LEXMARK C532 COLOR TONER CARTRIDGES SET

Lexmark C532 Review

Overview:

The Lexmark C532N is more or less a glorified version of the Lexmark C530 hardware. It is available in a network ready model as well as a duplex ready version, the Lexmark C532DN. With a price well within a reasonable range for a color laser printer, the unit is one of the few Lexmark printers that is actually fairly affordable, but don’t expect lightning fast print speeds or a heavy degree of extra features from this fairly simplistic color laser printer.

Pros:

Unlike the Lexmark C530 which suffered from a lack of a paper storage expansion option, the Lexmark C532 is capable of accepting an additional 550 sheet paper tray. The standard paper storage varies between the Lexmark C532N and Lexmark C532DN models. Both versions are equipped with a 250 sheet letter or legal sized tray, but only the Lexmark C532DN comes with a standard 100 sheet multipurpose tray. Owners of the Lexmark C532N version of the hardware are stuck with a simple, single sheet bypass slot that requires hand feeding of special media one unit at a time.

Because the Lexmark C532’s toner cartridges are stacked vertically inside the machine, it is quite tall for a desktop printer. But this means that its actual footprint is relatively small. Dimensions of roughly 19 x 17 x 20 inches (W x D x H) make the printer just about average sized for a personal color laser printer.

The models in the Lexmark C532 line are equipped with a solid 375 MHz processor that is accompanied by 128 MBs of RAM. Memory can be expanded up to no more than a total of 640 MBs and, with additional RAM installed, the device will be much better equipped to handle complex print jobs such as PDF files with mixed text and imagery. Additional RAM will also make the printer more able to handle color printing in general without slowdown.

A black and white print speed of 24 pages per minute is what the Lexmark C532’s box advertises, though realistically it will pump out about 17 pages per minute, which is pretty poor for monochrome. Luckily, buyers of the C532 are not looking for super fast black print speeds, but the ability to print in color, which this printer can do at an advertised rate of about 22 pages per minute which also will be considerably lower in the real world, but is still around the average for the printer’s price range.

Up to 75,000 pages per month can be produced by the Lexmark C532, though it is recommended that only 1,000 to 3,200 pages are actually produced to achieve the maximum lifespan of the product. Problems that do occur with the hardware are covered by a comprehensive one year warranty.

Cons:

The Lexmark C532 is not capable of printing with a straight through paper path. This means that particularly thick media such as card stock and folded material such as an envelope will suffer from heavy bending and will possibly end up with a permanent curve, not to mention a higher probability of a paper jam.