A fast and flexible mono laser with a unique colour touchscreen display
In many respects Lexmark’s new T656dne is much like any other network mono laser printer, albeit one that can deliver good quality A4 documents at an impressive rate of up to 53ppm. In addition, however, it has a unique distinguishing factor: a built-in colour touchscreen, much like those found on more complex multi-function devices, enabling it to run local applications.
We’ll start by looking at the printer itself which, as we discovered, is a compact A4 mono laser capable of printing at up to 1,200dpi, or 2,400dpi with a little software help. A duplexer comes as standard and, as with all Lexmark printers, paper handling proved to be top notch with no jams in any of our tests.
Performance It also lived up to expectations in the performance department, delivering long Word and other documents at close to the advertised maximum rate, and that all-important first page consistently appeared in around seven to eight seconds with nearly everything we tried.
Print quality was what we expected too. Not brilliant, but more than good enough for the kind of applications the T656dne is likely to be put to, from general office printing to churning out emails, invoices, work orders and so on.
It’s also clearly made for sharing, with a built-in network print server, a Gigabit Ethernet interface and a recommended monthly throughput of up to 35,000 pages. Plus, it’s possible to fit a range of add-on paper drawers underneath the main unit, increasing capacity from 550 sheets on the bare desktop model we tested, to a huge 4,300 pages altogether. A mailbox sorter is yet another option, plus a stapler and a set of wheels, to make it free-standing.
Setup Unlike other departmental lasers we’ve tried, the T656dne was remarkably light and easy to set up, with a clear quick-start guide to point us in the right direction. On the downside it took a while to work out where the toner cartridge was located, but it was plain sailing once we’d found the hidden catch behind the fold-out multipurpose feeder.
