Lexmark Z2320 in Printers

Lexmark's Z2320 clearly follows the model of the Canon Pixma iP2600 - a simple, cheap device for those who just want a basic printer. It's slightly more compact than the Canon, and even less sophisticated, with a single Power button.

Considering the Z2320's rudimentary design, print quality isn't bad. Draft output was greyish, and areas of solid black came out stripey, but overall our document was legible. Stepping up to standard mode made things far more solid, but the stripes weren't eradicated, and letters were more smudged than we'd like. Still, the Z2320 isn't aimed at those who need laser-quality text. Colour graphics were smooth, if a little speckly.

Thankfully, the Z2320 put in its best performance in the test where quality counts most - photographic printing. Colours were clear, with solid blacks and subtle highlights, and detail reproduction was excellent. Our only criticisms are that dithering was noticeable in a few areas, and the overall picture wasn't quite as vibrant as other printers' efforts.

There are trade-offs, however, and the first is speed. Our 6 x 4in photograph took 2mins 10secs to print. That's not too bad next to the Epson Stylus (1min 52secs) or the Canon iP2600 (1min 42secs), but it's still the slowest time here. Draft printing was slow too, at 11.2ppm. And while the Lexmark's standard mono document rate of 7.8ppm fell in the middle of the pack, switching to colour caused this to plummet to a last-placed 1.2ppm.

Another potential gotcha is printing costs. With a pair of standard black and tri-colour cartridges we printed just 54 photos before the colour cartridge needed replacing. That works out at 30p per photo - 20% higher than the Pixma iP2600 and more than double the cost of the Canon and HP units. High-yield cartridges are offered, but Lexmark couldn't supply any for testing and won't state how much extra ink they contain.

As a basic printer the Lexmark Z2320 does a passable job. It produces readable documents and satisfactory photo-quality results. But the Canon iP2600 produces better prints, more quickly, and costs less - which leaves little to recommend the Lexmark.

Author: David Bayon