Lexmark X3470 All-in-One

After moving to our own home, my husband and I realized we needed a printer. Having previously used an old Canon bubblejet and an HP lazer printer, we weren't really sure what all we needed. Although we already have a scanner, we decided that with limited desk space it was better to have an all-in-one printer. Because we live in a small town, we didn't have much selection, so we decided on the Lexmark X3470, mainly because of price and because it was available here.

We are very happy with our choice. The print capailities are excellent - from photos to word documents, it does everything well. There are multiple settings for document quality, so you can save ink on simple documents or get good quality photos. The scanner works very well, and can capture documents in colour, greyscale, or black and white. The feed tray can hold a good amount of paper, making it easy to print many documents without having to constantly refill. The printer has a built-in toolbar on the front, with easy to understand buttons and a display to tell you what the printer is doing, so you can monitor what it's doing. It has ports on the fron for easy hookup with various media storage cards as well as PictBridge, for very easy photo printing. We have printed colour and black and white documents with very good results, and the speed is excellent, on both normal and fast print settings. It is also designed well and is a nice looking device.

The downsides I have noticed thus far are that it didn't come bundled with the cable necessary to connect it to the computer. This is rather silly, but one can be purchased for $20 or less, so it's not a big downfall. It also seems to use ink a little bit faster than I would like, however cartridges are readily available and not particularly expensive, and they can also be refilled using a refill kit or at an ink refill store. It does come bundled with photo software as well as Hallmark Card Studio Express, which is a plus.

Overall, we are very happy with our purchase, and use it frequently. I would definitely recommend this for someone looking for a budget-friendly all-in-one home office solution.