Lexmark E323N review

The Lexmark E323n's squat black-and-silver case is identical to that of the E233, apart from the small model number on the front.

It, too, includes a clip-on paper cover that sits at the back, protecting the back of the paper tray from collecting dust and stray objects such as paper clips that tend to fly around in an office environmant.

This was one of the only two printers in our group test to include an Ethernet network port as well as a USB port. A number of the others can be given network support with optional upgrades or have network versions available, but only this and the Konica-Minolta models come with it as standard, and this is reflected by its higher price. USB-only printers can be shared easily enough, but this requires the host Mac to be on and to have all the required fonts for any job. The bottom line is that if you need a network-accessible printer, it still makes sense to get one designed for this use. If funds are tight, the E323n is the printer for the job.

Not surprisingly, the Lexmark E323n behaved very much like the USB-only E233 printer in almost every way. It suffered from the same pause when printing collated copies of multiple-page documents, and the quality of the type and line artwork was just as high. Shadows were a little deeper in photographic images, but the difference was very slight, and easy enough to counter with the options in the Print dialog.

This model performed well when it came to the envelope-printing tasks. The only hint of creasing came when feeding in envelopes upside-down, and it was barely enough to notice.

The E323n exhibited the same mysterious pausing as its lesser sibling when collating sets of multiple-page documents. We couldn't find out why this happened, but it only affected things when collating documents.

The Lexmark E323n combines many features that a busy Mac user is likely to want, including full network support and PostScript printing. Neither of these are essential for general use, and you'll end up paying a premium for such comparitive luxuries. Despite this, if the look of the device doesn't put you off - and this seems to be something that divides people quite sharply - then it's definitely one to put on your shortlist.