Lexmark X8350 All-in-One Review

For Lexmark X8350 InkJet Printer Products from online stores: SuppliesChannel: $178.85 | In stock: unknown Office Depot: $179.99 | In stock: yes TigerDirect.com: $89.97 | In stock: yes 5 Store Offers from $90-$250

Some people call them MFPs for multifunction peripherals. Some call them AIOs for all-in-ones. We usually end up calling them printer/scanner/fax/copiers, but if Lexmark has its way, we may have to start saying printer/photo printer/scanner/fax/copiers.

The Lexmark X8350 succeeds the model X7170 we tested in March 2005 as the top of the company's inkjet-based multifunction lineup. But while that machine was all business -- small business, anyway -- Lexmark calls the X8350 an Office All-in-One Plus Photo, with features such as six-color borderless printing, digital-camera memory-card slots, and a color preview LCD. These target home-office entrepreneurs who stop work at five o'clock to organize their photo collection or help the kids with school reports, as well as small offices that create flyers or handouts with photos (e.g., real estate agents).

Complete with walk-up (no PC required) copying and faxing and a flatbed color scanner with automatic document feeder for multipage scans or faxes, the X8350 is priced at $200. That's not shockingly low these days, when multifunction units are chasing printer-only inkjets down the stairs to under $100, but it's affordable enough for a thumbs-up with some competitive units costing $300 or more -- especially when you have to stop and think to decide what the X8350 lacks.

OK, it doesn't have networking. And, um, there's no automatic duplexer for double-sided printing. And, er, what else? Oh, yeah, the input paper drawer is kind of skimpy. Any other complaints? Uh, hmm, give me a sec ...

Cost Per Page? Well, It's an Inkjet ...

Taking roughly 18 by 21 inches of desk space and standing 10 inches tall, the X830 connects to a PC's USB 2.0 port (cable not included). Like the X7170, it skips most Lexmark inkjets' vertical paper path for a photocopier-style front drawer, from which paper performs a U-turn to exit (face up, first page on top) on a pull-out output tray.

We experienced two paper jams in our time with the printer, but a bigger gripe was the input drawer's shallow capacity -- with just 100 pages of capacity, you'll need to flip up the exit tray and reload the unit fairly often. Digital camera owners will also grumble that loading 4 by 6-inch photo paper obliges you to reach well into the drawer and out of sight to push the media into place.

Photo buffs will be happier to see Secure Digital/MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick, SmartMedia/xD, and CompactFlash/Microdrive slots on the front panel, along with a USB port for a flash drive or PictBridge-compatible camera. Insert a card, and both the Lexmark's control-panel LCD and pop-up PC software will offer to print some or all of your photos or a thumbnail sheet (which you can't mark up and then scan to print selected images, as with some HP all-in-ones), or copy them to the computer. The LCD also offers a miniature (2.4 inches diagonally) slide show.

For the best skin tones and other subtle hues in printed photos, you can replace the Lexmark's black ink cartridge by inserting a photo cartridge (not included) alongside its regular cyan/magenta/yellow color cartridge. Lexmark says the $25 photo cartridge is good for 130-odd 4 by 6-inch prints.

You can buy replacements for the supplied, short-lived black and tricolor cartridges for $20 and $22, respectively, but cost efficiency will steer you to higher-capacity black ($25) and color ($30) cartridges rated for 475 pages. As with every inkjet device on the planet, coming anywhere near the X8350's rated 5,000-page monthly duty cycle won't be cheap -- from the above, we calculate 5.3 cents per black-and-white and 11.6 cents per color page, plus the cost of the coated media that inkjets much prefer to plain paper.

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Where to buy Lexmark X8350 InkJet Printer Products
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	Write a store review	unknown	Check Site	$178.85
	Write a store review	yes	0.00	$179.99
	Write a store review	yes	18.24	$89.97