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Entire Contents © 2006 Prog
ressiv
e Business Pub
lications
.
Copying of Pages Prohibited.To Order: 800 247 2185 or www.betterbuys.com
But as you would expect, the C500n is light on features,
and users will have to accept some compromises in terms
o
f performance.
The C500n has relatively slow first-page-out times: 13
seconds for black-and-white and 19 seconds for color. It
prints at 1,200 x 600dpi standard and has a 35,000-page
monthly duty cycle. It comes with 64MB of (nonexpand-
able) memory standard, and has a decent 200MHz
processor. It doesn’t run PostScript, instead utilizing
Lexmark’s host-based system.
On the plus side, the C500n comes with standard
Ethernet, a nice feature for this price range. It also has a
wireless option.
The printer has a standard 250-sheet paper supply,
which can be expanded to 780 sheets. Its maximum out-
put is 250 sheets. No optional output devices are avail-
able for this machine.
Not surprisingly, consumables costs are high. Even
using Lexmark’s high-yield toner cartridges will cost 3.0¢
a page for black-and-white and 16.3¢ a page for color.
Tha
t’
s pretty steep, but typical for printers in this price
range.
The C500n is simply a basic printer that seems to be
designed for the casual office user who needs occasional
color printing f
or a special pr
oject but doesn’t want to
spend a lot. For this type of a customer, it’s an appealing
bargain, offering performance comparable to far more
expensive models
.
Chart entry — page 94
Le
xmark C530dn
Le
xmark C532n
Lexmark C532dn
Le
xmar
k C534n
Lexmark C534dn
Lexmark C534dtn
22ppm full color
24ppm black & white
Sum-up:
Another Le
xmark breakthrough in speed and price
for color laser printing.
T
hr
ee years ago, Lexmark came out with the C510 series,
a very good economy model priced at $599 and up. Two
years ago, the company topped itself with the
C520/C522/C524 f
amil
y
,
w
hic
h printed a
t 20ppm in
color and black-and-white, a strong performance level for
such economical machines. Now these models have
under
gone another evolution, re-emerging as the
C530/C532/C534 family, which prints at 22ppm in color
and 24ppm in black-and-white. Although Lexmark hasn’t
r
aised the prices fr
om the pr
e
vious g
eneration (in fact,
Lexmark dropped the price on the C534 models by $200
each from their C524 predecessors), these machines
achieve even more remarkable speed, while many of
their rivals run at speeds of 4 to 8ppm in color. They also
have some superior features that make them more than
just minimal printers.
The six new models in the family are:
● The C532n, the base-level machine with a 250-sheet
paper capacity and Ethernet, along with 128MB of
memory. ($499)
● The C530dn, a retail-channel version of the C532n,
also $499, and almost, but not quite, identical. The
major differences: the C530dn adds duplexing but has
a 65,000-page duty cycle, while the C532n has a
75,000-page duty cycle but no duplexing. The C532n
also has higher supply yields than the C530dn.
● The C532dn ($699), which is identical to the C532n
except it adds standard duplexing.
● The C534n, whic
h adds a faster pr
ocessor and an
optional hard disk, as well as networking and also has
128MB of standard memory ($699).
● The C534dn, which adds standar
d automatic duplex-
ing to the C534n. ($999)
● The C534dtn, which adds an extra 500-sheet tray
($1,299).
Better Buys for Business
Lexmark C530/C532/C534
Consumables costs at-a-glance
Price
Yield
Full-color cost per page
Black-and-white cost per page
Black print cartridge $95.00 1,500 $ 0.026 $ 0.026
Cyan print cartridge $95.00 1,500 $ 0.040 N/A
Magenta print cartridge $95.00 1,500 $ 0.040 N/A
Yellow print cartridge $95.00 1,500 $ 0.040 N/A
4-color drum $35.50 20,000 $ 0.002 $ 0.002
T
O
T
AL PER-P
A
GE COSTS
$ 0.1470 $ 0.0280
14.70 2.80