9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
A little workhorse of a printer
Date of Review: Sep 13, 2006
The Bottom Line: If you have $40 to spend, need a entry level photo printer, get it!
When it comes to buying printers there always seems to be far too many choices.
Do I want this option, that option? Mainly I want a printer that will print my Resume, maybe some Ecoupons, and the occasional photo project.
The Lexmark P15 is an Entry level printer by Lexmark.
I've really enjoyed Lexmark's printers over the years, because they really stand behind their products. If you have a problems with a printer, call their help line, they send over UPS and have it repaired and brought back TO YOUR house!
Right out of the box the printer comes easy to use. Take it out of the box, put the install CD into your computer. Plug in the power cord, and snap in the two ink cartridges. Set up time for a non tech savvy user, 15 minutes.
Even an entry level printer like the P915 has that warranty, so don't buy the Extended warranties that the electronic stores will try to sell you. Also, this little printer comes with 2 cartridges. Two! Since the price of the machine is vaguely the price of the 2 FULL cartridges (not half full), it immediately justifies the purchase.
As for printing quality, I would say it's excellent. I can't tell the difference between this and the more expensive printers.
It's printing speed is a bit slow though, taking 2 minutes to print a page is not bad, but it isn't too zippy either. If you're looking to print 100 something pages of text (not color) I'd say you're in for a long wait. Photo pages are even longer.
For photo's this printer comes with little slots for your memory cards. Just put them in the slot and you can review the pictures on the little color screen on the printer.
Pretty convenient for non computer savvy users. It takes MMD, Memory Stick,Smart Media, Compact flash, microdrive, Secure digital, and XD.
I'd say good work lexmark for including the option to take obscure cards like MMD and Smart media. While most people don't have camera's that use this format, the occasional friend may pop by and want to use your printer!
The photos printed look good, bright and sharp, but remember they do use a lot of ink. I'd say approximate cost including photo paper is $1 for a 8 by 10.
And yes it does print border less.
One thing I don't enjoy about this printer is that it requires 2 print cartridges in it to work. So if you run out of ink (either color, or B&W), you're out of luck till you replace it.
One advantage though is that ink cartridges snap in easily.
Now the bane of all printers, paper jams... this printer jams occasionally. Not real hard to fix, but still annoying. For that I rated it down 1 star.
So if you're a light printer user, who may want the convenience of a photo printer, buy this one. If you print tons and tons, and need the speed, skip it.
