Digital Photography Now Printer Reviews | ||||||
Printer previews: HP P7350 and Lexmark Z65 | ||||||
The two big conclusions we can confidently reach from this preliminary look at the new HP Photosmart 7350 and Lexmark Z65 is that HP has made a huge stride forwards in terms of photo quality while, if anything, Lexmark has gone backwards, despite its 4800dpi specification. HP now in the same photo quality league as Epson and CanonHP’s adoption of five colour inks plus photo black print technology complements the introduction of 4800dpi maximum resolution well. Previous criticisms we have made of HP’s previous generation printer technology have all been dealt with. Colours are accurate and grain has been refined dramatically. The results are so good we have no hesitating in placing the new HP print platform in the same league as Epson’s and Canon’s more established photo ink-jet offerings. Unfortunately, we’re left feeling very disappointed by Lexmark. Admittedly, the printer is priced very competitively, but nowhere does the Z65 inspire in terms of photo print quality. This is the price Lexmark has paid for abandoning the option of photo inks, previously available for such models as the Z43, Z53, etc. Not only is grain painfully apparent, but colours are muted and the overall result is disappointingly flat. The one main positive point we can report is that we have not experienced any banding problems that seemed to commonly afflict earlier Lexmark models. But more work to be done?HP should be rightly congratulated for the major improvements it has made to its photo printing quality as much as Lexmark should be chastised for failing to deliver on the very same theme. But both marques are still, in several ways, still shaded by the photo printer might of Canon and Epson. For example, you can only print borderless prints using 6x4 media on HP’s new printers. There is no borderless option at all on the new Lexmarks. Photo print speed remains poor on the HP in comparison to, especially, Canon. The Lexmark was even worse, taking as much as 13 minutes to deliver our test print, a time that would have seen a Canon S900 produce a dozen copies. Also, neither manufacturer offers a wider carriage or A3 variant, which has already been registered by some DP-Now readers. But these points aside, HP has really impressed up to a point. We certainly look forward to receiving a production printer to really put through its paces.
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