Lexmark's Z65 A4 inkjet printer has the highest resolution currently on the market, coming in at 4,800 x 1,200dpi (dots per inch), and proclaims a print speed of up to 21ppm (pages per minute).

Apart from its speed and resolution, Lexmark is particularly proud of the printer's automatic cartridge alignment feature. This eliminates the need for manual alignment, helping to increase ease of use and minimise user intervention.

Once you've placed the tri-colour and black cartridges into their respective slots by lifting the front cover, the LED and optical sensors read the alignment page, then automatically adjust the print head and printer driver settings.

The space between the colour and black cartridges can vary slightly, so this technology can help reduce misalignment of the print cartridges and ensure the best print quality. It's also a real boon not having to print a special alignment page and manually change the software driver settings.

The Z65 automatically recognises different paper types and adjusts the printer settings to achieve optimal print quality. Print drivers adjust the way they format print jobs depending on the type of media used, so failing to select the correct print option in the driver software can lead to poor results or no visible gain in quality.

Automatic paper type sensing eliminates this potential for human error. A paper type sensor in the printer's paper tray constantly monitors the type of paper loaded. Working with the basic physical principle that different types of paper reflect light in different ways, the paper sensor is made of a light emitter and two light captors.

Depending on which captor receives light, and in what quantity, the printer's driver determines which type of media is loaded from a choice of plain, photo or coated paper, or transparency, and makes any configuration changes accordingly.

The Z65 has dual paper trays. The nearest of the two at the front of the printer has a plain paper capacity of 100 A4 sheets, and the rear one can hold 150 A4 sheets.

Both trays use Lexmark's Accu-Feed paper handling system, but only tray one uses the automatic paper sensor. Either tray can be selected by pressing the corresponding button on the printer or via the printer driver software.

Although Lexmark has made several print head design improvements on its colour and black cartridges, the quality of the Z65's photographic output isn't on a par with offerings from Epson or Hewlett Packard.

At times acceptable, and occasionally horrendous, close scrutiny reveals pixels that are not noticeable on continuous tone prints, slight over-saturation of colours that frequently requires manual software correction, and images that generally appear 'flat'.

Print speed is also disappointing, being nowhere near Lexmark's claims of up to 21ppm (mono at five per cent saturation) and 15ppm (colour at five per cent saturation). We achieved 7ppm and 2ppm respectively.

Lexmark has been able to improve on its print speed by increasing the size of its print head swath from a third to a half an inch (the size of the print head, plus the area covered in one pass of the cartridge).

It has also introduced a redundant nozzle design. Two nozzles are responsible for each line of print, allowing them to fire alternately, resulting in a faster carrier.

Also, if one of the nozzles fails, the other can continue printing, lapping over the areas missed by the faulty nozzle.

Back on the down side, Lexmark, like most other printer makers, doesn't supply a USB cable, and it's an irritating omission. It's also a shame that the three-colour cartridge design is so expensive to maintain at over £20 a throw, and that the print quality is only mediocre, because the Z65 is quick and easy to use.

While it may be one of the simplest printers to use, many will find the quality and speed of its output too disappointing.

Price: £129.95 (£109.95 ex VAT)

Specifications:
Max resolution: 4,800 x 1,200dpi
USB: 1.1
Tri-colour, single black cartridge types
Cartridge life: 450 colour pages at 15 per cent coverage; 600 black pages at five per cent coverage
Maximum paper weight: 270gsm
Operating system: Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP; Mac OS 8.6-9.1, Mac OS X
Weight: 4.9kg
Dimensions: 445 x 305 x 216mm (w x d x h).

Contact: Lexmark 08704 440 044
www.lexmark.co.uk