Product Reviews

Last month's inkjet printer group test (see Labs, issue 92, p76) highlighted the technological advances that have been made in the last few years, with every printer featuring 2,400dpi or higher print engines. The Z65 was released just too late to be included in the Labs, and its all-new print head design takes the battle of numbers one step higher - it's the first we've seen to boast a maximum resolution of 4,800 x 1,200dpi.

Although the Z65 is the flagship model in Lexmark's Z-range, it comes in at an extremely competitive price of £99, making it a direct competitor to the likes of Epson's Stylus C70 (see Labs, issue 92, p76). Even more impressive is that Lexmark has managed to achieve this price point while also including a number of new advanced features, such as twin paper input trays and automatic paper sensing integrated into the primary paper tray.

Automatic paper sensing is a welcome feature, meaning that the Z65 is continually aware of the type of media being used and can adjust its settings accordingly. This has benefits over HP's paper-sensing technology that detects the paper type and adjusts settings after the paper has been fed into the mechanism, resulting in a slight delay. That said, it's still worth double-checking that the sensor has detected the correct paper type, as we noticed it sometimes failed to recognise some types of coated inkjet media, requiring the paper type to be set manually.

The biggest change compared to Lexmark's previous inkjets, however, is the print head design. Lexmark has increased the swath length (the physical size of the print head) from one-third of an inch to half an inch, allowing it to cover a greater area per pass, potentially increasing print speeds. The print nozzles are also arranged differently, allowing the Z65 to print cyan, magenta and yellow at the same time using the entire length of the print head, rather than taking three passes (one per colour).

Another major change is PrecisionPhoto, referring to Lexmark's new variable drop size technology. This combines a row of nozzles delivering 10pl (picolitre) ink drops and a row of nozzles delivering 3pl ink drops, with the former used for areas of block colour or low detail, and the latter used for areas of fine detail.

The proof of the pudding is in the print quality, though, and in this respect the Z65 was slightly less remarkable.

However, it was noticeable that the printed text was slightly furry around the edges, lacking the more precise sharpness that Lexmark inkjets are known for. Granted, characters were reproduced in a fairly solid black, but it was still some way off presentation quality. To get the best black text results requires printing at the higher quality settings, which resulted in a far stronger black, although the Epson C70 is still crisper.

Print speeds shot up considerably in the 25-page draft letter test, which was completed in two minutes at a speedy 12.3ppm, although this is considerably slower than the printer's claimed 21ppm top speed. The Z65 outperforms Epson's C70, though, which managed 10.2ppm. However, the Lexmark's text quality dropped further, looking washed out and lacking solidity. By comparison, the draft results from Epson's Stylus Photo 950 (see p113) were much cleaner with stronger blacks.

Things improved with the four-page colour DTP test, which was printed at the best settings using coated inkjet paper. Images possessed plenty of detail and colours were strong, but text still wasn't razor sharp, unlike the Epson C70. Print speeds also fell dramatically; the Z65 finished the test in 16 minutes and 28 seconds, putting it on a par with the C70's 14 minutes and 30 seconds.

Photo printing hasn't been a strong point of Lexmark printers in the past, with Epson and Canon being the forerunners in this area. However, thanks to Lexmark's new print head, the Z65's photo results were much improved.

Our A4 photo test printed in nine minutes and 48 seconds at the maximum settings using Epson glossy photo paper, and the results looked great at a distance. However, taking a closer look revealed some fine banding, and the composite colour make-up was also evident in some areas, although not to the same degree as HP's DeskJet 960c (see Labs, issue 92, p76). In fact, general photo quality was slightly better than both the Epson C70 and the HP DeskJet 960c - a statement that certainly couldn't have been made about Lexmark's previous inkjets.

Naturally, six- or seven-colour photo printers, such as Epson's stunning Stylus Photo 950, produce much richer, fuller and pleasing results, but considering the Z65's price its photo results are excellent.

The Lexmark Z65 is distinctly different from the inkjet printers we're accustomed to from Lexmark. By redesigning the print head, the company has brought the photo quality into line with other four-colour printers from HP, Epson and Canon.

However, Lexmark's traditional black text quality seems to have suffered as a result, lagging behind similarly priced competition from HP and Epson. For £99, the Z65 is still a good printer, but Epson's C70 or HP's DeskJet 960c are better all-rounders.