With a recommended retail price of AU$79, the Lexmark Z735 should appeal to basic home users who don't print very often. If you're the type who closely scrutinises colour prints for quality at close range, we'd advise you to look elsewhere.
Design
When it comes to Lexmark's Z735 inkjet printer, it's a no-brainer. Either the designers were skiving or they just wanted to come up with something really simple. There isn't much we can say about this boxy unit measuring 376 x 448 x 261mm with its trays extended.
The printer feels hollow even though it weighs 230g. We are not expecting you to be lugging this item around since you will need to connect to a power outlet and printer cable. The white chassis may appeal to some, but if you are not going to take care of it, the Z735 will turn grey in time to come.
There are only two buttons on the top of the printer: power and paper release. You cannot go wrong even if you don't recognise the rectangular controls. If one doesn't turn it on, try the other. Setting up the Z735 is hassle-free. The power adapter sits on the bottom right hand corner and the printer cable to the top left.
Features
The Lexmark Z735 uses only one cartridge for all your printing needs. That's nice for a user who just wants to keep everything straightforward. You don't need to run to the nearest store just to replace any particular colour cartridge that runs out.
While most users will already have some form of photo-editing software in their desktop or notebook, the Imaging Studio software that comes with the printer purchase is a hit-or-miss affair.
However, what's most appealing about the Z735 is the attractive price at AU$79. If you are looking for a budget home inkjet printer, there is really nowhere else to look. Other sub-AU$100 printers which run in the competition are Canon's PIXMA iP1000, Lexmark's Z615 Color Jetprinter and the HP Deskjet 3940.
Performance
The Z735 is easy to set up and configure. Upon feeding it with a new cartridge, the printer will prompt you to do a printhead alignment. Installing the software requires you to complete a few click-throughs, but otherwise the process isn't complicated.
Like the PIXMA iP1000, the Z735 sure does make its presence felt when you power it up. There is no way you can dampen the noise generated so you will have to bear with it.
The Z735 performed average for its class. It churned out a 10-page print test in 1 min 50 seconds. For A4-sized borderless photos, the printer took 3 mins 16 seconds and twice as long if you set it to high-quality mode. Smaller borderless 4 x 6-inch pictures took 1 min 28 seconds and, similar to A4 prints, time taken is doubled when you print in high quality.
You cannot complain too much about print quality if you intend to go for price value. So long as you don't bring it close to your nose, your photos will look just fine. However, we don't recommend printing in normal quality as banding and dithering are noticeably visible. For our tests, we used Lexmark's premium photo paper. But when we switched to other brands, the photos tended to have a slight orange cast.
Lexmark Z735
Company: Lexmark
Price: AU$79
Phone: 1300 362 192
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I couldn't believe my eyes when I read this review by Damian Koh, Under "Features" he states: "The Lexmark Z735 uses only one cartridge for all your printing needs. That's nice for a user who just wants to keep everything straightforward. You don't need to run to the nearest store just to replace any particular colour cartridge that runs out." What sort of nonsense is this? No Damian, when any particular colour runs out you do have to run to the store to replace the whole damn $30 cartridge. Any ink left over in the old cartridge is wasted. As a reviewer how can you justify turning a serious problem like this into a feature? Your review would be more useful if you included information about the comparative cost of printing per page and how many pages you printed with the cartridge that came with the printer that you are reviewing. Most first time buyers of printers get caught with ink costs after they have bought a cheap model printer. Later they discover that the cost of inks to run it is very high, you can help them by pointing this out in your reviews. You don’t help them by turning a problem into a “feature”. A useful reviewer has to earn credibility and if a reviewer doesn’t have credibility then there’s no point in being a reviewer.