Z615 BLACK OEM INK CARTRIDGE

Lexmark Z615 Review

Overview:

It’s hard to criticize a color printer that costs less than $50 too extensively, as units such as the Lexmark Z615’s relative cost to performance ratio is actually quite high. Still, the unit’s 8 page per minute color print speed (in draft quality no less) is not going to cut it for any sort of demanding work requirement, making the unit well suited for very light, probably individual use and not much else.

Pros:

The obvious draw of the Lexmark Z615 printer is its remarkably low price. This color printer can be picked up for the price of a single ink cartridge for some other printers, making it one of the cheapest on the market. Of a little more money, printers such as the Canon i455 will certainly bring significantly more powerful performance to the table, making the Z615 most appealing to those who truly require the absolute least expensive color printer possible.

The printer’s true resolution can only achieve 600 x 600 dots per inch in either monochrome or color, but enhanced printing allows for better quality to be reached. In black and white, the unit’s print resolution can only be boosted up to 2400 x 1200 dots per inch, which is still quite high, but the color print quality of 4800 x 1200 dots per inch is even better.

A standard paper input of 100 sheets is fairly low for any printer, but is quite acceptable for such a limited device. Additionally, the actual paper tray can be folded down when the printer is not in use which really does result in a lot of saved space and, as the device is not designed for constant use anyway, is an invaluable feature.

Cons:

Text printing in black and white can be done at a maximum speed of 16 pages per minute when using the Lexmark Z615, though a real world speed of less than 10 pages per minute is more realistic. This makes the printer’s applications as a high volume printer extremely limited. Its color print speed is listed as 8 pages per minute which, again, will be reduced even more in real world applications, while large color image printing will take exponentially longer, possibly even multiple minutes for a single page.

The listed print speeds are also only for the unit’s draft print quality and setting the device up to normal quality will drop the unit’s speeds down to 10 pages per minute for black ink and a pitiful 3 pages per minute for color.

As a cheap printer, the Lexmark Z615 is physically flimsy. Its paper trays are thin and feel like one good swat could easily break them. The overall design is not without its problems as well and, specifically, its USB 2.0 port is located in an awkward spot under a large bulge from the power supply, making connecting the device to its host PC harder than necessary. To make things worse, the installation process requires (for some reason) that the USB cord be connected after the device has been turned on, adding an extra element of frustration to the setup.