subject: Lexmark S605 Printer Review [print this page] The Lexmark S605 high-gloss control panel has merely just one button, that will switch the entire unit on. The rest is actually taken care of through the touchscreen display screen or alternatively one of some preset, lit touch buttons set close to it. The main section of the touchscreen display screen has quite an iPhone feel to it, about the same size and also with a set of icons you can easily flick between and touch to trigger.
The touchscreen happens to be capacitive, and thus reacts well to touches, however the position of the display screen can occasionally mean you strike the button above the one you happen to be after, before you become accustomed to it. The touch controls include the same kind of functionality as material types, which means you have screens specializing in scanning, printing and printing through memory cards, and the like.
Aside from the touchscreen display, features on the S605 are fairly much like those in machines further down the collection. It's not a Pro variety of machines, therefore there is no Automatic Document Feeder on the lid of the scanner, though it does come with a business-like textured top, rather than an irritating high-gloss finish. A sole memory card slot can take SD, Memory Stick and xD cards and there is a USB socket that handles both PictBridge and USB drives.
Lexmark's new Vizix print system is included on the Interact S605, along with its four, individual ink cartridges and semi-permanent head. This is all pretty easy to set up, although cartridge fitting would gain from a more certain click when each one is pressed into place.
Lexmark has made good use of the S605's touchscreen display to bring in what it dubs SmartSolutions. These are generally printing-based applets that can be downloaded and kept in the printer itself and supply extra features, above and beyond just what is presently installed on the equipment.
Lexmark promises 18ppm for black print plus 11ppm for colour in regular print mode, utilizing ISO testing standards. Our own tests, which include processing time, aren't quite as optimistic. The five-page black text print concluded in 52 seconds, which in turn is equal to 5.77ppm, but this rose to 6.90ppm on the 20-page test.
Duplex print, provided as the norm upon the Interact S605, is fair, since pages never pause as long when it comes to ink drying in between sides as on, especially, canon devices. Our 20-side document, just like the twenty-page simplex test, but printed on both sides of the paper, delivered a rate of 3.68 sides per minute.
Colour print delivered a speed of 3.33ppm, thus we're getting back to the degree of speed exaggeration which were common a year ago. That is not to say that the Interact S605 is not fast; actually, this device has a very good rate of speed when compared with other inkjet all-in-ones within its price range.
15 x 10cm photograph prints ranged from 43 seconds to 1:07, depending on source and, making use of lexmark's most recent perfectfinish paper, created pictures which were very nicely balanced, with excellent pure colours and also significant quantities of detail in various lighting levels. Output is a lot nearer to the top quality achieved by Canon and HP than was the situation with Lexmark's older printing technique.
The Interact uses exactly the same CIS scanner with the Interpret and Prevail Pro models, and generates very similar plain paper copies. Colours are actually impressively near to the originals and, everywhere else, text print quality is excellent, although still not quite as clear as from the finest supplied by a number of its rivals.
Same as with the rest of the range, the LexmarkS605 ink cartridges are also available in different formast, with 100XL cartridges in return program mode being the most economical.
This is a very good, nicely featured all-in-one printer, whose touchscreen display control offers plenty of promise. When the SmartSolutions collection expands, it might turn out to be a important extension to the features offered on this and many other Lexmark printers supporting it. Thus giving the S605 real benefits, even if the remaining of the device delivers much the same functions and functionality with other all-in-one's within the range.
