Jim Jamieson
Province
What is it? Lexmark X4550 All-in-One
Price: $149.99
Why you need it: You have limited space in your work area and are sick and tired of being tied down to cables.
Why you don’t: One printer will do just fine, thanks, and it will fit right next to your computer.
Our rating: 3 mice
For many of us, the final piece to the convenience puzzle when it comes to home computer use is what to do with the printer.
Perhaps the biggest myth about the computer age is that it would do away with paper — when the reality is just the opposite.
And as the computer has migrated from the downstairs office into the living room or the kitchen, an ongoing quandary has
been where to locate the printer.
The wireless option — where you can put your printer downstairs or out of sight in a cupboard — has been around for a while, but Lexmark is pushing hard on price and variety in this area.
The X4550 is a full-function printer with built-in wireless functinality.
Wireless printing can be done up to 100 metres away.
Its production is up to 26 pages per minute in black and white and 18 ppm in colour.
The printer can also do borderless photos with or without a computer from digital memory cards, USB flash drives or PictBridge-compatible digital cameras.
The unit also features a one-touch colour copier that delivers copies at speeds of up to 17 ppm in black and white and 11 ppm in colour.
It also includes a 48-bit flatbed colour scanner.
Lexmark has also launched another, lesser-functioned wireless printer: the Z1420 ($99.99).
The printers will work in mixed PC/Mac environments.
Both the Mac and PC must be on the wireless router and each should have the appropriate driver loaded.
Available at electronics stores.
© The Vancouver Province 2007