Lexmark C534dn

horrible printer

i was initially taken with this printer because early reviews raved about it's features.. I purchased one, used it for 16 months (the warranty is 12) and then received an error message on the screen (the printer was inoperable). I called Lexmark and they accused me of adding options, which I have not. Finally, they referred me to a service technician, who was familiar with the printer and the problem. To fix the printer - the whole system board would have to be replaced, apparently they fail often. Cost for the system board $699 plus at least $200 for labor (i.e., you could simply buy a new printer for less). What a rip-off. I've previously used HP printers, and my other printer is an HP Color 3700 - which is going on it's 4th full year of use with little or no problems, unfortunately, it didn't have a duplex option when I purchased it (or I wasn't willing to pay that much extra)... I'm now moving to an HP3505x. I will never puchase another lexmark product.

Good purchase

Our office uses this printer, and also the similar Lexmark C530.
We have been very satisfied. Reliable, and VERY good print quality.
It has the occasional jam, like all printers, but it's generally pretty reliable.

Quirks:
-no third-party toners available, must buy Lexmark brand.
-Toner "Low" trigger is too soon (turns on when there's still hundreds of pages left)
-printer part "Waste Toner Bin" expired, and nobody had it in stock, INCLUDING LEXMARK, for 2 months. It's $20, so better to have one on hand instead of waiting!
-Paper tray should really hold more paper.

Easily the most hated printer in our office

We have had this printer for about a year. Besides some kind of consumable seemingly always running out, this printer routinely reports fathom printer jams, very frustrating. It seems to really get unhappy with Manual paper feeds, so dont purchase if you ever want to do that.

Networking has worked great though, except finding the right drivers for this printer is unnecessarily difficult. For example: The Lexmark website lists:
1. Lexmark Universal Postscript Emulation system driver.
2. Lexmark Universal PCL Emulation system driver.
3. Microsoft Certified Windows Vista 32bit PCL Emulation system driver.

without *any* layman explanation to what they are.

Warning: Do not buy!

This printer is a piece of junk. I bought it specifically to print out our wedding invitations. When I went to print out our test invites, they were coming up with a faint gray background and gray streaks across the paper. It was like someone had slightly rolled over the paper with rolling pin with ink on it. I called technical support about the problem. They had me change several different settings on the printer, none of which solved the problem. They then asked me to mail them print samples to Lexington, KY. Here I was needing to print my wedding invitations, and they were having me mail print samples back and forth. I mailed them the samples and they call me back the next week to tell me that the technician has determined that the printer is defective. Fine, I say. When can I get a replacement? They told me that they won't replace the printer with the same model, because this model has too many defects. But I can upgrade to another model for $200 more or I can request a refund. I opted for the refund and faxed them a copy of my invoice on August 28th, 2007. They sent a courier to pick up the brick of a printer. It's now October 12th, and I have no printer and no refund. I ended up having to take my invitations to a printer and spent almost $400 for something I should have been able to do at home. I called Lexmark again yesterday and spoke to the supervisor, "Pete." Pete told me that he would contact the concerns department and call me back today. I asked how I could get into contact with the concerns department directly, and Pete told me that they don't have a phone number for them. Needless to say, Pete never called me back today. So I called in again, sat on hold for 20 minutes, and asked for Pete. "Max" tells me that Pete has already gone home for the day. He then looks through my case and tells me that they won't issue a refund until they receive confirmation from the courier that the printer has been picked up, and they haven't received that yet. It's now been 2 months since my printer broke. I've got no printer and Lexmark is holding onto the $600 that I paid for it. Do not do business with these people!

Availbility of Consumables is Terrible

I bought this printer and it ran fine for a month. Then the photo-conductor had a problem. Support indicated they would ship a replacement and I would be a happy camper. Now 4 weeks have passed by and the part has not shown up. I called them repeatedly and was always told that it would ship in the next 2 days. Finally I got fed up and thought I would just go out and buy it. And guess what, nothing was available to buy. Not from Lexmark and not from the 3-4 dealers I called.

Finally I came back to Amazon and it seems they have 3 in stock. So I am going to get 1 ( I hope). But it is amazing that a printer company can be out of consumables for a recent and relatively high end printer for this long. Just makes me wonder if the management has it together.

Their stock seems to be tanking. This is my first Lexmark. Seems I should have stuck with HP etc.

Lot of printer for the price

Never paid less for more ... Plug and play set-up for Apple user. Awesome black & white text and graphics. Color graphics are beautiful. We've pushed the printer's limits--printing photos with subtle color variation (think body of water) at letter sized. If you look carefully at these prints, you can discern vertical bars of color and some uneveness.

Its a little louder than I expected and bigger. But fits on top of rolling file cart.

C534N Color Laser Printer

Received it ok but set up was slight problem, the on-line manual/technical helped in which (red tape)locations to remove. It took about 15 minutes. Contrary to what everyone said or wrote, upon research I found that Lexmark ships these with toner cartridge starters that for the black are rated for about 1,500 pages! See their web site for confirmation. Noisy when it starts up and when left on (in powersave) it will start up and power down by itself. Printing both black and color are very good. If it wasn't for the cost of cartridge refills (only from Lexmark) and the lack of generic cartridges it would be an excellent buy.

Only if you can find it economical for the refills should you go ahead with this printer buy.

Good Value After Rebate

Very good quality and value for the price after rebate. Only downsides are"

1. Size-it is very large and you will want to hook it to a wireless and stash it somewhere out of the way.

2. I "wakes itself up" every so often when not being used and runs for a 5 seconds. This is very loud and annoying.

3. Since Lexmark is very big on copyprotecting its cartridges and bring lawsuits against anyone who trys to make generics for them, you will not be able to find affordable replacements, so ebay or toss it when the cartridges run out.

I like not buying photo paper

I like the printer, it would be perfect if it wasn't for the paper jams.

Great product at a great price

Got the printer for a great price - the internet web server allows for configuring the printer in numerous ways while the quality of the print is great.