Review: Lexmark Platinum Pro905 printer

Lexmark has given its inkjet printers a total overhaul, and the Platinum Pro905 sits at the very top of the new range. Housing four separate ink cartridges, it's a colour multifunction device that includes print, scan, copy and fax functionality.

Taking centre stage, however, is the 4in colour display. Not only does this look good, but it's touch-sensitive, which makes navigating through the various menus a breeze.

The printer can be attached to a single computer via USB (Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems are supported), or hooked up to a network via a wired or wireless connection. Impressively, the Pro905 also supports 802.11n wireless, and all settings can be configured on the printer itself.

Should the 150-page input tray not be big enough, the Pro905 comes with a second paper tray directly under the main printer unit that pushes the overall capacity to 300 pages.

If connected to a network with internet connectivity, the printer is able to offer various web-based features via Lexmark's SmartSolutions utility. The printer first needs to be registered with the SmartSolutions web site, but it's a fairly painless procedure.

Once registered, it's possible to download apps to the Pro905. Some, such as one that shows RSS feeds on the printer's display, are of questionable use to businesses. However, there are some more practical apps, including one that allows scans to be sent to email recipients directly from the printer. The choice is fairly limited at the moment - there were only 16 apps at the time of writing - but more should arrive over time.

In terms of quality, the Pro905 impresses. Mono text output is crisp, clear and on a par with most lasers we've seen. It also managed to produce rich and vibrant colours when printing a series of Excel charts. Photo quality is acceptable but, even using Lexmark's glossy photo paper, we noticed a fair amount of speckling when viewed close up.

Running costs are low, especially when printing mono documents. Using Lexmark's high-yield return programme cartridges, the price per mono print is just 0.6p, which is not bad for a company that's often been criticised for its expensive ink. Start printing in colour and the price per print rises to 6.7p, which is still pretty good.

As with all inkjets, the relatively slow print speeds mean that the Pro905 isn't best suited to large or even medium-sized workgroups. In our tests, it managed to output a mono text document at a rate of 10 pages per minute, increasing to just over 20ppm in draft mode.

On average, we had to wait 15 seconds for the first page to arrive. However, if the printer is switched off, you can expect a much longer wait. We timed the Pro905 at one minute and 24 seconds to fully boot up from cold and produce the first page, which is far longer than most other inkjets.

The automatic document feeder (ADF) on top of the printer makes copying multiple pages easy. It can cope with up to 50 pages at a time, but it's not particularly fast and our five-page test took just under one minute 30 seconds.

The duplex feature is similarly slow due to the printer having to wait 10 seconds to allow the ink to dry before sucking the page back in and printing on the other side.

With a wealth of features, easy-to-use touch-screen display and extremely low running costs, the Platinum Pro905 has a lot going for it. However, it's also expensive at £399.