Lexmark Z65 Printer Waltham MA

Rating: 8/10

When you think of inkjet printers particularly those used for photographic work, the names of Epson and Hewlett-Packard would be the ones that come naturally to mind. Basically because these two companies were responsible for the development of inkjet technology. There are obviously other companies who manufacture inkjet printers but they have never managed to capture the mass-market and instead have normally been forced to compete on price alone. However this situation could start to change soon because some of the latest models can deliver output that’s as good as anything that either Epson or Hewlett-Packard can produce; All from printers that have a price advantage and with lower-priced consumables as well. This is precisely the case with this latest model from Lexmark the Z 65, with a price of just over £100 and very impressive print quality. The Z 65 is one of a new breed of printers that uses improved ink cartridge design to obtain print resolutions of up to 4800 x 1200 DPI. This new design also improves print speeds, although these quoted speeds are always a bone of contention as far as I'm concerned, because they bear very little resemblance to the speeds you'll get when you're actually printing. This is not a criticism aimed at Lexmark particularly because all printer manufactures do it. Generally the print speeds advertised are based on an A 4 page with 5 percent coverage, or 15 percent if using colour.

When in reality it can be as high as 80 or 90 percent when you're working with photographic images, which is after all what these printers were designed for. In fact the figures quoted for cartridge life (ink consumption) is exactly the same, although to be fair Lexmark make this point perfectly clear in their documentation. I have to say that this printer incorporates some fairly innovative features. For example, it has a sensor that will automatically detect the type of paper you're using and set the printer driver accordingly. It’s quite frustrating to use an expensive piece of glossy paper and then forget to change the paper settings in the driver; this feature is designed to overcome the problem. It also has another LED sensor on the printhead carriage that will calibrate and then automatically align the print heads for you, so you don't get any of those blurred pictures either. The printer is very much like any other in its basic design, other than the fact that it has dual paper trays, so for example if you’re using letter headed paper you can leave it in the back tray. You can change trays from the print dialogue, or use the two buttons on the top of the printer instead. But the most important thing about this printer is the quality of its printout, which is fabulous for the price. It doesn’t matter if you’re printing text, graphics or photographic images the output is excellent. Obviously the media you’re printing on makes quite a difference and I always say to use this type of printer with ordinary paper is almost sacrilege. But it actually copes quiet well with cheapo photocopy paper, except when it comes to photographic images and then you really must invest in decent media. If you want a high quality printer at an economy price, the Z65 is well worth a look.

For more information, visit Micromart.co.uk