Lexmark Prospect Pro 205 A4 Colour All-in-One Inkjet Printer
90T6036 | Print/Scan/Copy/Fax
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Discontinued
- Print/Scan/Copy/Fax
- Automatic Double Sided Printing
- 4800 x 1200 dpi Print
- USB & Wireless
- Up to 30ppm Colour Print
- Up to 33ppm Mono Print
- 150 Sheet Input Tray
- 35 Sheet ADF
- Windows & Mac Compatible
- 33.6Kbps Fax
- 2.4" Colour LCD Screen
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CNet UK Review
Review Date: 12th October 2010
Author: Nicholas James
Rating:Verdict
The Lexmark Prospect Pro205 is feature-packed and keenly priced. It's more accomplished than machines in Lexmark's consumer-focused line-up, but our tests show it to be considerably slower. The choice you must make is between capabilities and speed, as the output is hard to fault in either case
An all-in-one inkjet printer with a scanner, copier, fax, card slots, built-in Wi-Fi, a duplexer, individual ink cartridges, a sheet feeder and great output should cost about £300. So why does Lexmark want just £170 for the Prospect Pro205? It has more features than you can shake a sizeable number of sticks at, but the elephant in the room is its cheaper, less ambitious sibling.
The 'Pro' in this printer's moniker points to its business focus. As well as standard scanning and printing capability, it has a built-in fax with dedicated dialling buttons on the front-mounted panel, and a sheet feeder on top of the scanner so you can let it get on with the job while you head off to make coffee. Unfortunately, in many cases, there's no need to hurry back.
Compare the Pro205 directly to the cheaper, less feature-rich Lexmark Impact S305, which lacks a fax and feeder, and it trails by a considerable margin. While the S305 completed our 10-page text test in just 58 seconds at draft quality, the Pro205 took 1 minute and 43 seconds. When the quality was raised to normal, the Pro205 took 2 minutes and 6 seconds to complete our test, while it took 5 minutes and 44 seconds at best quality. Comparatively, the S305 took 1 minute and 24 seconds at normal quality and 4 minutes and 39 seconds at best quality. The Pro205 has a duplex facility, confusingly invoked using a button labelled 'eco', that increased the draft print time to 2 minutes and 24 seconds.
Quality output
On a brighter note, the Pro205's results are excellent, so you may not mind waiting for them to arrive. We'd be perfectly happy using the draft results in a business context, and using the highest quality settings gives results as good as a laser printer's output.White text on a black background looks sharp and unfeathered right down to eight points at the normal- and best-quality settings on photocopy paper, and the blacks themselves are solid. Set to draft quality, we saw some misalignment in blocks of solid colour where the head passed in each direction, so business graphics should only be printed in this mode for testing and proofing purposes.
There was no evident bleeding when we printed black characters on a coloured background, but we did notice a lack of differentiation between mid-tone greys. On a 21-step scale running between white and pure black, the steps between 35 per cent and 50 per cent were difficult to differentiate, running into one another. Likewise, 95 per cent and 100 per cent black were both rendered solid black. Colours look realistic, though, with strong primary and secondary tones, even on cheap office paper.
Home appeal
Despite being so well-suited to business use, the Pro205 is an excellent photo printer, which immediately adds to its appeal for home users. Again, taking 3 minutes and 12 seconds per page, it isn't fast when compared to the S305, which takes less than half the time to produce identical results. But, if you don't mind waiting and use appropriate photo paper, you'll be rewarded with bright, realistic colours, satisfyingly strong blacks, and super-smooth transitions between neighbouring, similar shades. We saw no sign of stepping in broad swathes of graduated sky, fine detail was handled with aplomb, and areas in shadow retained definition, without the muted colours being lost in the dark.The Pro205's build quality is excellent, and there's no denying that it's a visually attractive device. It's compact and unobtrusive, and, although we conducted our tests on a PC, it looks great beside a MacBook or MacBook Pro, thanks to its complimentary silver and glossy black details. Our only complaint is that the mechanics of the scanner's sheet feeder don't allow you to raise the lid to scan fat originals, like magazines, in the way you can on the S305.
Conclusion
Judged on its output alone, the Lexmark Prospect Pro205 is a great printer, and its extensive feature set -- in particular the sheet feeder, built-in duplexer and fax -- more than justify the price. It's a shame, then, that direct comparison with the cheaper Impact S305 dents its appeal.
Double Sided Printing | Automatic Double Sided Printing |
Printer Resolution | 4800 x 1200 dpi Print |
Product Group Output | A4 |
Speed Colour | Up to 30ppm Colour Print |
Speed Monochrome | Up to 33ppm Mono Print |
Scanner Optical Resolution | 1200 x 4800 dpi Scan |
Scan Facility Present | Yes |
Scanner Bit Depth | 48-bit |
Scanner Type | CIS (Contact Image Sensor) |
Copy Speed Colour | 8ppm Color Copy |
Copy Speed Monochrome | 16ppm Mono Copy |
Copier Reduce/Enlarge | 25 to 400% Copy |
Colour Copier | Yes |
Copy Facility Present | Yes |
Fax Speed | 33.6Kbps Fax |
Fax Facility Present | Yes |
Interface Type(s) | USB & Wireless |
LCD Screen | 2.4" Colour LCD Screen |
Wireless System | Wireless 802.11 b/g Wireless |
Direct Printing Port | 1 x PictBridge |
USB Port | Yes |
USB Ports | 1 x USB 2.0 |
Wireless Ready | Yes |
Operating Systems Supported | Windows & Mac Compatible |
Paper Handling Input 1 | 150 Sheet Input Tray |
Paper Handling Input 2 | 35 Sheet ADF |
Automatic Document Feeder | Yes |
Maximum Paper Size | A4 |
Media Supported | Card Stock Envelopes Labels Plain Paper Transparencies Banner (A4 or Letter) Hagaki Card Iron-On Transfers Photo Paper Heavy Weight Matte Paper |
MultiMedia Card | Supported: MMC, RS-MMC (with adaptor), MMC Mobile (with adaptor) |
Paper Handling Manual Feed | 100 sheets Automatic Document feeder |
Paper Size | 10 Envelope 7 3/4 Envelope 9 Envelope A4 A5 B5 Envelope C5 Envelope DL Envelope 6 3/4 Envelope A2 Baronial A6 Card B5 C6 Envelope Custom (Up to 216 x 432 mm) Hagaki Card Index Card Executive Legal Letter 4 x 6 inch L 2L Chokei 3 Chokei 4 Chokei 40 Kakugat |
Paper Weight | 75g/Sq m |
Scanner Document Size | 21.6 x 35.6cm |
Secure Digital | Mini Secure Digital (Mini SD) Card (with adapter) Micro Secure Digital (Micro SD) Card (with adapter) Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) Card (with adapter) |
Sony Memory Stick | Sony Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO Secure Digital (SD) Card Sony Memory Stick Duo (with adapter) Sony Memory Stick PRO Duo (with adapter) |
xD-Picture Card | Supported: xD Picture Card, xD Picture card Type M, xD Picture card Type H |
Barcode | 734646148672 |
Monthly Duty Cycle | 5k Pages Per Month |
Mono or Colour Printer | Colour |
Multifunction Summary | Print/Scan/Copy/Fax |
Technology | All-in-One Inkjet Printer |
Case Colour | Black |
Dimensions | 47.7cm (W) x 35.8cm (D) x 20.4cm (H) - Weight 7.98kg |
Noise Level | 50dbA |
Product Summary | Lexmark Prospect Pro 205 A2 Colour Inkjet Printer |
Product Type | Inkjet Printer |
Carton Dimensions | 441 x 579 x 264 mm - 10.93 kg |
Number of Print Cartridges | 4 (black, cyan, magenta, yellow) |
In The Box | Black Ink Cartridge (510 pages), CMY Ink Cartridges (600 pages), Printhead, Quick Setup Guide, Quick Reference Guide, Network Guide, Fax Guide, Installation Software CD, Power Supply, Service Information & Statement of Limited Warranty |
Warranty | 1 Year Replacement |
Certifications | Energy Star, CSA, c-UL-us, ICES Class B, Executive Order 132221, CE Class B, CB IEC 60950 IEC 60825-1, GS (T V), SEMKO, C-tick mark Class B, V85, CCC Class B, BSMI Class B, METI(PSE), VCCI Class B, FCC Class B, UL 60950 3rd Edition, CCIB |
**Page yields are declared by the manufacturer in accordance with ISO/IEC standards or occasionally estimated based on 5% per page coverage. Yields will vary greatly depending on image, area coverage, print mode and environmental conditions.
Lexmark Prospect Pro 205 Consumables
**Page yields are declared by the manufacturer in accordance with ISO/IEC standards or occasionally estimated based on 5% per page coverage. Yields will vary greatly depending on image, area coverage, print mode and environmental conditions.
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3/5
- Value...3
- Features...4
- Quality...4
- Performance...1
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