Viewing phone-type apps on a phone-sized screen attached to a damn great office gadget doesn't strike me as being particularly 21st century, and in particular the Google Calendar App that threatens to print out your meetings schedule seems to be a step back to the age of the Filofax. But I suppose it all adds to the fun.
There's an app for this printer, quite a few actually, including this RSS feeds reader
The wide-angle camera introduces some slight linear distortion along the right hand edge, but for ordinary document work this is a great way to scan. I found a bug or two in the scanning software, but nothing I couldn't easily work around. The build quality is first rate – no squeaky plastic casing – and the print speed, ease of use and 3-year warranty certainly go some way towards justifying the premium price.
A space-saving form-factor, but at a wallet-wacking price
Verdict
Given its speed and versatility, I'm tempted to score this higher, but the professional office price for a (very nice) home office machine is the downer. If you get a move on, however, the Genesis S815 is included among the printers eligible for Lexmark's £200 cash-back offer that's ongoing until 31st March 2011 – details here. With this deal, the Genesis ends up at half the list price and so I'm inclined to base my rating on this promotional figure. Even so, it still ends up costing more than double the price of my 'trad tech' Epson though. ®
More Printer Reviews… |
|||
 Bolle BP-10
iPhone photo printer |
 Budget
Mono Lasers |
 All-in-One
Inkjets |
 Desktop
Colour Lasers |
Lexmark Genesis multifunction printer
COMMENTS
This is a first!
The first time a Lexmark printer has cost more than a set of new ink cartridges! ;-)
I had no idea Lexmark were capable of such innovation and I aplaud them for that. Maybe other manufacterers will try to emulate this design but do so with a smaller price tag. If Epson or Canon produced something that looks like this for half the price I'd buy one.
Yes, it's expensive....
..and no, I'm not going to buy one....
But I'm impressed by the scanning facility. It's at least an attempt at trying something new. Let's be fair, the "bar-along-the-glass-plate" solution has been around for years, and is inherently slow. Yes, it works well, but so did the telephone dial for a long time - but who'd want to use that now?
Scan samples
Any chance of some sample scans from this machine so we can see for ourselves what the quality is like?
Do You Know What?
I don't care if the machine performs fellatio on me while it prints, it's a Lexmark and I have no doubt whatsoever that the ink will be more expensive than the finest French Champagne and they will have spared no expense whatsoever to ensure that you cannot buy generic ink either through placement of unnecessary technical hurdles or just good old fashioned method of sending out your attack lawyers to any firm who attempts to make reasonably priced ink.
It's about time companies like Lexmark were force to sell their printers at a price that reflects the cost to produce it and stop using the old sell the razor cheap and stiff them for the blades sales tactic through extortionate ink pricing.
I realise that all printer manufacturers play these games but Lexmark have made an art form of it.
Those crooks won't be seeing one red cent from me, ever.
Vertical scan bed
But... But... things will just fall off.
Linux? Yes that's nice, and vital for me. Canon provide Linux drivers, and *flat* beds to put stuff on.
