Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Lexmark - Relatively new to the market but already on top!

Lexmark does not have the advantage of the proverbial long history in its kitty of printing and imaging solutions like its competitors to bank on; however it has managed to make a mark on the imaging and printing industry. One of its important technologies is the Photo Cartridge and PrecisionSense Technology.

Its Brief Glorious History
Lexmark was established fairly recently in 1991 previously a printing and imaging division of technology giant IBM.

Lexmark went public in 1995 and in such a short span, it can boast of being a fortune 500 company- no small feat! The firm's corporate and research and development offices are located at the company's headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky, United States.

In spite of being new to the industry Lexmark has given the world of printing quite a few advance technologies including 4800 x 1200 dots per inch (dpi) and 3600 x 1200 dpi resolutions, developed the 1200 dpi laser and inkjet printers, also produced standalone photo printers, and offered a sub-$100 inkjet printer.

Lexmark Technology:

The Lexmark Cartridge
The Lexmark cartridges have the print head systems integrated. This makes the maintenance of the printer very easy, and the print quality is enhanced. Therefore, changing a cartridge guarantees a constant print quality- a new print head, is as good as a new printer! It requires less cleaning therefore less waste of ink and ultimately resulting in better print quality.

The Photo Cartridge
This Lexmark cartridge enables six-color printing and gives true to life photo images especially if used with Lexmark's Ink Jet Photo Paper (P/N 1372481) or Lexmark's Ink Jet Glossy Film (P/N 1402795). However, you have to replace the black ink cartridge in order to use this cartridge. One major draw back however is if you select Quick Print while using a photo cartridge, the error shown below will appear.

Conflicting settings!
Description of conflict: you have selected conflicting settings
Cartridge type: photo is not compatible with print quality: quick print

Choose an option to resolve the conflict
1. Print Quality: Better
Cartridge Type: Photo

2. Print Quality: Best
Cartridge type: Photo

3. Continue without resolving conflict
In order to use Quick Print mode, you will need to replace the photo cartridge with a black cartridge.

Lexmark PrecisionSense Technology
Lexmark brings together a series of innovations to ensure intelligent printing and available with Lexmark z55se, Z65, Z65n and Z65p.

Paper- Type sensor
An optical sensor automatically detects the paper type you put in the paper tray, and then adjust the printer settings. This sensor is able to recognize plain paper, coated paper, glossy or photo paper and transparencies. No more waste of paper and ink due to forgetfulness and you can always expect an optimum result.

Automatic cartridge alignment
Precise regulation of printing depends on a perfect alignment of the cartridges when they are replaced. This means giving regulation values as a reference to printed zones according to precise modes. This operation is automatic in the new Lexmark printers, performed by a highly developed optical system.

Accu-feed
Accu-feed is a Lexmark technology that ensures the print area to stay parallel to the edge of the sheet and virtually remains free from crinkling and jamming. The quality of this device relies on mechanical precision and illustrates Lexmark's tradition of using effective and often original mechanisms in its printers.

Lexmark PrecisionPhoto
Lexmark PrecisionPhoto technology offers extraordinary photo printing quality. Its 4800 x 1200 dpi resolution gives you an amazing and precise print quality, whatever you decide to print. The drop size is a minuscule 3 Pico Liters minimum to produce finer, less grainy images.

Variable drop size
Variable drop size gives smoother half tones, higher print speed and optimization of ink consumption. The color print head has 2 different nozzle sizes: large nozzles having a 10pL ink drop size to rapidly print plain areas and small nozzles having a 3pL ink drop size to print the finest detail in photo quality.

The flexibility to print using only large or small nozzles or a combination of the two makes Lexmark Color print head unique in the inkjet industry. Lexmark PrecisionPhoto technology is available with Lexmark z55se, Z65, Z65n, Z65p

Thermal inkjet technology
Heating a miniscule semi conductor abruptly by means of an electric current is only the first step in thermal printing! The ink is then vaporized instantly on contact, creating an overpressure that ejects the liquid ink placed in front. This small quantity of ink is then projected through a miniscule nozzle that regulates the size of the drop.

Therefore, if you can forego the Quick Print mode then Lexmark's color printers are your best bet because they provide a lot of ease of operation with their intelligent technology and therefore make life easy for you!