Lexmark P3150

The P3150 has so much going for it that picking a starting point is tricky. Indeed, the machine's most obvious weak spot is its unattractive, anvil-like design - but that's hardly enough to defer a purchase.

Fortunately, appearances are only surface deep and Lexmark has managed to build and price a device that is able to scan, copy and print at less than £100 - a seemingly remarkable feat. Of course, the economics of this price point are closely allied to ongoing purchases of the requisite ink cartridges, and Lexmark's consumables aren't renowned for being the best value the industry has to offer. In other words, long-term heavy use is likely to hit the owner hard in the pocket.

However, viewed from the perspective of the home user, or if employed for light-duty office use, the P3150 does represent great value for money. The high-resolution inkjet printer delivers great-looking output, be it text on plain paper or photographic prints. Pages appear at considerably slower rates than those claimed by Lexmark - up to 17ppm mono and 7ppm colour, the company boasts - but this is par for the course. The typical home user is unlikely to be too disappointed by the actual tested speeds - 4.5ppm for text output and approaching 2ppm for mixed graphics and text pages. Similarly, the scanner produces fine results and can be used in conjunction with the printer to produce colour copies; although for this to work the P3150 must be connected to a powered PC.

We spare a final mention for the built-in memory card reader, which can accommodate seven different flavours of flash storage media, including Compact Flash (CF), Memory Stick and Smart Media.

Contact: Lexmark 0870 444 0044
www.lexmark.co.uk

Specifications:

• 4,800 x 1,200dpi (printer); 600 x 1,200dpi (scanner)
• 48bit
• Inkjet
• Flatbed image scanner
• 4.75kg
• 468 x 310 x 184mm
• Photo Editor
• USB1.1/2