After having reviewed the impressive
Z33 budget printer, we decided to take a look at some more of Lexmarks offerings. Thus we were faced with the $99US Z43, which features a 2400x1200dpi for both black and white prints in all paper types. It also lays claim to a speedy 12ppm black and 6ppm color print speed.
According to the press literature, the Z43 is pitted against HPs 932C and Epsons 777 printers both of which are around the same price range, but both of which share slower rated print speeds and less impressive print resolutions. Can the Z43 possibly deliver the quality and speed that it claims, at a sub-$100 price point? It cant. But it can deliver on quality and speed that is quite competitive in the sub $100 market.
Specifications
Thermal Inkjet Print Technology
2400 x 1200 dpi (black and color) on all paper types
Print Speed: 12 pages per minute black and 6 pages per minute color
Accu-Feed(tm) paper handling for fewer paper jams when using all paper types
7 Picoliter Color Droplet Size
4 Color Inkjet - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black (with black cartridge installed)
Operating Systems Supported:
Microsoft Windows 9X/Me, 2000, NT, Apple Mac OS X/8.6/9.X
Input Tray capacity: 100 pages
Output Tray capacity: 50 pages
Noise Level: 45dB(A)
Duty Cycle: 3000 pages/month
Yield: Black: 600 pages @ 5% coverage
Color: 275 pages @ 15% coverage
Installation and First Impressions
The Z43 has the same clean styling found in the latest generation of Lexmarks Z inkjet printers. The immediate differences between the Z43 and the Z33 are that the former printer has both USB and parallel connections and includes a color AND a black ink cartridge (the Z33, as indicated in our review, comes with only the one cartridge, and relies solely on a USB connection).
Installation is again as easy as with all the other Lexmark printers the custom drivers are easily installed with no problems. These drivers are also quite detailed in their options and also include a variety of diagnostic displays during printouts. As with all modern inkjets, the Lexmark printer detects what cartridges have been installed, and also monitors the remaining ink in each cartridge.
Performance and Quality
The Z43 performs incrementally faster then its Z33 brethren. This was apparent almost immediately.
Text print quality was about on par with the Z33, which is to say that it is characteristic of better quality budget printers fonts down to 8 or 9pt are cleanest, while smaller font sizes become more muddled and less clear. Also, the useability of regular print quality is not particularly high because the text is not nearly as dark and ligible inthis mode as it is in high or maximum quality modes both of which print very slowly. Overall, at regular print quality, it is readily apparent that the text was printed on an inkjet.
On plain paper, text printed at a preppy 14 seconds per page, or approximately 4.3 pages per minute in normal quality setting. At the maximum quality setting, text printed at 2 minutes and 50 seconds per page, but text quality was proportionally better too to the point where you could use the results in essays and reports without fearing about poor text quality.
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