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A paper sensor issue with my ancient HP LJ4L gave me an excuse to look for a new printer. It is used intermittanly so I wanted a laser, it is normally in my basement so I wanted networking and duplex, and color would be a plus if not too expensive. After looking at all the possiblities, my head was spinning and I was ready to settle for a mono-laser with network and duplex.

But then I stumbled on the new Lexmark C543dn color laser on sale that had everything I wanted, a high resolution color laser with networking and duplex. The only review I could find of the C543dn was from [..] which thought the colors were too vivid. PC Magazine gave the similar faster C544dn an Editors Choice and only criticised text smaller than 4 or 5 points. It may not be small, but it is not as tall as some color lasers and I was able to carry and place it myself without any help.

Open Office Writer doesn’t even list fonts smaller than 6 points and Word 2007 does not list fonts smaller than 8 points (unless you shrink fonts). French Script may start to lose detail at 4 points, but Arial is fully formed at 3 points and Times New Roman is easy to read (with a magnifiying glass) at 3 points, with only a slight defect in small “e”. As far as I can tell, text at any normal size is sharp and well formed.

When I first started printing images, colors did seem too vivid. But the default if you select “Image” from print properties is “sRGB Vivid”. If you select “Text” it also uses sRGB Vivid, to make sure that you get solid text. The default “Text/Graphics” uses sRGB Display to approximate your computer display. Those and other color settings can be adjusted from the printer’s web interface (or print properties menu while printing).

I still found red and blue a little heavy for my taste (orange too red and green too blue), or maybe just not enough yellow. So I settled on these printer color changes for now:

RGB Brightness = 1 (default 0)

Cyan = -1 (default 0)

Magenta = -2 (default 0)

That works for me using default “Text/Graphics” to print natural looking photos or pdf’s. I do select Text if just printing text. The Image setting may be better for colorful brochures or if you expect colors to fade.

The only other criticism from [..] was cost of supplies. But Lexmark implemented a rewards program that gives you any 10th black or color free, and free imager when you need it. So that brings the cost in line typical for this printer class at 3 cents/page for black and 15 cents for color.

The C543dn is rated for 35,000 prints per month, but high yield color cartridges are good for 2000 pages and black for 2500 pages and imagers are rated for 30,000 pages. So high high volume corporate users would need something bigger with larger toner capacity.

But for a casual user, with a few adjustments, I am very pleased with the Lexmark C543dn and cannot imagine what could be better for my needs (other than wireless, which is an option).

Notes: Even if you are one of the rare people who reads and follows instructions, the printer will say check for packing materials when you first power it up. The similar C540 comes with 1000 page starter toner, the C544 is faster and has a USB port to print pictures from memory stick or camera without a computer.
Rating: 4 / 5

This is the third Lexmark laser printer I have owned in the last 10 years. I really like Lexmark for a good print quality, decent construction, and good network and Mac/Linux support. This printer seems to be on closeout, and for me the price was right to take the plunge.

This printer is smaller than the usual workgroup laser because the fuser/imager is separate from the toner cartridges. Physically, this means the toner cartridges are very small–more like ink jet-sized than the usual 9″ wide toner cartridges. The printer is only about 14″ tall and weighs only 40 lbs. For comparison, similar Brother or even the Lexmark C53x series weigh 70 lbs and are quite a bit taller. So you should have few physical issues putting this into a normal office environment. The footprint with sufficient area flow room is a minimum of 24″ x 24″.

The price of consumables isn’t horrible if you buy from the recycle program, but it’s not great either–and at 30,000 pages, you’ll need a new imager for $250. For my b&w laser printer, I buy generic cartridges for 1/3rd the price at Monoprice, but they don’t have consumables for this printer.

The printer comes with a 10 ft power cord a good setup guide that clearly shows how to remove all the shipping plastic inside of the case.

Print quality is excellent. I bought this for printing marketing documents, diagrams, and PowerPoint slides–this printer does a great job out of the box with no calibration. Gradients are smooth and color borders are crisp. Text is very nice as well; font edges are smooth even on a colored background. Small white text on a colored background shows up very clearly as well. I also have a Canon multi-function b&w laser which prints only so-so text–this printer does a far better job of it. Large color areas look fantastic with no banding or uneven fill. For purposes of this review, I am just printing on 20 lb HP multi-purpose paper.

Setup was easy on Mac OS 10.5. There is a simple Web UI provided, and networking can be configured there or using the physical printer buttons and LCD screen. When the printer first powered on, a test page was printed with the Ethernet hardware and IP addresses once DHCP was configured.

All in all, it’s a great printer. The construction feels pretty decent, it’s relatively small, and for just a few hundred bucks with the included 2,000 page toner cartridges, there’s a lot to like here. I took off a star, however, for the consumables cost: The regular toner refills for all 4 cartridges is $225 from Lexmark’s site or $320 for the high-yield versions–which is more than I paid for the printer.

At the end of the day, I had color documents to print that are too sensitive to trust to Kinko’s and this gets the job done without a big impact on the wallet. If you’re printing large volumes of color on a frequent basis, you might want a printer with cheaper consumables and cheaper imager kits, at the expensive of a compact design.
Rating: 4 / 5

I’m having a different experience than other posters. The color I’m getting from the machine is mediocre. I’m printing PowerPoint presentations and any solid lines come out spotty. A solid blue line starts out blue, turns to light blue, then sometimes turns back to dark. If I print the same page over the line looks different. Often times I see little horizontal lines through solid colors and frequently I see large vertical white lines that go though the whole page. This is on a 1 week old printer with toner that the web interface says is half full.

Jams are another problem. Duplex printing jams every single time, on every other page. Forget about it. At least they’re real jams though, non-duplex printing often stalls telling me that there’s a jam when there is not one. I open all the doors and covers and there is nothign there. I hti the little check button and it fires right back up.

I’m using this in an office with 7 people and the thing is a real pain in the neck. People have started walking down to kinko’s rather than use this thing.

Rating: 2 / 5