Reviews for Lexmark C534N Laser Printer

What I expected...

Strengths: Fast, good quality back/text printing, extra features, awesome rebate offer (now expired)

Weakness: noisy when not in use, no frontal power button, big

After being fed up with the high cost of ink jet cartridges, I decided to look into a color laser printer. It seemed difficult to find any consensus opinion over which color laser was the best, but most reviewers gave an overall favorable take on the Lexmark C530 (C530, C532, C534, etc.) series of printers. They are basically the same printer where it counts, and only vary in degree of memory, features, and the like. They even all look pretty much the same. With the $350 mail-in rebate, this printer will cost me only about $320 when all is said and done, and that basically clinched it for me.

I wanted a printer that does primarily text, but with the occasional need for color. I would NOT recommend this printer for digital photos, but for small clip art or web page printout it works fine. The actual printing is rather silent, even more so than my 6 year old ink jet that it replaced. In fact the first few times I hadn’t even realized that it had finished the job because I was so use to the clanking and yawing of ink jets before and during and after printing.

I use it at home, but it actually is way more printer than I need. If you print a lot, especially text documents, then it is perfect. Its cost per page is only $0.019 and the toner cartridges don’t dry out or expire like an ink jet’s cartridges will. It features a USB jack in the front for printing directly from an USB flash memory stick. It allows you to adjust the media size that you’re printing on (e.g. legal size paper). There is a 250 page capacity paper tray on the bottom that you pull out and fill, or you can alternatively open a little door and feed a single sheet of paper, or envelope, in to print. I connected mine to my computer using a USB printer cable; though the documentation indicates you can also use a parallel cable as well. Since it is mainly intended as a work station printer, it also has a CAT-5 jack on the side for plugging it into a network, though I haven’t made use of that feature.

On the down side, it makes periodic humming noises when sitting in standby. Based on the display, I believe it is a function of its stand-by mode and energy saver feature. But it is annoying to have to hear every hour or so your printer remind you that it’s there even when you’re not using it. You know it isn’t quiet when your wife says to you the next morning, “You know your printer was making noises during the night?” As a result, I have actually turned off the power on the toggle switch on the back of the unit when I’m not using it. It is a pain, since there’s no power switch/button on the front of the unit. Again, for high use this probably isn’t a problem. But if you need only a printer for text, then I would suggest a monochrome laser printer. They are much smaller and cheaper. Lastly, if you intend to use a color laser for your home, make sure you have sufficient space for it. The unit is as large (if not larger!) than many all-in-one/multi-purpose ink jets. It also weighs 56 lbs. so not just anyone is strong enough to move it around.

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C534n Laser Printer (24 PPM, 1200x1200 DPI, Color,...

Strengths: Impressive. Quiet operation. Excellent output (even when I printed a photo which everyone says you shouldn't do on a laser). Takes up to 47 lb. weight even from the main paper drawer.

Weakness: A bit noisy but what do you expect from a laser, especially a color laser. In all actuality the noise really isn’t that bad. Maybe in a home office it might be a bit much, but keep in mind you don’t p

First page speed is better than most, and pages per minute are as advertised. Even in sleep mode first page out is quicker than most.
While in reality this is probably too much printer for individual use, I'm a college student who bought it for personal use, and I like it a lot. I have it connected to my wireless router (via ethernet cable), and setup was a breeze. If you can fit this printer in your home or office, I recommend it highly.

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very good printer

Strengths: Very cheap (after rebate was around $200). Networked, decent color. OK features too.

Weakness: Big (really tall). somewhat noisy. Takes a long time to print from power on.

I purchased this color laser for some short-run mailing jobs that my wife was doing. We bought it for with a three hundred dollar mail in rebate. We purchased the printer on 6/24/07 and STILL do not have our rebate money now in 11/07. I checked the Lexmark Rebate site and it says that no rebate exists for my name and address. Of course this was the ONE time I didn't photocopy the rebate information before mailing. Now I get to go rounds with Lexmark to try to get my money out of them. BOO LEXMARK!

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lexmark c534n laser printer

Lexmark C534n Laser Printer receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 2.72 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #35 laser printer of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of important consumer features, market value, and a...

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