Lexmark X3480 review

The X3480 is one of Lexmark's new range of multifunction devices.

It can scan and copy print in colour, but can't send or receive faxes. It has a PictBridge port and a selection of memory card slots - useful for home users with a digital camera. It's available only from Dixons Group stores, such as Currys or PC World.

The X3480 looks and feels better than many other Lexmark inkjet products. It takes only one ink cartridge, which makes it easy to set up and maintain. The cartridge contains the three ink colours necessary for full-colour printing, but there's no black ink. Black text is created by mixing all three colours and consequently, doesn't appear as dark and solid as it should. The X3480's colour prints lacked boldness on plain paper, but photos had strong accurate colours. Looking closely at pictures, we could see individual dots of ink in a grainy pattern, though they looked reasonable from a distance.

It's easy to make simple scans with Lexmark's straightforward interface, but you need to enter the Advanced options to scan at resolutions above 300dpi. Although its 600dpi maximum resolution is comparatively low, its scans were impressively sharp and captured subtle details from very dark and light areas of the original document. Mono copies were fine, but colour copies seemed overly light and washed out.

Our normal print tests include a 100-page text document, 24 pages of mixed-colour graphics and test, two A4 photographs and six standard 6 x 4in photo prints. Most printers complete these tests and still have plenty of ink left. The X3480 was warning us that its cartridge was "below the minimum ink level" before the test was even over. After it was finished, we let it carry on printing - it managed only another 13 pages. This is a far lower page yield than we'd expect from a good value inkjet and most ink cartridges last much longer.

Author: Simon Handby