Lexmark T640n review

Lexmark's T640n is a powerful and robust network printer, designed for use in workgroups or small departments.

Its mono laser print engine is rated at 33 pages per minute (ppm), and it can print at 1,200 dots per inch (dpi) resolution. To meet the demands of high-volume printing, this printer has a duty cycle of up to 200,000 pages per month.

As you'd expect from a workgroup printer, the T640n supports a wide range of protocols and print languages. Drivers are available for Windows and Mac clients, but also for various Novell and Linux versions. Moreover, the front USB port allows users to print PDF, JPG or TIFF files directly from a USB storage device.

Walk-up printing could prove very useful for office guests, who can use it to make prints without connecting to the network. It could also come in handy for printing confidential files, removing the need to hot-foot it to the printer before any sensitive documents gather incriminatingly in the output tray. We found the feature simple to use, but could only get Adobe PDF files to print.

Network printers can be difficult to install, but the T640n is fairly straightforward. By default it uses DHCP to lease an IP address and, when first switched on, it prints a report with details of its network configuration. Lexmark's install program can add both PCL and PostScript drivers in one operation, but if you forget to select the detected network printer the T640n will be configured on the LPT1 port.

The T640n performed quickly in our print tests, but its speed wasn't quite a match for the best mono workgroup lasers tested in Labs, Shopper January 2006. It was fastest when printing via the PCL driver, but some dark graphics in our Normal Speed test were surrounded by a slight smudging of toner. It printed the first copy of our formal letter in just seven seconds, and took only 18 seconds to do so from its power-saving mode.

Our tests were a little slower when repeated using the PostScript driver. Text quality remained very high, but although graphics printed with no smudging, they were too dark at the default setting. Printing at the laser's maximum 1,200dpi resolution halved the engine's speed.

We'd expect a workgroup laser at this price to accept a whole ream of 500 pages, but the T640n's 250-page cassette means it will require more frequent restocking than many of its competitors. The supplied 6,000-page print cartridge is a little stingy for this class of printer, and its penny-a-page running costs aren't especially low either. For around £90 less you can buy Dell's similarly specified M5200n, which is better in all these respects.

Author: Simon Handby