Lexmark P6250: Ease of use and sleek looks rolled into one   The Lexmark P6250 is an all-in-one photo printer for home users. This model is a real looker, with its off-white case trimmed in metallic blue. A nice touch is the transparent blue paper protector opposite the paper guide to keep crumbs and other foreign objects (like paper clips) from falling into the paper feed. One unique thing about this printer is the storage compartment, found at the front left side of the unit, to accommodate extra ink cartridges.    Liens Commerciaux Another unusual feature is the removable AC adapter, which saves the user from cable clutter. Unlike other AC adapters which have a cable on one end which plugs into the rear of the printer and another cable on the other end which plugs into a power outlet, the P6250’s adapter plugs directly into the rear of the printer, while the cable on the other end leads to the power outlet. Stand-alone mode Aside from its good looks, the Lexmark is remarkably easy to use. Printing or copying is such a breeze, especially since the unit can stand on its own – you don’t need a PC to print or copy a document. Photos can be printed directly from a digital camera supporting PictBridge technology. Just attach a Pictbridge cable from your digicam to the printer and presto! You’re ready to print.    The memory card can also be accessed through the built-in media card reader that supports CF Type I & II, Microdrive, MMC, SD, Memory Stick (MS, Pro, Duo), Smart Media, and xD. This media hub is also protected with a transparent cover called the “Camera Card Door”.    If the all-in-one is connected to a PC, you can use this media slot to copy files from the memory card to the PC. Direct printing will not be as easy without the user-friendly menu and the 2.5-inch LCD screen.    Users can set paper size and quality, adjust the brightness of the image, and crop and preview the photo to be printed.    Printer maintenance tasks are also accessed here; these include monitoring the ink level, changing the ink cartridge, and aligning and cleaning the print head. In addition, new users can view an animation that shows how to replace the ink cartridge. For the stand-alone copy function, the paper size, number of copies, and output (color or monochrome) is also set in this menu. Printing The Lexmark P6250 prints at a maximum resolution of 4800 x 1200 on photo paper, and offers borderless printing. It uses two ink cartridges (color and photo ink cartridges) with Evercolor inks, a six-color hybrid ink system that combines dye and pigment ink technology (According to Lexmark, dye offers a broad color gamut while pigment ink is more permanent.). Like other Lexmark printers, it features the Accufeed Paper handling system that minimizes paper jam. Bundled with the P6250 is Image Studio Software for photo editing. Scanning Scanning is made easy through the All-in-One Center software. Scanning options are offered up front, and you simply have to choose from Color Photo, Black and White Photo, Color Document, and Black and White Document. Even if you dare play with the scan quality, you’ll still be guided along with hints saying that 100dpi scan mode is good for faxing, 200dpi is suitable for printing, and so on. What’s more, a Photo scan guide –    a blue LED – tells you where the top left corner of your document should be placed. You’ll never go wrong in using this device.    Another utility that makes things easier is the Lexmark Imaging Solution, which consolidates all of the P6250’s functions in one interface. It lets you print and share photos, browse files from the memory cards, print photos in album format, scan and edit files, and copy documents. Test Results We ran our standard print output test and this is what we found out. The printer produced good text in small fonts (i.e., Courier New 10 pts.) but showed slight banding in larger, heavier fonts . This came as quite a disappointment as previous Lexmark printers we’ve tested (such as the Z53) produced crisp, solid black text. Although the color printout of the P6250 is pretty decent, it still could use some improvement. Photos printed on plain paper in normal mode displayed some smudging and banding. Our test prints on photo paper in best mode, on the other hand, produced good detail although flesh tones were somewhat grainy. In normal print mode, the P6250 printed black text at 1.29 ppm, monochrome text and graphics at 1.09 ppm, color text and graphics at 1.14 ppm, and a 4R photo in .74ppm. The results of the scanning test are really good – the P6250 produced really sharp images and colors that were the same as those of the original images. It’s just unfortunate that we were not able to test the OCR function, as the appropriate software was not provided with our review unit. The Lexmark P6250 is loaded with useful features that home users will appreciate. Its greatest strength lies in its ease of use, and its sleek appearance adds to its appeal. If you want an all-in-one printer that’s easy to use and if you’re not too picky about having perfect photos, then the Lexmark P6250 will do. Lexmark P6250. PROS: Nice features; easy to use CONS:    Text and photo quality could use some improvement PRICE: P11,700 CONTACT: Lexmark Philippines, tel. 375-1750 ===BOX=== Lexmark P6250 Print Resolution 4800 x 1200 dpi on photo paper 1200 x 1200 dpi on all other media Scan Resolution up to 1200 x 2400 dpi Copy Speeds 15ppm for black text 9ppm for color Interface USB Paper Types Supported plain, envelope, banner, photo/glossy paper, transparency, labels and card stock Paper Sizes legal, letter, A4, A5, A6 card, B5, Executive, Index, Hagaki, Statement, custom, 8.5" x 17" Paper Handling input tray: 150 sheets plain, 75 transparencies 15 envelopes, 35 label sheets output tray:    50 sheets ADF: 50 sheets Weight 4.8 kg Dimensions ( WxDxH, with trays extended) 435mm x 527mm x 309mm