Print quality, however, is a different story. At larger point sizes (about 6 points and larger), the Lexmark printed black text just fine: the letters were cleanly formed, and the color looked uniform. Smaller text, when looked at under a loupe, showed some problems. At very small point sizes, the letters looked spindly and unevenly spaced. Some letters looked thicker than others, indicating an unevenness in laying down toner.
The Lexmark also edged out the Dell in printing grayscale graphics: it handled both shadows and highlights better, preserving details that the Dell lost. Likewise, the Lexmark X342n handled scans better than the Dell did. In the grayscale scan test, the X342n again showed better handling of highlights and shadows than the Dell, which tended to lose detail on either end of the grayscale. The color scans also showed good detail, though the colors looked a bit washed-out.
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