Lexmark Z32 review

Gallery

Verdict:

With different Z32's giving radically different print quality, buying one is too much of a gamble.

Review Date: 1 Jan 2001

Price when reviewed: (£76)

Reviewed By: David Dorn

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

Lexmark's mid-range printer, while having the look of the horrible Z12, ought to be closer in performance to its more capable sibling the Z52.

Design

Lexmark adopted colour-coded caps to their ink cartridges ages ago, but somebody really ought to tell them to use to more distinct colours for the two cartridges in this machine - it's way too easy to confuse them.

Happily, installation is straightforward, even if the instructions are wrong (take my word for it and start the machine up with the CD already in the drive - it works first time then).

Two buttons control the printer - one for power and one for paper feed, situated handily on the right-hand side of the unit. Paper enters and leaves the printer along a near-straight top-to-bottom path.

Print Quality

We judge colour balance without making any tweaking to settings, and this makes the Z32 come out with a very red face. It's badly out of kilter and very dark. In business graphics mode, output is badly banded - and the printable area falls somewhat short of the paper's edge. Text quality varies down the page, moving from dark to light and back again. Blacks are not consistently black. Overall, it's not really good enough.

Performance

This is not a fast printer, even in its 'speed' modes. It's no demon in photo modes, either (even if you could get the quality). It's fairly noisy, but at least it let's you know it's working.

Overall

We first tested the Z32 in September 2000, and found print quality to be pretty good for the money. This sample didn't perform nearly as well, which raises questions over consistency. Compared to its big brother, which did just as well this time round, the Z32 is disappointing.

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