During a several-week test, I leaned heavily on the printing prowess of the wireless Lexmark X7675. But its ability to scan, copy, and fax — not so much.
Sitting unobtrusively on a shelf near my desk, nary a wire in sight, the printer reliably churned out page after page of the notes, reports, charts, and articles so valuable to my everyday work. The software designed to help the machine with other tasks, however, let me down time and again.
The inconsistencies make it hard for me to recommend this inkjet printer, despite its notable strengths. Lexmark sells it for $200, though Amazon.com was selling it for as little as $115 in late July. Lexmark says it designed the X7675 to appeal to young and middle-age professionals who work at home or in a small office, want to print wirelessly from their laptops, and value professional-looking documents.
Printing Is Quiet
On many of those counts, the product succeeds. With the help of a common home-network router, the printer can establish a wireless connection with a PC. The setup software Lexmark includes on a CD that accompanies the printer makes establishing this connection relatively painless. (You can also print via a USB cable and eschew the wireless capability, but for some that may defeat the purpose of buying this machine.)
Lexmark’s setup software successfully guided me through loading black and color ink cartridges, setting up a Wi-Fi connection to my laptop, and printing a test page, all without the need for a paper manual. There’s a bit of technical knowledge required (you need to know the “SSID” name of your Wi-Fi network and its “WEP” password), but users who’ve set up a home computer network will have that data readily available.
Printing was quiet and acceptably fast for black-and-white pages — though this isn’t a high-speed printer. Printing…