Canon Puts Efficiency On Press
Performance
The Lexmark X502n basically kicked the competition's butts in CNET Labs' speed tests, including models that cost more. It cranked out black text at a rate of 19.71ppm (pages per minute), which was 5ppm faster than the $800 Xerox Phaser 6115MFP/N. The X502 produced black graphics pages at a rate of 13.95ppm, a little slower than the Xerox, but still much faster than either the HP Color LaserJet CM1017 or the Samsung CLX-3160FN. With color printing, it was still the fastest of the pack, though not by such a wide margin: it produced color text at a rate of 6.97ppm and color graphics at a rate of 6.82ppm.
At scanning, the Lexmark X502n was again the fastest of the four by a good lead. It scored 6.30ppm for grayscale and 6.23ppm for color. Finally, for copying using the automatic document feeder, it was a speed demon: 14.65ppm. This machine is a workhorse!
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Copy | |
Color graphics | |
Color text | |
Black graphics | |
Black text |
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Color scan | |
Grayscale scan |
Often, great speeds come at the expense of quality, but happily, this isn't the case with the Lexmark X502n. Its black text prints were basically perfect, which we would expect of a printer in this price range. Black graphics were also very good, marred only by faint horizontal lines. Color text was nearly perfect, though very close inspection revealed some inconsistencies in character formation. Color blending was very smooth, though. The color graphics print was a bit more problematic, but very good nevertheless. Color blocks were nicely saturated, gradients were smooth (though we saw banding in the grayscale gradient), and the photo elements were sharp and detailed. Our only big problems with this print were that the colors were a bit too ruddy and it had some problems handling barcode-style patterns.
The X502n's Achilles' heel is grayscale scanning. It did a pretty good job handling various patterns, but the scan was very overblown, with a faded look to it. None of the blacks were remotely black, and details were shot in the highlighted areas of photo elements. But the X502n did a better job with the color scan. Colors were smoothly rendered and pleasing and details were sharp. The only problem was again, its inability to handle the closely set lines of barcode graphics. Overall, we were very impressed by the X502n's quality. Only the HP Color LaserJet CM1017 did better, but that particular model sacrifices speed to quality and is better suited for workgroups that need very high quality graphics.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Color graphics | |
Color text | |
Black graphics | |
Black text |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Grayscale scan | |
Color scan |
Service and support
Lexmark backs the X502n with a one-year warranty. Free and toll-free phone support is available weekdays from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. PT for the length of the warranty. Lexmark's Web site includes a knowledge base, downloadable drivers, and a resource center to help get you started on new printing projects.
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