The Lexmark X5470 All-In-One InkJet Printer, Failing to Bring Sexy Back

All in one multifunction printers sound expensive, but now a days you can bring one home for a scanty $100.00. The Lexmark x5470 is no exception to this price range as it combines printing, copying, faxing, and scanning into one practical machine. Unfortunately it does lack a built-in network for all you heavy offices users, but there is a user’s guide that walks you through setting up networking for printer as a print server. The printer tends to be faster at printing, but the trade off is poorer print quality than competitors like the Canon Pixma MP460 model. The copy speeds were much slower than advertised as my tests did indicate.


Manufactures Description

The Lexmark X5470 All-in-One with Fax and Photo combines fast speed - up to 25ppm black, 18ppm color, versatile functionality and brilliant photo quality in one sleek design. Complete tasks effortlessly with 1-touch copy and scan to PDF software. Plus, the full-featured fax includes a convenient 10-page auto-document feeder, 89-speed dials and caller ID capability.


Out of the Box

An automatic document feeder is included that holds up to 10 pages for copying or scanning, this is a nice feature as previous models like the Lexmark X85 did not include this. In addition the flatbed scanner runs off A4 size documents and can even scan legal documents using the feeder. Paper handling for the x5470 is fairly basic as it supports about 100 sheets of paper from a top feeder that sticks out the top of the unit. This try can be extended to sustain larger banner papers and legal documents. For photo printing without hooking up to your PC, the PictBridge port and memory card slot accepts most of the common memory cards found in today’s digital cameras technology. The Lexmark x5470 is light and easy to maneuver and has a shiny whitish/gray, silver body that resembles a box, and looks somewhat large for a multifunction unit. Furthermore the x5470’s control panel is mounted on a silver shelf right up front on the printer; these buttons let you switch between each function of faxing, scanning, copying or photo printing modes. Standard navigation buttons allow you to Resize, Select, Back, Cancel, and even Lighten/Darken the copies. Menu buttons bring up the current selected projects with a backlit dual line LCD easily read by the user. Finalizing the button select it has a quick fax selection and two start buttons one for color & another for just black. The x5470 involves a dual cartridge system. For six-color photo printing, you can swap out the black tank for an optional three-color photo ink tank. The photo ink cartridge costs about $25 for that extra 6 color technology. Regular capacity black tanks run about $20 to replace, and the color ink tanks cost $22. The high-capacity versions cost $25 and $30.


Usage

Having an ADF(Automatic Document Feeder) makes faxing easier because you can use either the ADF or the flatbed scanner to send off your documents. Books, magazines, clippings from a newspaper can all go into the flatbed scanner and easily be saved to your computers hard drive as an image for restoration or archiving for later use. A quick access phonebook button makes the control panel useful for preprogrammed numbers you use on a more common basis. Also delaying your faxes for sending out at a later date and time is an available feature as well. For copying, the ADF is available to use as well as the flatbed scanner. The PictBridge USB port will accept USB-based flash drives, so transferring photos from either a memory card or a flash drive to your PC or even transfer from a memory card to the flash drive is a feasible task. You can print photos or transfer photos between different locations, without turning on your computer. Using the Photo Card menu, you can print a proof sheet of all the photos on a card, the 20 most recent pictures, or a division of photos selected by date. Other options include photo effects such as, automatic image enhancement, red-eye reduction, and professional color effects such as sepia and antique photo tones. When you start up scanning with the x5470 a few options will arise. It will allow you to scan directly to an email, to your PC’s clipboard, or to a file. Once the file is scanned you can save it as a bitmap, TIFF, PDF, or even a JPEG. Image studio software utility is included which allows you to initiate the scan using this utility. This software allows you to change resolution, color depth, specify certain areas of the photo to be scanned, and use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) features to scan text documents as an editable file to bring into other programs.


Performance

The Lexmark x5470 performance could be described as average when compared to other All-in-Ones within its category. I found that text prints came out at about 7 pages a minute, while 4 X 6 photos slithered across the finish line at a 0.50 page a minute. Scanning documents was a bit better at 6ppm for black & 5ppm for color respectively. The weakest area for performance was copying just over 1.5ppm, just awful if you’re looking to get anything done in a timely fashion. Scanning is a definite plus with the Lexmark x5470, which gives off good detail & sharpness in each photo I tested. Some darker pictures showed blotchy spotty areas, but the color seemed to do well at reproducing a higher quality picture than the grayscale items scanned. For text printing the quality is somewhat deprived although legible, it did have signs of fuzziness, and smaller text fonts like 6 in Microsoft Word are barely readable. Printing text reminded me of an old typewriter or ribbon based fax machine both slightly faded and uncomfortable to read. Graininess is detected on color images using standard papers this was substantially better with the photo cartridge and inkjet photo glossy paper. Graphics seemed to turn out alright with good reproduction of colors for pie graphs and charts. 4x6 photos are just as disappointing. The color was excessively dull, and nothing about the photo was vibrant. I noticed a lot of graininess and, upon very close examination; you can almost make out individual dots of cyan, yellow, and magenta. Photo results are generally a lack of sharpness and detail for photo printing overall.


Recommendation

The Lexmark x5470 gives a decent bang for the buck for home users looking for an inexpensive unit, however if photo quality reproduction is what your looking for, then glance at a higher quality photo printer with a 6 color technology built in.


Features

• Print: Fast! Up to 25 ppm black and 18 ppm color printing
• Fax: Convenient 10-page capacity auto document feeder for multiple pages faxing and copying Supports caller ID,89 speed dials save your most commonly dialed numbers, Automatic redial, Fax forward, broadcast and junk fax blocking (where applicable)
• Photo: Print directly from digital memory cards slots or PictBridge compatible digital cameras. Scan-back proof sheet option for photo selection from memory cards - no PC required. Lexmark Photo Editor and Imaging Studio software makes it easy to crop, rotate and resize photos, 1-touch color fix and red eye reduction.
• Copy: 1-Touch PC-free copying (color or black). Reduction/enlargement capacity from 25% - 400%; including popular photo sizes with your PC
• Scan: CIS flatbed scanner easily handles thick books, reports, and more. Easily copy and scan to PDF and Optical Character Recognition (OCR)


Specifications

Scanner Bit Depth
• CIS with 48 bit depth

Print Speed Draft
• Black 25 ppm, Color 18 ppm

Print Speed Normal
• Black 15 ppm, Color 5 ppm

Copy Speed Draft
• Black 17 cpm, Color 11 cpm

Print Resolution
• Black: Up to 1200 x 1200 dpi
• Color: Up to 4800 x 1200 dpi

Scan Resolution
• Enhanced: Up to 19200 dpi
• Optical: 600 x 1200 dpi


System Compatability
• Microsoft Windows 2000
• Microsoft Windows 98 SE
• Microsoft Windows Me
• Microsoft Windows XP
• Apple Mac OS X (10.3.0-10.3.x)
• Apple Mac OS X (10.4.0-10.4.x),
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64


Standard Ports
• USB 2.0 Specification Hi-Speed Certified
• PictBridge Certified Port
• USB pass through via PictBridge port


Card Slots
• CompactFlash I & II
• Sony Memory Stick
• Memory Stick Pro
• Secure Digital (SD) Card
• Multimedia Card (MMC)
• Microdrive
• 4 Built-in Card Readers
• xD Card Sony Memory Stick Duo (with adapter)
• Mini Secure Digital (Mini SD) Card with an adapter
• Sony Memory Stick Duo Pro (with adapter)
• SanDisk TransFlash
• Memory Module (with adapter)
• RS-MMC (with adapter)


Warranty
One Year Exchange


Media Handling
• Banners
• Cards
• Coated Paper
• Envelopes
• Index Cards
• Labels
• Photo Paper
• Plain Paper
• Transparencies
• Hagaki Card
• Borderless Printing
• Max Media Size Legal (216 x 356 mm, 8.5 x 14")
• Total Media Capacity 110 Pages


Dimensions
Width 17.9 in.
Depth 12.6 in.
Height 7.6 in.


Additional Printer Reviews & Links

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