The X4550's text print quality left a lot to be desired on our tests. Black text tended toward dark gray rather than true black. Additionally, we saw a lot of jagged edges and wicking, even though we printed on Lexmark's premium paper. The color graphics print suffered from some of the same problems. Straight edges showed jaggedness instead of clean, sharp lines. The color had a faded look and the photo elements were a bit grainy. And color blocks showed very faint horizontal striations. The 4x6 photo print was also just OK. Details need to be sharpened, and we saw evidence of graininess and horizontal striations, though they weren't as evident as what we saw in the graphics prints. The photo color could also stand to be a bit brighter and warmer.
The grayscale scan showed obvious compression in both ends: we lost details in both the shadow and highlight areas of the image, though otherwise, details were sharp. The X4550 did its best work with the color scan: colors were true and details sharp. Overall, the X4550 will suffice for casual home users, but more demanding users should look at the Canon Pixma MP460--the same amount of money will get you better print quality across the board, though text prints will be bit slower, and it's not network-ready.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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