Lexmark X500 Toner Cartridges

Lexmark X500 Printer Review

The Lexmark X500n is a color laser printer with multifunction features designed for the home and small office environment. It features great print quality and expandability, but its bulkiness may limit its appeal to some users. The LaserJet 2600 toner printer is a more compact unit with similar features.

The X500n's multifunction features include the ability to print, scan, and copy. Its design is quite large, measuring 21 inches tall, 19 inches wide, and 17.2 inches deep. In fact, its large footprint and heavy weight of 77 pounds may drive some home users with limited space to look at smaller models.

Paper capacity is fairly generous for its class. the input tray holds 250 sheets and can be expanded with an optional 530 page drawer at any time. One major downside is that the printer has no multipurpose tray or slot, so alternate media must be placed in the main tray. This means that users must remove all standard paper before loading alternate media. While this may not be such a concern for a home or small office user, who is likely not to have to do this process often, it is still inconvenient.

Toner capacity is 2,500 pages for black and 1,500 pages for each color. High-capacity cartridges are available, at 5,000 pages for black and 3,000 pages for color. For higher-volume printing, try the Okidata C5100 toner printer. The high-capacity cartridges offer a much more economical solution, and despite the higher upfront cost, they will save users significant money over the long run.

With a built-in ethernet port, the X500n can easily be shared across a network to other computers. Most functions of the machine are available remotely, though network scanning is not an option. Scanning must be done to a computer attached by USB, and must be invoked by the software. The unit includes an automatic document feeder (ADF), which can hold up to 35 pages. This is a very convenient feature, and allows for quick and easy scanning of multiple pages.

Overall, the Lexmark X500n is a very capable multifunction device with all the basic features a small or home office would need. Lack of network scanning and a multipurpose tray are its only major downsides, but it still tests better than competing models, such as the LaserJet CP1215 toner printer.