Tech Blog

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With the Genesis printer, Lexmark has taken a drastic change from their former models and tackled an entirely different market.  Lexmark was kind enough to send me one of their Genesis printers, and now that I’ve had my hands on it for a couple of weeks, it’s time to share my findings (note: you can also find an earlier review from Graham here: LINK).  Before I start, I should mention that I owned a Lexmark colour inkjet printer in the past, before finally switching to laser printers.  My current laser printer is a Samsung SCX-4500 multifunction printer, so it’s been interesting to compare between the two models.

Features

The Lexmark Genesis printer is a new take on the inkjet multifunction printer and comes loaded with a large number of useful features, including:

• LCD touchscreen – set up the printer, or perform any required actions on the printer
• Copy – copies at 300 x 300 dpi
• Scan – uses Fast Scan technology which basically takes a picture of your document rather than scanning it the same way as other scanners, which means scans can be complete in as little as 3 seconds (uses a 10MP imaging sensor)
• Photo printing – automatically adjusts the quality of the print depending on the paper used
• Fax – works as a standard fax using a 33.6 kbps modem
• Wireless – uses wireless B/G/N to connect to your home network allowing you to print wirelessly from any computer on the network
• Memory card reader – works with most popular card formats available
• Duplexing – save paper
• SmartSolution Apps – download and print from various websites and more

Appearance

This printer takes a different perspective from other printers out there by switching things to a vertical aspect.  This allows the printer to have a smaller profile on a desktop than other multifunction printers out there, but it also makes it taller than some of the other multifunction printers.  While Lexmark touts the printer as being one of the smallest on the market, don’t mistake yourself, it is still quite large and I have to admit, I was surprised by the size when I unpacked it.  It takes up less space on the desktop surface than my Samsung SCX-4500, but it is more than twice as tall.  Of course my Samsung SCX-4500 is also amongst the most compact laser multifunction printers on the market.

Looking at the printer itself, it has a nice glossy black finish on the front.  This makes the printer look incredibly sleek and attractive.  My only serious complaint with the front is that the finish looks like a nice glass material, but it feels like it’s likely just a plastic material, and thus more likely to be scratched than an actual glass surface.  This material is also a great magnet for fingerprints, but generally speaking, most fingerprints are restricted to the touchscreen area, so it’s not a big deal, and the included microfiber cloth works well to clean them all away.

The sides of the device are a little less slick and Lexmark has gone with basic grey sides and a basic black molded plastic back.  While it might have been nice to see the sleek black continue around the entire device, this is fine as realistically, you’ll only see the front of the printer most of the time anyhow.  This also allows you to find the USB and memory card reader easier, so it’s a positive trade off.

Usability

I used the disk that Lexmark included to set up the printer from start to end, and for basic users, this will help ensure everything is set up just as it needs to be.  But if you’re a more advanced user, you actually may find it easier to set things up using the touchscreen display on the printer itself.  For example, connecting the printer to the wireless network was a breeze from the printer.  I also found it easier and faster to set up email settings, fax settings and more on the printer, but that’s because I already knew all of the required settings.

Once the printer has been set up, it can take a few minutes to learn about all of the different features that are available, however most uses are fairly intuitive (my fiancé can even navigate his way through, which is impressive as he usually hates tech).  To do anything, just press the power button to wake the printer up, then simply click on the option you want to use (e.g. scan).  The basic settings work for every day needs but the printer does have advanced options for those who want more.  Scanning, faxing or copying is as simple as opening the front of the device, put your document in that you need to scan, close the lid and select the option you want to use.  It’s also possible to scan and email a document from directly within the device.  In other words, no more need to scan something in to your computer, save it, then manually email it.  And another great feature is that documents can be converted into multiple formats, including PDF and JPEG right at the scanning level.  This is incredibly handy, especially for those who do not have easy access to a PDF creator such as Adobe Acrobat.  The only problem here is that you do have to scan each page individually so copying a lot of pages will take much longer than using a printer with an automatic feeder, however this is similar to many other inkjet multifunctions already on the market.

Positives

Overall, I found the printer to be quite easy to use, especially for basic uses, but I like the fact that I can adjust things if I want to make more advanced changes.  The ability to automatically select picture quality based on the type of paper used is also incredibly useful.  My three favourite features on this printer are the Flash Scan technology, the wireless capabilities and the fax.  I love my Samsung multifunction because it prints using laser toner (no need to worry about water on the document), but it takes forever to scan and/or copy documents.  With the Lexmark Genesis, it will give me a preview immediately, and is effortless to scan.  And again, while I love printing with my Samsung laser printer, I hate having to go and manually plug my laptop in and I often regret not getting the wireless version.  With the Lexmark Genesis, no problem – I can print from anywhere at home.  Finally, while I don’t fax things very often, this is something that I do like to be able to do, especially when doing business with specific companies.  So now I can.

And here’s a big positive that I would actually like to give Lexmark kudos for – the ink cartridges are actually cheap!  With my old previous Lexmark inkjet printer (bought ~5-7 years ago), it was almost cheaper to buy a whole new printer than to buy new ink cartridges at $40 each.  But at approximately $10-15 per cartridge, it’s a whole different story.  Now it’s actually worthwhile to buy the inkjet cartridges.  I’m still not sure that the cost per page will be the same or less than my Samsung laser printer, but this allows the cost to come much closer.

Negatives

Although I didn’t have any real problems with the printer, there are a few things that I would have liked to see instead.  First off, the printer is still larger than I expected or would have liked.  After looking at how the device works though, essentially every bit of space is used within the printer.  For example, given that the scanner actually takes a picture of the document, the imaging sensor has to be far enough back to encompass the entire scanning surface.  Similarly, a lot of space is used within the printer for duplexing.  Speaking of duplexing, this is both a positive and a negative with this printer.  First, I’m happy to see that the Lexmark Genesis can do automatic duplexing.  My Samsung laser printer doesn’t even offer manual duplexing which makes duplexing a serious pain.  But my complaint on the Lexmark Genesis is that duplexing takes far too long and each page can take several seconds to start going back into the printer.  From my observations, it almost appears that you could print 3 pages normally in the time it takes to print 1 duplexed page (e.g. 2 pages).

I also really like the touchscreen, and its typically very nice and responsive, but when you’re trying to type using the onscreen keyboard, it can take some time to make sure you have every letter correct.  One thing is certain, don’t expect to be as fast as you would be on a touchscreen cellphone or tablet.  And one final negative is that at this price point, I would have expected the printer to actually be a laser printer, yet it’s still just an inkjet printer.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but laser is typically faster, it doesn’t matter if the paper gets wet, and the laser toner doesn’t have the same tendency to dry up over time as inkjet cartridges, saving money and ink, especially if you don’t print things off too regularly.  But the price of the inkjet cartridges definitely helps this feel better.

Overall Impressions

This is a great printer for those who want access to all of these functions in a smaller, more compact space than many other multifunctions out there.  It looks sleek, and accordingly should look very nice in any home office.  Personally, I’m happy to have the ability to print colour again, and I love the fact that I can print wirelessly once again.  Although I do wish it was a laser printer, for an inkjet printer, it is loaded with a lot of different features, and those features make the printer worth the price.  In fact, this is likely the only thing that is now keeping this printer from replacing my current Samsung laser printer altogether.  It’s easier and generally faster to use, plus that touchscreen makes it a whole lot more fun.  So this printer is likely to stay set up in our condo – the only catch is going to be finding a permanent place to keep it!

And of course, if you want more information, you can find the Lexmark Genesis here: Lexmark Genesis Wireless All-In-One Inkjet Printer

(EDIT: Added missing link)