Lexmark Puts New Stamp On Workgroup Printer Lines

The Lexington, Ky.-based printer vendor's T430 series includes a new always-on fuser that cuts the time-to-print to less than 8 seconds from standby mode and less than 10 seconds from power-saver mode, compared with the previous 10 seconds and 40 seconds, respectively, said Arnie Vasiloff, Lexmark's product marketing manager.

The T430 units print at 32 ppm, compared with the 25-ppm speed of the T420. They also offer a two-line, 16-character backlit LCD panel that Vasiloff said is more intuitive than the previous combination of buttons and LEDs.

Also new is print-to-hold, wherein a user can send a file to print with a four-digit PIN. That file is held until the user keys in the PIN at the printer so confidential documents can't be read before they are picked up, Vasiloff said.

Lexmark unveiled two models. The T430d, which allows duplex printing, carries a price of $649. The networked version, the T430dn, is priced at $849.

Tony Chiodini, vice president of sales at Royce Digital Systems, an Irvine, Calif.-based solution provider, said that Lexmark picked a good price point for its new 32-ppm printer.

The ability to hold the printing of confidential documents until a PIN is keyed in will help a wide range of clients, Chiodini said. "Lawyers, government officials, health-care customers with HIPAA regulations, all could be very interested" in the product, he said.

Separately, Lexmark cut prices on its T630 line, with prices now running from $899 to $2,059, down from a range of $1,399 to $2,349.

With the T430's price points, Lexmark needed to rethink pricing for its T630 family, which was running about $1,330 for a 35-ppm model, Chiodini said.

The T630 has a duty cycle of 175,000 pages per month vs. 50,000 pages per month for the T420. "But consumers and general businesses don't look so much at the duty cycle," he said. "They need 5,000 to 15,000 pages per month."

Lexmark also showed two new multifunction solutions for department-level and workgroup use. The X830e prints at up to 35 ppm and includes scan-to-e-mail and fax capabilities using one-touch icons on a color display. The X832e is similar, but prints at 45 ppm.

The X830e lists for $11,999, and the X832e lists for $13,999.