Lexmark X342n review

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Verdict:

The E342n comes with a 2,500-page starter toner, and has reasonable running costs. Its higher specification makes it seem better value than the DCP-8060, but its higher ownership costs and slower, inferior prints and copies make the Brother DCP-8060 a better buy.

Review Date: 17 May 2007

Price when reviewed: £250

Supplier: http://www.misco.co.uk

Reviewed By: Simon Handby

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

User Rating

Lexmark's X342n isn't pretty, but with a fax modem and a network port it's better specified than the similarly priced Brother DCP-8060.

Like Dell's Laser Printer 1720dn, it prints a configuration sheet when loaded with paper and connected to the network. Its setup program didn't need to be told the printer's IP address, but it could install only a basic print driver with no access to quality settings. We couldn't find a print driver with the features we'd expect on Lexmark's website.

As with Brother's DCP-8060, you need to unlock the scan head via a switch near the scanner glass. The X342n can make scans over the network, but only if you can be bothered with a convoluted setup process that involves the web-configuration page. We couldn't make the feature work properly, even with the Windows Firewall disabled, so we conducted our scan tests using a USB connection. Scans were quick and reasonably sharp, but colour levels were acceptable only with the auto-tone function switched on. Even then, light shades appeared washed out, with a loss of detail.

Though not as fast as Brother's DCP-8060, the X342n produced quick single and multipage copies. Surprisingly, given the scan results, these were overly dark with a loss of detail among the deepest shades. If you're mostly copying text, though, it will suffice.

The X342n's print speeds were inconsistent. Our letter test arrived at close to the printer's rated 25ppm speed, but our 50-page draft document came out at a disappointing 17ppm, and graphics were particularly slow. Graphics, photos and grey text were fairly good, though dithering in mid-grey regions seemed cruder than in Lexmark's own E250dn. Our black-and-white test photo was too dark, however.

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