktop computer desks.

It is increasingly coming at an attractive price as the standard of home printers is rising in relation to price. I bought mine for 30 quid at a high street retailer. Although there is a bit of a hidden bite in that it doesn’t come with a USB lead, which could put another tenner on it unless you’ve got a spare hanging around. Having said that, it does come with an ink cartridge, which could cancel that out. It also has, of course, an installation CD which is easy to use, and the resulting installed software is user friendly apart from an irritating American voice that gives you a printing commentary. You can turn that off. There is also an ink gauge which informs you of lack of colour ink. However, I have found that you can still print black and white for up to 30-40 pages after that has hit bottom.

Print speed and quality for documents are excellent for the home user, photo and heavily coloured printing is not so fast and not so high in quality. This is why it’s good for some and not for others. There are three speeds depending on the quality of printing wanted. An average page of heavily typed A4 with colour components will take around 5-10 seconds at medium quality, and as far as text documents are concerned there is no discernable difference in quality between high and medium. Draft quality is noticeably lower and has that purple tinge to it. Photos take anywhere up to 5 minutes and tend to be on the dark side.

For the type of user I am, it’s nigh on perfect. My printing output for documents is fairly moderate, since I tend to file on disc unless it’s absolutely necessary. I rarely print photos, preferring to make CD slideshows. These days I find I hardly, if ever, need hard copy photos as long as I’m obsessional about back-up. I’m also pleased that I only need one ink cartridge (Lexmark No. 1). The cartridges last a long time if you mainly print text documents with some occasional colour and images. However if you print a lot of colour they would probably last much less. If you like to print all your photos, avoid this printer like the plague!

So, if you only need a printer because you occasionally need to print documents with occasional graphics, this model is a good buy not least because of the price and the one cartridge deal. I researched a lot of printers (and there are a lot of them!) and the cartridge aspect eventually swayed me. One cartridge for this printer costs £15. Compare that with some printers that need two at £20 a piece!

However if you’re the type of user who gets through a couple of trees worth of paper a week and prints every photo you take, this is the worst printer you could buy. This is also a very simple model and doesn’t have any snazzy LCD displays and certainly won’t make the tea in the morning! But, if that’s the type of printer you’re looking for, you’re probably willing to pay over £100, if not more, and probably won’t give this shelf a glance.

Summary: Functional workaday printer

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