The Lexmark C530dn is a fast, high-quality color laser printer that we recommend for any small office or home with high-volume printing needs. For $500, you get a network-ready printer with a built-in duplexer for automatic double-sided printing. If you need increased paper handling options or more toner cartridge choices, check out the C532n ($500, no duplexer) or the slightly more expensive C532dn ($700). Lexmark also has taken laudable steps to improve the eco-friendliness of its laser printers--by reducing power consumption and material waste--which benefits both your pocketbook and the environment, a move we applaud. We're curious to see whether other vendors follow suit. The Lexmark C530dn's print speeds and quality are on par with the more expensive Oki C5500n, which lacks a duplexer, making the C530dn a better buy.
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The Lexmark C530dn is a behemoth of a printer, as color lasers tend to be (individual toner cartridges take up a lot of space). The C530dn's toner cartridges are stacked vertically, resulting in a tall unit: 19 inches tall by 17 inches wide by 20 inches deep. It weighs a back-breaking 57 pounds, but two hand wells on either side help you get a grip if you need to move the printer around.
The control panel is very basic. A four-line text LCD is the centerpiece, though it's not backlit, so it can be difficult to read in bad lighting conditions. Only eight buttons adorn the panel: Menu, four direction keys, a Check key, a Back key, and a Stop key.
The C530dn comes with a 250-sheet input tray that can expand to hold legal-size paper, as well as a 100-sheet multipurpose feeder that folds out from the front panel of the paper tray. You don't get any paper expansion options on this model, but it should be sufficient for home users. If you're in a small office environment and need expanded paper handling, the Lexmark C532n model offers the same 250-sheet tray plus an optional 550-sheet drawer, though you lose the multipurpose tray in favor of a single-sheet manual feed slot (for an 800-page max input). The next step up is the C532dn, which offers the 250-sheet tray, the 100-sheet multipurpose feeder, and the optional 550-sheet tray, for a total input capacity of 900 pages. The C530 series machines lack straight pass-through printing, a potential problem if you're using paper that has a tendency to jam when curled. The Oki C5500n does include this feature.
All three models in Lexmark's C530 come standard with a 375MHz processor and 128MB of RAM (The memory can be expanded up to 640MB). The C530 series printers also come equipped with a USB connector and an Ethernet jack for network printing. You can opt for a Wi-Fi adapter, too, for wireless printing. Using the printer's Menu option, you can change some settings including brightness, contrast, and saturation; make collated prints; or make a multipage print to fit multiple pages (up to 16) onto one sheet of paper.
Lexmark's C530 series is part of what Lexmark is calling its "green machines," that is, printers that reduce their impact on the environment. The most obvious such feature is the built-in duplexer that comes standard on all but the C532n model. Duplexing, or automatic double-sided printing, reduces the amount of paper consumed, which is good for both the environment and your wallet. Lexmark also is touting its new laser scanning units (an internal component in laser printers), which are smaller and have fewer moving parts than traditional units, allowing for less power consumption. Finally, Lexmark has separated the toner cartridges into two units: one piece is simply the toner and the other is the photoconductor. Most vendors use a single-unit toner plus photoconductor cartridge. Lexmark's C530 series photoconductors are generally good for about 20,000 pages and the toner cartridges that ship with the C530dn will last for about 1,500 pages, so clearly, the photoconductor will outlast the toner. By separating the two units, you don't need to waste a still-good photoconductor unit. All this should save you some cash and ease your mind somewhat about your contributions to landfills.
Lexmark's toner cartridge options are a bit convoluted, but you do get a lot of choices. The C530dn ships with starter 1,500-page black and color cartridges, while the C532n and C532dn models ship with 4,000-page black and 3,000-page color cartridges. Replacing the cartridges is where your choices may get confusing. Lexmark has a return cartridge program: It offers a price discount to consumers who agree to use the cartridge only once and return the spent cartridges to Lexmark for recycling or manufacturing. For the C530dn, the regular 4,000-page black cartridge costs $131 and the regular 3,000-page color cartridges cost $144 each. Under the return cartridge program, the same units cost $105 and $119, respectively. The situation gets even more convoluted when dealing with the C532n and C532dn models. Lexmark offers the above stated prices for the black and color cartridges (both with and without the return cartridge program) and then adds the option of high-yield color cartridges (5,000 pages, $180 each) and high-yield return program cartridges (5,000 pages, $155). Lexmark does not offer a high-yield black cartridge for these models. Cost-per-page varies greatly due to all the toner options, but overall, the prices are reasonable and in line with the competition. Naturally, the high-yield cartridges result in a lower cost-per-page, right around two cents.
Among the color laser printers we've reviewed in the $400 to $600 price range, the Lexmark C530dn made an impressive showing. It was fast across the board and made high-quality prints. It printed black text at a speedy 17.02 pages per minute, behind the more expensive Oki C5500n (17.92ppm) and Lexmark's own C500n (19.86ppm). It was quick with black graphics prints, too: 16.36ppm, again, behind only the Oki and the Lexmark C500n. It really impressed us with its fast color prints, though. Even printers that excel at mono prints usually slow way down with color, but not so with the Lexmark C530dn. It cranked out color text at 15.94ppm and color graphics at 13.56ppm.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 | Color graphics | | Color text | | Black graphics | | Black text |
Sometimes, you get fast prints at the expense of quality, but the C530dn delivered in both areas. The black text was clean, sharp, and dark--everything we expect from a laser printer. The same goes for the color text. Even better, the color text suffered only minimally from the cross-hatching that often plagues color text. The black graphics print showed excellent grayscale handling, sharp details, and again, minimal cross-hatching. The color graphics print also showed sharp detail and smooth color gradients, though we saw some banding in what should be a smooth grayscale. The colors were also overly red, resulting in a ruddy skin tone among other things, but that was the only issue we found with the print. Overall, we liked the Lexmark C530dn's print quality better than both the HP 2605dn and the
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| Color graphics | | Color text | | Black graphics | | Black text |
Lexmark backs the C530dn with a one-year warranty. Free and toll-free phone support is available weekdays from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. and on Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m. Eastern time 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.