Lexmark C500 Toner Cartridges

Lexmark C500 Printer Review

The Lexmark C500n color laser printer is designed for the small or home office user, like the LaserJet 1500 toner printer by HP. Its speed and print quality make it a good choice for high-volume use, but it lacks some features, such as duplexing, that can be found in competing products.

The Lexmark C500 laser printer offers the basic printing functions one would expect from a dedicated ink toner laser. What it lacks are some of the extras that are included with some competing models. For example, similarly-priced competing models include duplexing (two-sided printing) or a PictBridge port. In fact, with the price of multifunction machines gradually decreasing, it may be difficult to justify the price of the purchase for just a dedicated laser.

Still, the unit's print quality is excellent. In fact, print quality is better than most of its competition, and certainly better than most multifunction machines, which tend to sacrifice print quality somewhat in lieu of other added features. Print speed is also quite impressive for its price. Black prints churn out at a rate of 19 pages per minute, though color prints are much slower, at around 6 pages per minute. This means that the machine is a good choice for users who tend to print a lot of black prints, with only the occasional need for color prints.

The front panel of the unit is a bit troublesome. The LCD screen is not backlit, making it difficult to read in low light, or in places where there is some glare. This may not be such a concern for the small office user, but it could make it difficult to read in an office with bright fluorescent lighting. The controls are simple, with only a Go button, a Cancel button, and four arrows. This configuration tends to do the job, but the machine's menu is very simple, without many options to take advantage of.

Lexmark C500 toner cartridges are a little more expensive than competing models. Each color laser toner cartridge has a capacity of 3,000 pages, while the black printer toner cartridge has a capacity of 5,000 pages. This results in a decent cost per page, but higher than the competition.

Overall, the Lexmark C500n is a great choice for the small office or home office user who does a lot of black printing and the occasional color print. For a little more money, a multifunction machine will offer more functionality.