Lexmark T522 Printer Review
The Lexmark Optra T522 laser printer is designed for the small or medium office environment. It can handle high-volume printing, and has expandability to meet the changing needs of a growing office. Its low per-page costs also make it an economical choice. For affordable home printing, a model that uses Samsung CLT-K409S toner may be a better choice.
The paper capacity of the Lexmark T522 laser printer is much larger than most competing units, with 500 sheets in its main tray, and a multipurpose tray that hods up to 100 sheets. Expansion upgrades are available as well, including 250-sheet, 500-sheet, and 2,000 sheet trays that can be added on at any time. This allows the unit to grow along with an office's needs. The initial 16 MB of memory can also be expanded up to a maximum of 272 MB if needed.
Ethernet networking is not included by default, but a number or internal and external print server upgrades are available. This allows the unit to be shared among an office of users quickly and easily. The unit can also be upgraded with an optional 5 GB hard drive, for storing or archiving documents for later access or printing.
Lexmark Optra T522 toner cartridges have a very low cost per page. The laser toner cartridge has a capacity of 20,000 pages,which will last a little longer and have a lower cost per page than the Xerox 106R01221 toner at only 18,000 pages, and printer toner cartridge replacements are very affordably-priced. The unit's toner save mode can help users get even more out of each Lexmark T522 toner cartridge.
Print speed is very fast, though it falls a little behind some competing units. The unit prints at up to 25 pages per minute. Text quality is excellent, with sharp and detailed characters even at small font sizes. Graphics quality is also impressive, but those with color needs should consider the Dell 5110cn printer, which uses Dell 310-7891 toner. For internal office use this machine it is quite usable.
Overall, there is a lot to like about the Lexmark T522. Expandability and fast, reliable printing, combined with its economical toner costs, make it an excellent choice for a growing office.