- Experience great color value for your small office with energy-saving Eco Mode.
- Add color to your documents fast - print up to 21 ppm!
- Compact design makes the C540n perfect for desktop printing in color.
- Retrieve your color prints fast with rapid first page out - as fast as 13 seconds. Connect multiple users to one device with advanced ethernet networking capabilities.
- Get a product built to last with a 35,000 page duty cycle; Experience less downtime with a 1-Year Next Business Day Exchange Warranty
- Experience great color value for your small office with energy-saving Eco Mode.
- Add color to your documents fast - print up to 21 ppm!
- Compact design makes the C540n perfect for desktop printing in color.
- Retrieve your color prints fast with rapid first page out - as fast as 13 seconds. Connect multiple users to one device with advanced ethernet networking capabilities.
- Get a product built to last with a 35,000 page duty cycle; Experience less downtime with a 1-Year Next Business Day Exchange Warranty
--------------Update 8 months of use -------------------
The print quality is exellent but the toner cost will ruin you. We have printed about 1,100 pages and already used up the toner that came with the unit and one set of new toners with 2,500 page capacity. Obviously the toners won''t give you 2,500 pages my guess is that our''s has given us about 600 or so. Most of what we print is text so I will assume our usage pattern is average. Cost per page including cost of hardware runs close to 75c per b/w page. The reason: I just emptied the waste toner It was full so be warned that is where your toner goes!
Buy Lexmark C540N Color Laser Printer Now
Let''s get the pros out of the way first:The setup is easy and straightforward
The print quality is pretty good for a printer in this price range
Speed is acceptable, even in color
It''s not as noisy or bulky as other color lasers I''ve owned
Now for the rest.
This printer is obviously designed for *very* light duty printing. The specs say the paper tray will hold 250 pages but I couldn''t get more than about 200 in without bending paper. The specs also claim the output area will hold 100 pages, and that''s nonsense. I printed a 74 page manual, and got a jam after 52 pages.
And that''s when the fun began...
I cleared the jam, but the printer refused to recognize that the jam was cleared. It kept insisting the jam was still there.
At the same time, the Lexmark Status Monitor just quit working. I got Vista''s dreaded "This program has stopped working" dialog. (I''m on 64 bit Vista Ultimate.)
So I turned the printer off and on. The good news is that it realized it wasn''t jammed. The bad news was it began spewing pages of random garbage. (I realize Vista''s print spooler was partially responsible for this.) Stabbing the Cancel button on the printer stopped it after about a dozen pages.
So I went to Vista''s print manager, and tried to cancel the job. Nothing I could do would effect a cancel. Since this functionality worked fine on the printer this one replaced, this has to be the fault of the Lexmark driver.
So I rebooted Vista, and the cancel still didn''t take. This time I let the manual run (carefully taking pages from the output area about every 15 or 20). But I don''t know what I would have done if I really needed to cancel.
I really hate to submit a negative review, because my initial impressions were quite good. I suppose if you use this little guy for very light duty work, you would probably be fine. The hardware seems well worth the price if the drivers worked better. Perhaps the XP drivers do work better, and the Vista drivers just have not been worked on enough. (By the way, the same driver disk applies to the C543 and the C544, so I would presume they have the same problems on Vista I discussed above.)
I finally did get six nice copies of my manual. This thing was so inexpensive, and I''ve used so much of its toner, that I don''t feel right taking it back, so I''m keeping it. But you can bet the next time I print manuals it will be Lulu or a quick copy place.
*** Update Sept 7, 2009
I''ve worked with this printer a month now, and I''m telling you outright: If you have Vista, especially 64 bit, don''t buy it.
The software that comes on the disk with the printer is simply unusable on Vista 64 bit. The problems I discussed above are still there, and I''ve discovered more.
I finally uninstalled everything that was installed from the disk, and went to Lexmark''s site to get something better. That seems to work a bit better so far (at least print jobs can now be cancelled), but it took power user experience and some inspired guessing to locate the right download. Their support web site is just awful.
I now wish I had taken this thing back, even after using up its toner. It has cost me hours trying to make it work.
A note about Windows 7 based on their web site. When Windows 7 is released in stores (it''s already in the hands of corporations and MSDN subscribers) only then will Lexmark EVEN SAY WHEN DRIVERS MIGHT BE AVAILABLE. So I wouldn''t expect the driver situation to get better any time soon with Windows 7 (for any Lexmark printer).
Read Best Reviews of Lexmark C540N Color Laser Printer Here
Let me first preface my review. I am looking specifically at what it can do and how well it does it in relation to it''s competitors. My experience with printers is extensive. I research printer''s capabilities before homing in on the one that I want and need. I own 5, purchase a new one for improved capabilities and quality for different custom marketing pieces. This one produces an awesome, "digital print quality" with automatic duplexing with print speed of 21 to 25 ppm. I just wish it would print tabloid. I have always been an Epson, HP and Minolta person. This is my first Lexmark. I use printers wirelessly and this one does that too. It has adequate RAM for large file printing but you can upgrade from the 128 to 512. I''m an intensive graphics user and so far I see no need to upgrade. This is IT!!!! This is the printer I''ve been looking for with the quality, speed and price point. You can find replacement cartridges online fairly reasonable but I''ve also found bottles of toner for this unit for $20 too if you want to refill yourself.Now on the installation side... If you are using a PC then, you''re good. No problems setting up the network or setting up the printer with Wifi. However, I''m more of a MAC user with an Airport Extreme wireless router. I had to call tech support to get it setup because I am using LION which they don''t have instructions for yet. What ultimately had to happen was I had to set it up on the network with my PC and then add it on my MAC. It was a pain. Lexmark''s tech support was good on the first call and solved my wifi issue. On my second call, trying to update the firmware and get the printer to print envelopes as quick as it should, they failed miserably. I spent 2 hours on the phone with no solution!! I was even promised that I''d get a call back with a solution and they never did. I ended up figuring it out myself. Oh, and one last thing, there''s a slight squeak in the printer when it prints. They couldn''t resolve that but offered an exchange without cartridges. Not much of an option. They ultimately told me to take it back to where I bought it and let them know that tech support said there was an issue and to exchange it for another one. For me, I really don''t believe that it is such a big issue to return it. I just wanted to check how they would handle it. A lot of laser''s do this from time to time.
With the tech support issue I still love this printer. For the money you can''t go wrong. LEXMARK has a game changer against it''s competition. They just need to get their tech issues for MAC wifi and drivers for LION figured out and they''ll make everyone happy.
I bought mine at Staples for about $219. It was on sale for $269 and then you can get $50 more off if you trade in an old printer. Now, I see some even lower on Amazon but make sure you don''t get hosed on shipping. It is not light.
Want Lexmark C540N Color Laser Printer Discount?
As a printer this one''s about as dependable as all the rest, however it costs a fortune in ink. With cartridges running between $50 and $80 and the frequency in which you have to replace them, you''d be better off having your documents printed at Kinkos or Staples. Seriously... the low toner indicater light is on almost constantly. It''s just another "low cost printer/expensive ink" ripoff. What a disappointment!Save 39% off
I purchased the Lexmark C540N to replace a Samsung color laser that I wanted to smash to smithereens out of frustration (constant paper jams) and I was really happy at first with the Lexmark. The first bad omen was when it wouldn''t print because it kept saying the waste toner receptacle was full after printing only 20 pages. I contacted tech support and they shipped me a new receptacle which worked fine. Then one of the cartridges ran out of ink at around 150 or so pages and I couldn''t print anything definitely not good. Buyer''s remorse really kicked in when I resarched replacement toner there are no refill kits for these cartridges nor refurbished units. Even if I purchased the "return program" cartridges where you basically promise to return the old cartridges to Lexmark the high yield toner wound up costing more than what I paid for the printer almost $300. Then the horror really set in 400 to 500 pages later, I ran out of toner again. A sick empty feeling in my stomach hit me as I realized what a colossal mistake I made in buying this thing. It''s been sitting in my basement for almost a year now as I decided to stop flushing so much money down the drain on toner and wait and see if the cartridge prices would come down or either a refill kit or refurbished cartridges would become available, but unfortunately, nothing. Lexmark has a tight-fisted control of the market when it comes to used cartridges I guess. As for the print quality, I do have to say that when it prints, it does so beautifully the images are very sharp and vivid. But when you run out of ink, the ouch factor really kicks in. If you want really nice prints and don''t mind the expense, then I highly recommend the printer. If you''re on a budget, look for something else.
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