A Lexmark multi-function device, the P6250, won our last photo printer roundup, so the expectations were high for its big brother, the X7170. Unlike our Labs Winner, this machine is definitely targeted at the business market. For an extra $100 premium, the machine adds office-oriented functions such as faxing, a copy feeder and a better scanner. It's also noticeably larger than its brethren.
The X7170 performed admirably in most tests - the only surprising result being that it performed relatively poorly in the photo test. The paper handling mechanism left roller mark indentations in the paper, and there is distinct banding in the areas of sky. On the other hand, the plain paper colour test was one of the best. Speed was excellent, bested only by the laser printer and the Canon.
Though Lexmark has spent a lot of money on making the interface as user-friendly as possible, there were still some problems with usability. The All In One Center software refused to recognise its own scanner, even when we used the latest software. Instead, we had to use the Windows default scanning wizard. But when we got it working it produced some good scans, with the OCR being the best of all machines -- the formatting was identical and part of the planet was also kept.
Another potential difficulty is the use of only two colour cartridges, which means that printing digital photos with this machine could prove very costly.
The Lexmark is a good work-horse machine, and with its reasonable price and good mix of features is suited to a small office environment.