Lexmark X4550 Wireless All-in-One Photo Printing/Scan/Copy/Print (1410600)
by Lexmark
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Our Price: $148.88 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $50.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Lexmark X4550 Wireless All-in-One Photo Printing/Scan/Copy/Print (1410600)
Customer Review: The problem with a $150 all-in-one machine....
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this out of desperation after our HP photosmart printer died in the middle of printing a research project for school. With the store closing in 30 minutes, I did my best comparing/constrasting of the sides of the printer boxes and ended up with the the Lexmark X4550 due to the wireless capability, price, and other features (scanner/copier). In hindsite, I probably should have also realized you get what you pay for. The problem with $150 all-in-one peripheral is that, yeah, it does a bunch a different things...but all substandard.
1. Setup - Setup went relatively simple for the hardwired portion (Mac) but the laptop (PC) took a few extra steps, one of which involved wiring it temporarily to the printer. For this reason I have never installed my sons PC in his room as I don't feel like going thru the hassle of having to wire it to the printer during setup.
2) One or the other: This may not be a big deal for some, but the printer either works in wired or wireless mode at any given time. Example: I have a Mac hardwired to it via USB and a PC laptop connected wirelessly. In order to use the laptop, I have to unplug the USB cable going to the Mac. Again, not a big deal but it's an annoyance more than anything if you're trying to print from the other end of the house to have to go unplug the Mac.
3) Wireless printing: "Iffy" at best. I don't know if the printer's memory is the issue or if it's the wireless connection but not all of the pages being sent wirelessly end up getting printed! This now is a major hassle that has since caused us to resort to emailing documents to the hardwired Mac for printing.
4) Ink usage: We have easily spent double the price of the printer in ink cartidges..no joke. This thing goes thru them like candy. Another annoyance is that if the black ink goes empty, the printer won't combine the remaining color cartridge to create black ink for monochrome documents.
5) Other features: Scanner/Copier is handy but we hardly ever used it. Fax capability would be nice though if it had it.
6) Print quality: I dont have gripes with the print quality..we used it mainly for school reports (text) and printing online pages/reciepts (minimal graphics).
Bottom line: The inconsistent wireless printing and small fortune in ink cartidges have force us to look at other printer options. The price was definately alluring but I should have learned by now that you get what you pay for!
Customer Review: Super impressed
Summary: 5 Stars
My husband and I both have had notebook computers for a couple of years now, and our (not that) old HP all-in-one was starting to have some major issues, neither copying nor scanning, and printing only in purple. So, when I started researching new printers and realized that there actually was technology out there for wi-fi printing, I was very happy.
After some research, I ordered this printer.
Set up, even the wireless connection, took approximately 10 minutes. My husband had it on his notebook, wirelessly, in another 5-10 minutes. The color is very true. Although photo printing is fairly slow, it is very good home quality for a "not photo" printer, and it does something the HP never managed to do, no matter what the settings - print an actual borderless 4x6 photo. I do use Snapfish for most of my photo printing needs, but this is terrific for my kids' school projects and other times when I need a couple of photos printed right away.
The scanning function is very cool - we can scan and send to either computer, even choosing multiple programs for the destination, all wirelessly.
The copying function is also quick and easy.
There are plenty of settings for changing the quality of any output. The software that comes for photo editing is fine, but as I have both free and camera software, it's unnecessary for me.
The printer does also have the slots for memory cards or camera connection right to the printer. Again, not something I use much, but it's always good to have the option.
I know I'm doing a lot of comparison to HP, but as my last several printers were HP, that's what I know. The ink for this printer is significantly cheaper, which is another bonus. Also, the ink status is shown with every print, so you won't be suddenly surprised by the "your color ink is low" message in the middle of a job.
All in all, this is perfect for us - a stay-at-home mom and a husband who needs to print some work stuff, and two kids who love to print stuff off playhouse Disney or Nick Jr.'s websites, with some photo printing thrown in. I love the all-in-ones as I do need to copy from time to time, especially for the kids' school.
My only complaint: there is a great sensor function for adjusting the printing quality based on the paper that's loaded, but there is not a secondary tray for photo paper, so you have to manually switch papers. Other than that, all is good!
Customer Review: Everything I expected
Summary: 5 Stars
I ordered this product on Amazon and received it in six days with standard shipping - about what I expected.
I have some minimal experience with setting stuff like this up. I have a home network with a PS3, a Wii, a Slingbox, a Satellite receiver, a LCD TV and surround sound, so I know my way around setting up stuff like this.
Troubleshooting is another Issue all together, but I am confident that anyone could set this printer up. The details are extremely simple, and I had it up and ruinning in 15 minutes on both computers (one is XP and the other is Vista). Both are hooked to the wifi connection.
No problems at all.
As for the product in action, this is my first "non B&W" printer, so color expectations weren't that high.
I don't have a point of reference on photo quality, but I printed out a handful of photos just to check things out on "three-star" quality paper (4x6) and they looked great to me! Didn't seem to use too much ink, either.
I have used it to print and scan documents and photos in black and white and in color - not a problem yet.
Scanner is neat - lets you pick which computer to scan to and which program to open with. Just save the file as a .pdf or a .doc or .jpg or whatever. No sweat.
The printer is supposedly compatible with a higher grade ink specially for photos, but I was quite fine with the photos the cartridge it came with made. The software it comes with allows you to subscribe to the LexMark web site which offers "buy 5 get 2 free" cartridges as long as you return the empties in supplied enveloped/ Kind of like "Netflix" I guess.
One reviewer stated that the printer will not allow you to refill the cartridges because it remembers the used one, but an ink shop in town says it "recalibrates" cartridges, so maybe that's a way around it. I'll have to give it a try when the supplied cartridges run out to see if it works and is cheaper than the website or a store.
The editing software it comes with is very simple - offers red eye fixes and cropping and some other simple features that are very user friendly. I didn't expect Photoshop to come with it or anything.
I haven't tried the fax feature, so I can't comment on that.
I gave this printer five stars because it does exactly what it is advertised to do, it arrived in a hurry and - for the cheap price - what more could you ask for?
Customer Review: Good Printer For A Good Price (Like Lexmark)
Summary: 5 Stars
I give this a five even though installation took a long time because that was my fault for not paying attention to versions of Mac OS the installation CD was set up for. Plus I'm not a real technically savvy person (so sue me). The installation for my desktop which has Windows XP was a little slow (but my computer is so old, it should be in a museum), but it went totally fine. The problem started with my MacBook Pro. The installation CD took me through the entire process but I could not get it to print over my network. I called Lexmark and was on hold for over 20 minutes. However, once I got a technician on the phone he was very helpful. I found out I just needed to download a driver that was compatible with Leopard; but I don't know if downloading the driver did the trick or if disconnecting the printer from my desktop made it possible for the wireless printing option to work. Plugging in the USB cable to print from my desktop and then remembering to unplug it so it connects to my network and prints from my Mac is a bit of a pain since the printer is downstairs; but since I'm on my Mac most of the time that's no big deal. I just have to keep it unplugged from the desktop. I think I'm gonna drive myself crazy remembering I need to plug the USB cable into the printer on those rare occasions I need to print something from my desktop computer. I know other reviewers have totally trashed Lexmark, but I am very happy with their printers. My first printer from Lexmark lasted for about seven years before it gave up and died. The only reason I'm replacing my current all-in-one printer, which replaced my first Lexmark that died, is that it does not have the wireless printing option; and not being technically savvy, I did not think about that when I was purchasing my MacBook Pro. The only problem I have with Lexmark is that their ink is expensive. The amount I spent on ink I could have bought about 3-5 printers over those seven years, especially while I was in school and was constantly printing stuff for my classes and going through ink like it was water.Customer Review: Wi-Fi All in One!
Summary: 4 Stars
This is my 3rd Lexmark All in One. My setup is one etherneted desktop and 3 wireless laptops-all running Windows XP Home Edition.
Once set up, all PC's will run fine from a wireless router whether you have PC's etherneted to the router or via a wireless adapter. Very nice!
If you follow the directions and set up all computers via wireless there will never be a need to use the provided USB cable except for initial PC setup--very nice! The directions were not as clear as I would like and I did have initial set up problems but the included start up CD is a big Lexmark improvement and it detected my network and did provide mostly clear directions for installation.
Getting through to Lexmark tech support was virtually impossible at nighttime, but when I called back promptly at 8:00 am ET I got right through to the wireless dept of tech support and I was up and running on my ethernet PC in about 30 seconds. (I would have been set up right out of the box if their documentation included was written better-they had a picture showing my setup but not clear directions and I improperly assumed my etherneted desktop had to be cabled in to the printer!)
If you plug the usb cable into the printer it "turns off" the Wi-Fi aspect of this printer, but if you have a router, there's no need to ever have to use a usb cable except for initial installation of your printer.
I love the upgrades on this all in one--digital display, multiple scanning formats, automatic paper type detection, borderless printing, multiple replacement cartridge choices (high yield, low yield, photo).
I have my printer upstairs in my office and I printed a 3 page text document via my wireless laptop. It was done printing before I walked upstairs to retrieve the papers. Very impressive!
I am not a big photo printer; my main use is text printing (reports), and occasional copying, scanning, faxing and limited photo printing. For my purposes, this is a great all in one.