Lexmark Pinacle Pro901

UPDATE 2011. Some models of Lexmark inkjet printer released between 2009 and 2010 are equipped with faulty print heads. This leads to a deterioration in print quality—sometimes with certain colours completely missing—not long after the initial purchase of the device and even with full ink cartridges.

Users who encounter such problems should call Lexmark's inkjet printer support line on 0207 365 2496 (UK customers only). Once the nature of the problem has been established, eligible users will be sent replacement print heads and a complimentary set of cartridges.

Following continuing issues with print heads and print quality, the Lexmark inkjet printers reviewed on DigitalVersus have had their overall score reduced to two stars as of 11/08/2011 and until a suitable solution can be found. This was formerly a five-star printer.


The Pro901 is guaranteed for 5 years and has a fax built in. With print costs slightly cheaper than your standard laser and a good deal cheaper than many an inkjet, Lexmark is aiming to compete with lasers and get the pro market into the way of using more colour without costs exploding.

Hardware

The Pro901 is very much an allrounder, able to handle photos, office docs, double-sided, with Wifi and networking and a very large touch screen with excellent design when it comes to your programmable functions (identical to what we saw with the S605) and which can prove quite a time-saver when making up reports, among other things, and therefore also an economy when it comes to ink.

It has Windows, Mac and Linux drivers and the paper capacity is 150 pages. The only thing lacking in comparison to lasers is compatibility of PCL 6 and PS3 type languages, but with the right drivers will you really need them?

The limitations of this type of product come with the speeds which can seem slow in comparison to lasers (around 10 ppm, while lasers do three times this at the same price) and the black ink which dries more slowly than the ink on lasers (instantly dry).

Speed

In spite of the average speed for a pro product, the Pro901 actually scores quite well here: although we would have liked better responsiveness, it is more responsive than the average laser when it comes to printing your first page.

10x15 photos with no margins take around 40 seconds, 1 minute 20 for A4 format.

Energy consumption & Noise levels

This is an ink jet printer and not a laser. A laser consumes between 350 and 1200 Watts depending on the model (with an average of around 800 Watts). The Pro901 is a fraction of this at 16.5 Watts when printing and 4 W on standby.
47 dB when printing (measured by us), is not too bad. Keeping the printer on the top of your desk won't be too disruptive.

Quality

Inkjet technology can handle both office documents and photos well, which is an advantage over laser. This printer is very good in either mode and Lexmark has made a lot of progress since the last generation. In photo mode, don't leave the printer to choose its print settings itself. Set it up manually for your paper settings as you'll get better print quality.

The only problem is that the black ink doesn't dry well. Even weeks after printing, if you put a wet hand on it, the characters are likely to smudge. In the pro world, when pages are often passed from hand to hand, this can be a deal breaker, so it's something you should consider before buying.

Original	Scanner
Difficult features: hair detail, shading on the face.	The final image is a little redder than the original, but we were expecting worse.

So much for sharpness and detail. What about the colours? The top line represents the scanned colours; below are the ideal colour values.



Cost per page

The Pro901 doesn't use the 100XL cartridge but rather the cheaper 105XL. Lexmark is following a coherent sales policy here: the printer itself is more expensive but you economise on the cartridges. If you do a lot of printing, it'll be worth your while. Otherwise...

ISO lifespan

Cartridge	Price	ISO Lifespan	Cost per page
105XL (black)	£7.56	510	1.5 pence
100XL (cyan)	£13	600	2.2 pence
100XL (magenta)	£11	600	1.8 pence
100XL (yellow)	£11	600	2.8  pence

This comes to a total of 8.3 pence per page. This is lower than average, but in colour, it's more or less on a par with the Canon MP620, or its replacements (MP560 and MP640). And Kodak is still champ when it comes to cheap colour prints. In black however, this Pro901 is well worth a look, even more economical than some laser printers.