PC Magazine recently posted their review the Lexmark P350 compact photo printer and they get it surprisingly good marks. It wasn’t like the greatest review ever, but to have a Lexmark photo printer that gets any type positive feedback is pretty surprising.

The P350 is a followup to the P315 photo printer, which PC Magazine said was a disaster. Supposedly the P350 is better in every way than its predecessor. For starters, it comes with a single color ink cartridge, which is usually a bad idea. It isn’t mentioned in the PC Magazine review, but having just a color ink cartridge drastically raises the cost per print. Granted, with a compact photo printer like this you don’t really have an option, but having to use the color cartridge to also produce black really drains it. Moving on…like with the P315, you buy a packet that has paper and a cartridge. You can buy them separately, but that will cost you more. The P350 has all the usual connectivity options that standalone printers have like memory card slots and what not. It comes with a 2.4″ LCD and can print a regular 4 x 6 photo in about 90 seconds.

The main problem they had with it was that the gloss did not come out even on prints. This meant that the appearance of a photo could change based on what angle you looked at it from. Other than that, they didn’t really find any big faults with it. It was a little slower and more expensive than the HP Photosmart A516, which was one of their Editor’s Choice winners. If you have the option, it would probably be better to go with HP just because in general, they make better printers than Lexmark.

Recently PC World looked over their ratings and came out with an updated list of what they considered to be the best inkjets on the market. Here they are:

1. HP Deskjet 5940
2. HP Deskjet 5440
3. Canon PIXMA iP4200
4. Epson Stylus C88
5. HP Deskjet 5740
6. Canon PIXMA iP1600
7. HP Deskjet 6840
8. HP Business Inkjet 1200d
9. Lexmark Z735
10. HP Business Inkjet 2300

Before you wonder why this list looks a little strange, we will point out that these are strictly inkjet printers; there are no photo printers or multifunctions machines on this list. Therefore, you get strange models like the HP Business Inkjet 1200d, which probably makes up about 1% of all printers sold. These days, very few models are officially only inkjets. Almost every inkjet model, no matter how crappy, is marketed as a photo printer. Add to that the amount of multifunction printers that manufacturers are making these days and you are left with a small percentage of standard inkjets.

They rate the number one printer, the Deskjet 5940, as “very good”, even though we have heard some feedback that says otherwise. The 5940 and the Deskjet 5440 are definitely popular models, but the 5440 seems to get more positive feedback. Having the PIXMA iP4200 on there makes sense, because that is a very popular and very well-reviewed printer. Other than that, the whole bottom half of the list is pretty suspect.

Today CNET posted a review of the Lexmark X342n all-in-one laser printer. This machine hit the market a few months ago and is a pretty rare model for Lexmark, since these days most of their laser all-in-ones have come out under the Dell brand. They gave this model a 6.7 out of 10, which sounds pretty bad, but since it’s CNET that translates to a “good” rating.

The Lexmark X342n is a monochrome printer, scanner, copier and fax machine that is rated at 27 pages per minute. The official speed that CNET got in their tests was 17 pages per minute, which was better than some of the other machines in this class that they tested but ironically, slower than the Dell 1815n. The X342n was slower than the Dell in every test except for color and graphic scans. This is part of the reason why they note that you will “get more bang for your buck from the Dell 1815n”.

Overall, they liked the scanning capabilities and the price of the machine, while they didn’t like the lack of duplexing or the ergonomics of the X342n’s menu. One huge downside to this printer is the cost of the toner cartridges. A standard toner cartridge for this model currently retails for $102, and that’s for only a 2,500 page yield. A 6,000 page yield cartridge retails for $155, making it a much better deal than the standard yield but still outrageously priced. Luckily, the X342n comes with a high yield laser cartridge, which makes it a better buy than the X340n, which comes with the standard cartridge.

Lexmark X342n laser all-in-one printer [CNET]

PC World has a review of the Lexmark P450, which is a compact photo printer. Although Lexmark isn’t really known for their photo printers and previous reviewers haven’t been so kind to this model, the author of this article had a pretty favorable opinion of the P450. That might be due to the fact that he tends to focus more on the setup and operation of the printer rather than the actual quality of the photos that it produces.

The P450 is the first snapshot printer to include a CD burner, which helps with storage since you can’t hook it up to your computer like a regular printer. The idea is that you transfer your pictures over from your camera’s memory card, and then you can save them on a CD. The P450 also comes with a TV output so you can view slideshows on the big screen.

While PC World appreciated the ease of installing the P450 single inkjet cartridge, that may be one of the negatives of this machine. Because the P450 only has a color cartridge, it has to make black from a combination of colors. In the old days, this meant that “black” was actually just a really dark green that was noticeably off upon inspection. This probably isn’t the case with this printer, but that cartridge is going to run out faster because it has to combine more ink than usual to make a true black. That is just one factor to consider, since it might cause the cost of each individual print to rise.

The Print Shop: Snapshot Printer Features CD Burner [PC World]

Buy this printer Buy Lexmark P450 cartridges

One type of inkjet printer that we haven’t heard too much about is standalone compact photo printers. They started appearing on the market around the same time that at-home photo printing took off, but today they still only make up a relatively small portion of the photo printing market. Even though a lot of people like printing their own photos, so far they haven’t seemed to be totally on board with owning a printer that probably just prints 4 x 6s and nothing else. Companies like Kodak, HP and Canon make an effort to have their customers use their cameras and then hook up those cameras to their compact printers and print with their ink on their paper. Since we haven’t provided too many reviews on any of these kinds of printers so far, we thought we would point out an article in the NY Times that takes a look at five of these printers.

They take a look at the HP Photosmart 475, the Lexmark P450, the Canon Selphy CP170, the Kodak EasyShare 500 and the Epson PictureMate Deluxe. They don’t do any real in depth testing on the machines, but they compare the basic and important stuff like print quality, print speed and general usability. They don’t declare a clear winner, but their top choices are the Kodak and the Epson. Like with most other printers, Lexmark disappoints. They note that the HP has “gadget appeal” but that it is slow and its first print jobs all jammed. The Canon had potential but it had some technical issues.

The Epson and Kodak machines both run about $200, so they right around the same price as some regular photo printers.

Anyone out there own a compact photo printer?

The Joys and Pitfalls of One-and-a-Half-Minute Photo Processing [NY Times]

Circuit City has the Lexmark P315 for $50 after a mail-in rebate. The list price is $100, so even though mail-in rebates can be annoying, in this case it amounts to a 50% discount, so it might be worth the hassle. The P315 is a snapshot printer, so it is just for printing 4 x 6 photos. It is basically your own little photo studio, so you just insert your memory card or hook up your digital camera and go to town. Lexmark proclaims that it can print a 4 x 6 in 38 seconds (in QuickPrint mode), so that ain’t too bad.

You can find P315 cartridges on our site.

Lexmark announced today that they were introducing three new multifuction inkjet printers, all of which will be priced under $80. The new models are the Lexmark X3470, X2470 and the X1270.

The Lexmark X3470 prints, scans and copies but does not fax. It is rated at 17 pages per minute, features memory card slots and it has PictBridge to print directly from a camera. It also features a proof sheet, a first for Lexmark. You print out a page with thumbnail previews of your pictures, mark which ones you want to print, then scan that sheet and the machine prints them out. The Lexmark X2470 is basically a less fancy version of the X3470. It has the same basic features and prints at the same speed, but it lacks memory card slots and the proof sheet function. These two machines will use the Lexmark #1 ink cartridge, which combines black and color into one cartridge. Lexmark claims that this helps to eliminate “the cost and hassles of buying multiple cartridges”, but single cartridges like this can present problems for some people. Because the black is made from combining cyan, magenta and yellow, the results can be a little off at times. In the past we have heard some customers say that the black ends up looking a greenish color. It also tends to use up a lot of ink, so the hassle of buying multiple cartridges might just be replaced with the hassle of buying one cartridge more often.

The Lexmark X1270 is basically as no-frills as an all-in-one machine can get. It prints, scans and copies…and that’s about it. It is rated at the same 17ppm as the other two machines for printing black pages, but only 9ppm for color. To be fair, this machine is “under $50″ ($49.99) so expectations can’t be too high. This is a machine for people who want a basic all-in-one but aren’t crazy about extra features or photo printing.

The Lexmark X3470 will retail at $75 after a $25 mail-in rebate and the X2470 will retail at $59. They will be in stores sometime in May.

Lexmark’s new all-in-ones raise the bar on value and ease of use in home printing [Press Release]

These two printer giants are in court over HP’s hiring of Bruce Dahlgren, a former manager at Lexmark. He left the company in January, and Lexmark believes that his going to work at their rival violates a non-compete agreement he signed with them in 2000. Lexmark believes that he could share all their secrets with HP and that he would be directly competing with the company he just recently left. HP counters with the fact that Dahlgren doesn’t have any secrets and that he only knows about products that are already on the market. They say that Lexmark’s rules are too restrictive, while Lexmark states that Dahlgren kept his imminent employment at HP secret until the last minute. Juicy stuff.

The whole thing is being complicated by the fact that California, home of HP and now Dahlgren, has different non-compete laws than Kentucky, where Dahlgren worked at Lexmark and where he signed the agreement. The article notes that this is a big deal to Lexmark because they believe that Dahlgren can help HP in selling “printing solutions”, which means helping big companies with their printing needs.

During an investor conference call in January, Lexmark’s chief financial officer, John Gamble, said the company has a competitive advantage in managing large accounts, known as the enterprise market.

“Our ability to service the enterprise market with very high-end market products and extremely good solutions offerings is very, very good,” said Gamble.

That same area is one that HP hopes to grow.

To imagine Lexmark competing with HP may seem strange, since it seems like HP easily dominates them, and in reality they pretty much do. But if Lexmark feels they have an advantage over HP in any area, it is wise for them to fight to protect it.

Lexmark non-compete clause contested by HP [Lexington Herald-Leader]

Recently Tom’s Hardware had an excellent and exhaustive review of five multifunction machines currently out on the market. They review and compare the Canon PIXMA MP500, Dell All-in-One 944, Epson Stylus Photo RX700, HP Photosmart 3210 and the Lexmark P6350.

They compare the machines based on their photo printing, their speed and the cost of owning and operating them. Some findings:

-the Lexmark P6350 prints text the fastest in Normal mode
-the Epson RX700 prints a standard photo the fastest, barely edging out the Photosmart
-the HP and Canon seem to perform the best in the photo print quality test
-the PIXMA MP500 is the cheapest to operate over the life of the machine; the RX700 the most expensive

Not to spoil things, but they don’t declare one one winner. Instead, they note that the HP Photosmart 3210 and the Canon PIXMA MP500 stand out above the others. They had a favorable opinion of all the machines except the Dell, which they were “disappointed” with. Regardless, their analysis is definitely worth a read. It is very rare that you will find this much hard data showing the performance of different printers anywhere else. You can read all the reviews you want and get people’s opinions on these machines, but it is nice to see some numbers to put things in perspective.

Multifunction printers call the tune [Tom’s Hardware]

Not really a big secret, but this article notes that 15% of all printers sold by Lexmark are sold to Dell. Lexmark manufacturers the printers, sells them to Dell and then Dell brands them with their name. Last year, Lexmark sold $782 million worth of printers to Dell, up from $570 million the year before. The article says:

Lexmark has been criticized by analysts who say the company’s relationship with Dell, which has rapidly gained printer market share, dilutes its own brand name.

While that may be true, it’s hard to argue with hundreds of millions of dollars of sales. Besides, most people probably don’t even know that their Dell printer isn’t made by Dell, so the Lexmark name probably isn’t being diluted in too many people’s eyes.

Lexmark selling more printers to Dell [Kentucky.com]