Customer Reviews

Lexmark C540N Color Laser Printer

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is by far the best printer I have owned. For a color laser it is small and convenient. Setup was very easy including installing it on our home network. I also like the toner tanks instead of the usual roller tanks. It is also comparatively lightweight compared to some of the monster size color lasers available. I choose color laser to avoid the inkjet rip-offs. Print quality is excellent for both color and text, the unit is quiet and comletely silent in standby. There's an eco mode meaning it uses almost no power in standby-mode (about 14W). It works great with both XP and Vista.

--------------Update - 8 months of use -------------------
The print quality is exellent but the toner cost will ruin you. We have printed about 1,100 pages and already used up the toner that came with the unit and one set of new toners with 2,500 page capacity. Obviously the toners won't give you 2,500 pages - my guess is that our's has given us about 600 or so. Most of what we print is text so I will assume our usage pattern is average. Cost per page including cost of hardware runs close to 75c per b/w page. The reason: I just emptied the waste toner - It was full so be warned - that is where your toner goes!

Let's get the pros out of the way first:

- The setup is easy and straightforward

- The print quality is pretty good for a printer in this price range

- Speed is acceptable, even in color

- It's not as noisy or bulky as other color lasers I've owned

Now for the rest.

This printer is obviously designed for *very* light duty printing. The specs say the paper tray will hold 250 pages but I couldn't get more than about 200 in without bending paper. The specs also claim the output area will hold 100 pages, and that's nonsense. I printed a 74 page manual, and got a jam after 52 pages.

And that's when the fun began...

I cleared the jam, but the printer refused to recognize that the jam was cleared. It kept insisting the jam was still there.

At the same time, the Lexmark Status Monitor just quit working. I got Vista's dreaded "This program has stopped working" dialog. (I'm on 64 bit Vista Ultimate.)

So I turned the printer off and on. The good news is that it realized it wasn't jammed. The bad news was it began spewing pages of random garbage. (I realize Vista's print spooler was partially responsible for this.) Stabbing the Cancel button on the printer stopped it after about a dozen pages.

So I went to Vista's print manager, and tried to cancel the job. Nothing I could do would effect a cancel. Since this functionality worked fine on the printer this one replaced, this has to be the fault of the Lexmark driver.

So I rebooted Vista, and the cancel still didn't take. This time I let the manual run (carefully taking pages from the output area about every 15 or 20). But I don't know what I would have done if I really needed to cancel.

I really hate to submit a negative review, because my initial impressions were quite good. I suppose if you use this little guy for very light duty work, you would probably be fine. The hardware seems well worth the price if the drivers worked better. Perhaps the XP drivers do work better, and the Vista drivers just have not been worked on enough. (By the way, the same driver disk applies to the C543 and the C544, so I would presume they have the same problems on Vista I discussed above.)

I finally did get six nice copies of my manual. This thing was so inexpensive, and I've used so much of its toner, that I don't feel right taking it back, so I'm keeping it. But you can bet the next time I print manuals it will be Lulu or a quick copy place.

*** Update Sept 7, 2009

I've worked with this printer a month now, and I'm telling you outright: If you have Vista, especially 64 bit, don't buy it.

The software that comes on the disk with the printer is simply unusable on Vista 64 bit. The problems I discussed above are still there, and I've discovered more.

I finally uninstalled everything that was installed from the disk, and went to Lexmark's site to get something better. That seems to work a bit better so far (at least print jobs can now be cancelled), but it took power user experience and some inspired guessing to locate the right download. Their support web site is just awful.

I now wish I had taken this thing back, even after using up its toner. It has cost me hours trying to make it work.

A note about Windows 7 based on their web site. When Windows 7 is released in stores (it's already in the hands of corporations and MSDN subscribers) only then will Lexmark EVEN SAY WHEN DRIVERS MIGHT BE AVAILABLE. So I wouldn't expect the driver situation to get better any time soon with Windows 7 (for any Lexmark printer).

As a printer this one's about as dependable as all the rest, however it costs a fortune in ink. With cartridges running between $50 and $80 and the frequency in which you have to replace them, you'd be better off having your documents printed at Kinkos or Staples. Seriously... the low toner indicater light is on almost constantly. It's just another "low cost printer/expensive ink" ripoff. What a disappointment!

Let me first preface my review. I am looking specifically at what it can do and how well it does it in relation to it's competitors. My experience with printers is extensive. I research printer's capabilities before homing in on the one that I want and need. I own 5, purchase a new one for improved capabilities and quality for different custom marketing pieces. This one produces an awesome, "digital print quality" with automatic duplexing with print speed of 21 to 25 ppm. I just wish it would print tabloid. I have always been an Epson, HP and Minolta person. This is my first Lexmark. I use printers wirelessly and this one does that too. It has adequate RAM for large file printing but you can upgrade from the 128 to 512. I'm an intensive graphics user and so far I see no need to upgrade. This is IT!!!! This is the printer I've been looking for with the quality, speed and price point. You can find replacement cartridges online fairly reasonable but I've also found bottles of toner for this unit for $20 too if you want to refill yourself.

Now on the installation side... If you are using a PC then, you're good. No problems setting up the network or setting up the printer with Wifi. However, I'm more of a MAC user with an Airport Extreme wireless router. I had to call tech support to get it setup because I am using LION which they don't have instructions for yet. What ultimately had to happen was I had to set it up on the network with my PC and then add it on my MAC. It was a pain. Lexmark's tech support was good on the first call and solved my wifi issue. On my second call, trying to update the firmware and get the printer to print envelopes as quick as it should, they failed miserably. I spent 2 hours on the phone with no solution!! I was even promised that I'd get a call back with a solution and they never did. I ended up figuring it out myself. Oh, and one last thing, there's a slight squeak in the printer when it prints. They couldn't resolve that but offered an exchange without cartridges. Not much of an option. They ultimately told me to take it back to where I bought it and let them know that tech support said there was an issue and to exchange it for another one. For me, I really don't believe that it is such a big issue to return it. I just wanted to check how they would handle it. A lot of laser's do this from time to time.

With the tech support issue I still love this printer. For the money you can't go wrong. LEXMARK has a game changer against it's competition. They just need to get their tech issues for MAC wifi and drivers for LION figured out and they'll make everyone happy.

I bought mine at Staples for about $219. It was on sale for $269 and then you can get $50 more off if you trade in an old printer. Now, I see some even lower on Amazon but make sure you don't get hosed on shipping. It is not light.

Lexmark claims the High Yield Toner Cartridge has a 2,000 page yield, but I have not seen anything close to that, my experience is less than 500. I got the printer in 4/2010, and according to the printer I have printed 912 pages, but I have replaced the Black twice, once a low yield, and once 2.5k yield. I have replaced all color cartridges, and now need to replace Magenta again.

I'm on Mac OS 10.6 and have a Windows 7 box. It's not easy finding the B&W only setting and I don't think it has an economy setting. And once you need to replace a cartridge, you can't print at all. If you could get 2.5k out of the black and 2k out of the color this would be the best printer I have ever owned, unfortunately it feels like I spend more time ordering cartridges, than I do printing.

The printer came with only a power cord. When prompted by the installation CD to connect the printer to the computer, I realized I was not given the cable. I called customer service and they informed me that they do not include the cord with the printer. This cord is necessary for installing the printer, whether you are using it wirelessly or not! I had to buy one for $25!!! Recommend checking that a printer comes with all required parts before buying.

I bought the printer about 2 and a half weeks ago. Set it up and printed on regular paper with no issue. (However, it sounded like a jet engine taking off so its claim to being quiet on another site is a joke.) Last night I tried to print on labels. I'm a 'techie' so doing this should be pretty easy, correct? Not on your life.

I changed the media setting to labels which is what is necessary on printers, especially laser. (Ever print on cardstock when the setting is for paper?? Try it and you'll see what I'm talking about.) Anyway it appeared as if the job was going through. Then the red blinking light came on. Knowing technology the way I do I knew this wasn't good. So I went to the printer and I had to input what type of printing I wanted to do: manual, automatic, etc.. I chose automatic and everything printed out fine. Until I went to print out the next sheet of labels. It did the same thing again. Getting rather agitated I looked on their site for help and didn't find much. I then called their support number. Somebody with a very thick accent answered. It was very hard to understand him. I walked him through my situation. He had me go to the printer and change the media type on the printer itself. I did that (it didn't work). I asked him if I would have to change the media type on the printer each and every time I changed the media. He said yes. Huh? Why would I have to change it on the printer if I'm already telling it the type of media through the software? I told him this was ridiculous and we hung up.

I'm not a novice when it comes to printers. Over the last 15 years I have owned about 20 printers. Four of them were laser. I've even taken apart a laser to fix it. Having to go to the hardware each time I want to tell it to do something rather than through the software doesn't make sense. It's also a waste of time and energy.

I read in another user's review about the issues with Vista. A light bulb went off. I'm using this on a laptop that is running Vista. While I understand lots of OLDER printers have clashes with Vista this is a brand new model. Vista shouldn't give it problems.

I'm returning it tomorrow and getting a Brother. I've had two Brother laser printers and both of them can simply be plugged into a Vista machine and print away!

I just plugged it into my router, turned it on. Set up my preferences and I was off and running. (Im on a MAC) Could not have been easier. Its works great as well

I was looking for a color peinter that is easy to use for home use, but this is not a good one.