Lexmark P450

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Performance
The P450 took an agonizing 1 minute 38 seconds to turn on from the power outlet. Routine shutdown and startup of the printer (using the Power button) in between print tests were timed to be at 3 seconds and 4 seconds, respectively.

We liked how the timer on the LCD screen counted down to the completion of the print job-- though we must say it wasn't exactly very accurate. However, the loud clunky noise generated when the first piece of photo paper was fed for printing took a point off our total score.

On average, the difference in printing speed from a USB 2.0 flash drive and our high-speed Imation SD card differed by approximately 10 seconds or less, with the SD card taking a slightly longer time. We managed to print about 30 pieces of photo-quality images before a low ink warning popped up.

It was a mixed bag with regard to the built-in CD burner. According to a Lexmark representative, the built-in CD burner has a read and write speed of 24x and the number of pictures that can be burned is limited by the capacity of the CD used. However, our preliminary test results said otherwise.

Unfortunately, we don't have official test results on the CD burner yet. However, based on our initial tests, it took a much longer time to copy an image with a larger file size on our Imation CD than one with a smaller file size. We suspect this was due to a buffer memory issue in the printer that limits the speed of copying to a CD and are awaiting confirmation from Lexmark on this.

	Print quality	Image enhance	Average time taken
Print sample 1 (8.1-megapixels; 6.19MB)	Photo	Automatic	2 min 53 sec
	Normal	Automatic	1 min 33 sec
	Draft	Off	27 sec
Print sample 2 (8.1-megapixels; 5.69MB)	Photo	Automatic	2 min 54 sec
	Normal	Automatic	1 min 30 sec
	Draft	Off	27 sec
Print sample 3 (5-megapixels; 1.5MB)	Photo	Automatic	2 min 53 sec
	Normal	Automatic	1 min 30 sec

Image Quality
We were generally satisfied with the print quality from the P450. Colors appeared to be slightly more saturated in most of our test prints at photo-quality levels. However, unless you are scrutinizing the pictures at close proximity, you probably cannot differentiate between a picture printed in normal quality and another in photo quality.

Our draft prints exhibited severe banding issues which made it good for only preview purposes. Do note that while printing borderless pictures, the printer does crop the edges of your image. Don't be surprised that if your head is exactly along the top of the picture, it may get chopped in half.

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