Lexmark Z53

This is just as well, as while the Z53's initial £110 asking price is reasonable enough, the ink itself isn't cheap. A colour cartridge costs £27, and while this includes a print head - unlike Epson's cartridges - it still works out at 13.6p per colour page at 20 per cent CMYK coverage. This is 5.4p per page more than the HP DeskJet 980cxi's colour running costs (reviewed issue 80, p157), which also include a print head in the cost of the cartridge.

It's also worth noting that by the time you've extended the out-tray, the Z53 starts to consume a lot more desk space than HP's flat paper-feed chassis, and its bulky appearance won't make it a stylish desktop ornament either. Not only that, but when running in its high-speed draft mode it generates the kind of noise that's going to irritate your colleagues.

Lexmark showed it could innovate with its LiquidLaser technology found in the J110TN (reviewed issue 81, p150), and maybe it should extend this level of innovation to its Z range. The Z53 isn't bad, but it was everything we expected it to be - a high-quality and fast black text printer, but not something you'd want to print photos on. Lexmark has stuck with the same chassis design and the same four-colour printing mechanism for several years now. It's going to need a few more surprises up its sleeve if it realistically wants to compete on a level playing field with the superb print quality we've seen recently from HP and Epson.

Author: Ben Hardwidge