The Lexmark Z53 Colour Jetprinter is one of the best photo-quality inkjet printers we've ever tested. Priced at only AU$399, it not only saves buckets of money, it shoots out wonderfully crisp and richly coloured photo prints as quickly as those more expensive printers. Good for most home or small-biz tasks, the Z53 has our vote, hands down, as the best printer buy of the year.

A few months ago, we reported on the HP 990Cse and called it one of the best quality photo inkjet printers on the market. We raved about the prints it produced, marveled at the fast black text print times, and thought it was a bargain. Then comes along the Lexmark Z53 Colour Jetprinter, an unassuming, good-looking, grey printer from the land of bluegrass at less than half the cost of the 990Cse. The Z53 boasts a 2,400x1,200dpi print resolution and photographic sharpness to its prints, speedy text print times and more--all for a shockingly low price of AU$399. Could it be possible? Could such elevated claims be true from something with the price range of the disposable printer? We wanted to find out.

Pros and Cons Pros Astonishing photo quality Amazing low price Relatively fast print speeds Easy to setup and use Cons Single tank color ink refills Can't handle very heavy stock Doesn't print in reverse coalation order

As with most Lexmark products, the Z53 is one of the simplest inkjet printers on the market to setup and install. Both paper trays are built into the unit, so two flicks of the wrist and two ink tank insertions later, we were ready for driver installation. After another five minutes we were up and printing, amazed at the ease and speed of the software setup package.

Although the practice of cramming all three colour inks into one cartridge is somewhat frowned upon by high-volume users (Canon's S600 uses individual ink tanks for each colour), we understand why Lexmark would use such a cost-cutting measure in a printer with such a low price as the Z53. Most users of the Z53 will be in the home or small businesses where simplicity is key, so replacing one tank when a colour runs out makes sense. Another concern was ink cost over the long run, since the AU$88.42 price can certainly add up quickly when printing out stacks of digital stills. But after printing half a dozen or so maximum resolution images of various sizes, we gave the ink tanks a good shake and listened to what sounded like plenty of ink floating around inside. Your mileage may vary, but we'll take our chances with ink to see significant savings off the top.

Once all the details had been seen to, we set about putting the Z53 through its paces, watching to see if it would flinch against such lofty claims. We weren't disappointed. Text print times were right up there with HP's 990Cse at 8.1ppm, with letter pages looking like laser prints even in ink-saving draft mode. A four-page PageMaker report set to normal mode popped out in a respectable amount of time as well, but what surprised us the most was pure photo quality printing on glossy paper. Vivid, bright colours and amazing clarity were to be had on every print--and this was in the normal default 600dpi mode. Once the highest quality resolution mode was activated, it was all we could do to hold back tears, even if printing an 8x10 sample image took just under five minutes. The Z53 might not be the fastest photo printer around, but we're willing to wait a bit for this kind of off-the-shelf cost savings.

When all was said and done, Lexmark's Z53 had met or beaten the previous champ, the HP 990Cse on every single time test we ran, and beat it hands down on quality. The only photo-quality inkjet printer we've seen do better is the Epson Stylus Photo 1280, which can't do black text with nearly the speed and quality of the Z53. For less than AU$400, you can produce photo quality prints without breaking the bank.

Lexmark Z53
Company:Lexmark
Ph: 1300 362 192
Price: AU$399

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