Lexmark’s endless ink
About a year ago I received a Lexmark x2350 multi-function printer/scanner/copier and I’ve been amazed with it ever since.
Let me just say that my previous printer was an Epson Stylus Color 300 that once took me one hour to print out a 30 page report! So it was a very big step up.
Although the quality of the printer isn’t as good* as some HP printers I’ve seen or even other Lexmark models, I am very happy with it’s performance overall. But there is something odd about this printer, or probably most Lexmark printers.
Like most printers, it comes with proprietary software that indicates the progress of print out and also the level of the ink cartridge. And here is where the funny business starts.
The printer uses one cartridge that performes as black and color, and let me tell you it is one heck of a cartridge! I mean, I’ve been printing stuff with it for so long that I’ve forgotten when I last bought the damn thing!
The wierd thing here is that the printer software alerted me that there is no ink in the cartridge about 3 weeks after buying it. But I tried to print a couple more pages to get my moneys worth and havent stopped since!
Even after the ink level meter hit 0%, I still printed out an 80 page report for my Enzymology class with colors and all… It’s as if it’s immortal (haha!)
Only now am I starting to see some color distortion, but keep in mind it’s been about 6 months since I bought the €20 cartridge.
So, basically the point I wanted to get to was that if your looking into buying a quick and efficient printed but don’t need photo quality (although this one should print photos…) go out and buy one of these.
One last thing: There doesn’t seem to be any driver for this printer that works under Linux (I’m running Ubuntu). If anyone does know of one that does, drop me a line please.
* This printer uses only one cartridge, therefore the print quality looses some contrast because there is no real black.
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Thanks for that article. I recently purchased a remanufactured lexmark ink cartridge for a P707 solely for the purpose of printing out two beefy keyboard user manuals and found half the ink done after printing out 100 pages of the first manual. I then proceeded to print out about a dozen A4 b/w prints…then gutted, I soon realised that I’d have to buy another cartridge to ensure I’d be able to complete print of the second manual cos by this time I’d got that ominous ‘ink level low go buy another cartridge’ warning (well! apparently..according to the software)
I thought this consumption was incredibly extravagant..I was using Quick Print as well…curious I entered ‘life of a lexmark printer cartidge’ as search criteria on google and came across your article on the first page. Encouraged I proceeded to print out the second manual, and acheived this without any notable loss in quality….Basically you saved a trip to the city centre, spending 20 quid, a customer complaint and a potential headache…Thanks for your trouble.
Two P.S’s to the last comment. The second manual was 75 pages long and I just noticed the comment date…exactly 1 year to the day of your entry.(ha!)
Two things:
1) Lexmark doesn’t make linux drivers. Period. Sorry. If you ask the linux community about this…they’ll say get another print. Oh, and DELL just re-brands Lexmark’s printers, so check to make sure you’re not getting one of those if you buy Dell…I know, I have a “Dell” printer and Ubuntu and @*#$()*@#($&@#($&!@#$^&*()
2)Nearly all printers report the ink out before it is. Nearly all…not just lexmark; some are more accurate than others, but I forget where I found the study; BUT! This is no reason to go lexmark.
Actually there is a driver for lexmark printers under Linux.
see the howto in ubuntu forums
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=49714