Review: Lexmark Z32 USB Color Jetprinter

Reviewed By: Kirk Hiner

Review Date: March 20, 2001

Format: USB Inkjet Printer

Developer: Lexmark

Minimum Requirements: MacOS 8.6, USB

Specs: See full specs at Lexmark's website

Retail Price: $69.95

Availability: Out now

Whether you call yourself "cheap" or prefer the more refined "frugal," a color ink jet printer retailing at $69.95 (estimated street price) is bound to catch your eye. If you are not running a magazine or publishing catalogs out of your basement, and if you put off buying a color printer because you just could not justify the expense or write it off in your taxes, the Lexmark Z32 might be the printer you have been waiting for, although non-USB computers will need some assistance.

The Lexmark Z32 officially supports USB only, but I thought I'd try connecting it to a non-USB G3 anyway. I'm funny that way, so I ordered a PCI USB adapter. Waiting for the card to arrive in the mail was the hardest part of the set-up. Installing the card and software was a snap, and the printer set-up process was also remarkably uncomplicated. Software installed from the disk with a few clicks, and it was time to run it. I crossed my fingers...rather needlessly. Without any additional software or patches, though I had been told a patch might be necessary, the printer ran fine through the USB card on the 233MHz G3.

Back to the printer itself. The ink cartridges were simple to install and change. The Lexmark warns you when the cartridges are low on ink, and the control panel offers a visual representation of the ink remaining, giving you crucial time to purchase a cartridge in advance. This certainly beats discovering that your cartridge is out of ink as the first page of tomorrow's report stops printing half-way through the page. These infrequent operations--hook-up, installation, and changing ink cartridges--were as easy or easier than in other inkjet or laser printers I've used. Additionally, with almost no modification and no additional parts, the Z32 easily accepts all common types of paper and envelopes.

After set-up, the user is directed through an inkjet alignment process which was as simple as the earlier steps. I recommend it as a family-building activity, or a sort of litmus test to see if your engagement will turn into a lasting marriage or is doomed to end with a well-dressed stranger handing you a sealed envelope and announcing, "I'm a representative of Dunne and Snodgrass, divorce attorneys. You have been served." The printer shoots out a series of vertical and horizontal lines and you and your significant other(s) try to determine and agree on which are the most aligned. You then enter the corresponding code at each prompt. It took just two minutes, all debates aside. The alignment step, as well as an option to clean out the print nozzles, are two unusual solutions the Lexmark offers if you have complaints about print quality. So far, I have had none, though I keep hoping to see what else I will learn about my personal relationships after cleaning the nozzles.

Run through paces of traditional text like reports and web pages, the printer performed admirably. Some smudging can occur if handled immediately out of the printer, but either a paper change or an ounce of patience can fix that. When printing more dense black and white text images, such as grade books and similar spread sheets or charts, it was clear that the reported 7.5 ppm was a peak speed, though generally the Lexmark performed near that threshold.

For color printing, images scanned at 300dpi into Adobe Photoshop and printed onto Epson Glossy Photo Paper at first glance look like the original pictures, but up close, the pixelation is evident. Higher dpi scannings offered better print quality, but never were they indistinguishable from the originals, and even here darkly shaded objects were often lost. However, recreating photos and capturing faces in deep shadows is hardly the standard for a $70.00 printer. The images produced at the highest settings on the printer were acceptable, even commendable for such an affordable printer. I had trouble reproducing the reported 3.5 ppm for my color pages from the web and did not come close to that when reproducing photos, but I was never unsatisfied with the results.

This printer has a couple of minor drawbacks. The first and least significant is the rather cumbersome print settings and options screen. If you always do the same kind of printing, this can be set once and forgotten about, but if you alternate between color and black and white, there are several steps to take each time. The Lexmark allows the user to specify one set as the default, which allowed me to switch easily to black and white--my most common printing type. However, the switch from black-and-white to color requires visiting the "Paper type/Quality" and "Color" screens to make a total of four changes before printing.

This seems a petty complaint until you are involved in a project and spend a couple of minutes and a sheet of photo paper (which nobody is giving away) printing a black and white image that you needed in color. A simple fix would be for Lexmark to allow the user to specify, and perhaps name, two or three default settings to change at the press of a single button. However, this does not concern everybody. As I mentioned in my review of the Lexmark Z52, the comparative ease of color control will please printers and designers looking to use the printer as a proofing tool. However, no respectable designer is going to proof color with a $70 printer (no PostScript, after all). General consumers, students and such will be the ones working with the Z32, and they don't need the hassle of color management.

A larger concern is that the ink goes quickly, especially when printing at maximum (1200 dpi) quality. At $25-$35 a cartridge, a couple of large projects will cost almost as much as your printer (and a misprinted picture will cause a hint of an ulcer pain). However, if you are frugal, you can console yourself with the thought that you did not pay all that much for the printer in the first place, so it's a wash.

The Lexmark Z32 is not fast, and it's print quality will not help turn your digital vacation photos into an Ansel Adams coffee table book. But at only $70, you can take the money saved and actually by an Ansel Adams book. For those interested in printing letters, reports and presentations, the Z32 will do you just fine. Moms, dads...graduation is coming up, and I know I sure would've enjoyed a good printer so I wouldn't have had to trek to the college library to print my reports on William Faulkner. Of course, I didn't have my own computer, and USB was a good ten years off, so maybe the luggage made more sense after all.

Now if Lexmark would offer a way to interpret different opinions on the printer head alignment, they would have a psychological tool to rival the Rorschach test, as well.

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