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Lexmark Interact S605 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £178
inc VAT

This remarkably versatile printer has great print quality and a big 4.3in touchscreen, but it's let down by high print costs.

Specifications

colour inkjet MFP, 18ppm print speed, USB, 802.11b/g/n wireless, PictBridge USB, 178x514x358mm

http://www.oyyy.co.uk

The Interact S605 is a great example of the improvements Lexmark has made to its MFPs.

Ink cartridges with integrated print heads have been replaced by separate print heads and ink tanks. More visibly, it’s bursting with features, including an automatic duplexer, wireless networking and a huge 4.3in touchscreen. This guides you through the setup process, although you’ll still need a PC to set up your wireless connection unless your router supports push-button WiFi Protected Setup (WPS).

The Interact includes web functionality and support for downloadable apps from Lexmark’s SmartSolutions Center website. This also means it requires a bit more maintenance. Once we’d finished installing the drivers, we were directed to the website and prompted to download and install a firmware update.

The S605 has better print quality than previous Lexmark printers, with sharp, black text and vivid colour prints, although colour and mono copies were rather slow at over 30 seconds per page. Scans looked a little cold and some pale shades were hard to distinguish, but fine detail was precisely reproduced.

Colour print speeds were also sluggish at 2.9ppm, but we have no complaints about a normal-quality text speed of 9.1ppm. Photo quality is also vastly improved, with good-looking prints and ink that doesn’t come off on your fingers. Photos printed quickly, too, at just over half a minute per 6x4in snap. Lexmark’s PerfectFinish photo paper pushes the price of a 6x4in print up to 47p, which is expensive.

Print costs in general are the Interact S605’s biggest problem. A page of mixed black and colour costs 9.8p. This is unacceptably high and unless the cost of Lexmark’s new ink decreases significantly, we can’t recommend this otherwise well-rounded MFP.

Basic Specifications

Rating ***
Maximum native print resolution 4,800×1,200dpi
Max optical resolution 1,200×2,400dpi
Output bit depth 48-bit

Quoted Speeds

Quoted speed, mono A4 18ppm
Quoted speed, colour A4 11ppm

Tested Print Speeds

Time for two 10x8in photos 1.0 2m 37s
Time for six 6x4in photos 1.0 3m 25s

Physical and Environmental

Standard printer interfaces USB, 802.11b/g/n wireless, PictBridge USB
Optional printer interfaces none
Size 178x514x358mm
Weight 8.7kg
Noise (in normal use) 50dB(A)
Duty cycle 5,000 pages
Power consumption standby 4W
Power consumption idle 8W
Power consumption active 18W

Paper Handling

Maximum paper size A4/legal
Maximum paper weight 255gsm
Standard paper inputs 1
Standard paper input capacity 100
Maximum paper inputs 1
Maximum paper input capacity 100
Duplex (code, cost if option) Yes

General

Printer technology thermal inkjet
Supported operating systems Windows 2000/XP/XP-64/Vista/Vista-64/7, Mac OS X 10.4.4-10.5, Linux
Other inkjet features 4.3in colour touchscreen, automatic print head alignment, replaceable print head
Other inkjet options none

Buying Information

Price £178
Consumable parts and prices 510 page Lexmark 100XL Black High Yield Return Program Ink Cartridge, £17; 600 page Lexmark 100XL Cyan, Magenta, Yellow High Yield Return Program Ink Cartridges £13 each; 170 page Lexmark 100 Black Standard Yield Return Program Ink Cartridge, £11; 200 pag
Price per colour A4 page 6.5p
Quoted life of supplied black cartridge 170 (ISO/IEC 24712)
Quoted life of supplied colour cartridge(s) 200 (ISE/IEC 24712)
Quoted life of supplied photo cartridge(s) N/A
Warranty three years RTB (with registration)
Supplier http://www.oyyy.co.uk
Details www.lexmark.co.uk

Print Quality

Number of ink colours 4
Number of ink cartridges 4
Maximum number of ink colours 4
Maximum number of cartridges 4
Quoted photo durability 100 years
Quoted photo durability source Lexmark

Tested Scan Speeds

Full scan area preview 10s
A4 document at 150dpi 18s
A4 document at 300dpi 24s
6x4in photo at 600dpi 50s
6x4in photo at 1200dpi 3m 43s

Tested Copy Speeds

Time for single A4 mono copy 1.0 32s
Time for single A4 colour copy 1.0 37s
Time for 10 A4 copies using feeder 2.0 N/A

Photo Features

PictBridge support Yes
Borderless printing up to A4
Direct (PC-less) printing Yes
Supported memory cards USB flash drive, Secure Digital, SDHC, Memory Stick/PRO, MMC, xD
CD printing No

Copy Features

Maximum number of copies 99
Max mono copy resolution 1,200×1,200dpi
Max colour copy resolution N/A

Fax Features

Max mono fax resolution N/A
Fax memory (maximum mono pages) N/A