Colour printouts on plain paper were quite good at high quality (1200x1200dpi), colors were deep and lush, and images were quite detailed. An 8x10 print in full color took around 1minute 50 seconds and 5 minutes 29 seconds for normal and high quality modes.
Unfortunately, while black backgrounds remain quite useable in high quality mode, the same cannot be said in regular (600dpi) mode. In that mode, we were able to print out great look graphs and basic photos, but white text on black backgrounds were not good enough for anything but personal use.
Color prints on specialty/photo paper proved to be quite impressive. We will always prefer results from the superb $200+ printers such as the Canon S800 or the amazing Epson 890, but at $99 the results were quite pleasing, especially in maximum quality mode. These prints took a little longer to print then we expected, however. At 2 minutes and 13 seconds for a 4x6 print, and 7 minutes and 24 seconds for a 8x10 print, the Z43 is actually one of the slower printers we have seen when it comes to printing on specialty paper.
Consumables Considerations
According to the product specs, the yield of printer, using standard coverage, is rated at around 600 and 275 pages for black and colour prints, respectively. With black ink cartridges costing $30.99MSRP and colour cartridges costing $37.99 MSRP, the theoretical cost per page is around 5.1 cents for black prints, and 13.8 cents for colour prints (not including the cost of paper). And while these costs are around the par for inkjet printers, the cost for black & white prints is more than twice as expensive as a good budget printer, like the Samsung ML-4500.
Another Good Printer
Its quite easy to see that the Z43 offers an incremental increase in quality at an incremental increase in price over the Editors Choice winning Z33. The Z43 though, while faster at text printouts and with higher print resolutions, did not surprise as much as the Z33 did. Still, with solid print results, its hard not to give this printer the thumbs up. It wont break any extreme price/performance barriers, but it is a good choice against printers at the $100 price mark. In fact, a quick search found the printer to be as cheap as $85 and that makes this printer very affordable indeed.
This printer is particularly strong for those intend on doing mostly plain paper printouts and who do not mind using the slower, but significantly higher quality print modes. At the highest print settings, prints on plain paper came very close to the quality of prints from competitive models ranging up to the $200 mark. If only the same could be said about prints on photo paper such a combination would have made a true winner.
Overall Score: 79%
Find the Lowest Prices on the Net for the Lexmark Z43
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