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  • 8/10/2019 C920 Exceptional

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    Color at WorkTM

    BERTL 5-Star Award Winne

    Key Buyer Benefits

    Quick and easy installation of bothhardware and software components.

    Walk-up PDF printing capability directlyfrom device front console interface.

    Simple right-click direct PDF utilitysaving users from having to open

    separate utilities or browsers.

    Automated URL/file printing scheduleutility.

    Common interface design betweenPCL and PostScript drivers makesnavigating between the two PDLsseamless.

    User-friendly icon-driven walk throuwhen user intervention/maintenancerequired.

    Good paper input and output handlioptions.

    100% Independent Analysis

    Lexmark C92032 ppm Color, 36 ppm Monochrome Printer

    www.BERTL.comtel. 732-761-2311

    fax. [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitreproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy forma

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies omissions contained in this document.

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 1

    Color at Worktm

    The Lexmark C920 heads up Lexmarksextensive color printer range, with a headlinespeed of 32ppm and ledger printingcapability. The C920 is the successor to the28 ppm Lexmark C912. While the C920shares the same single-pass, 4-photoconductor chassis (with internalduplexer), the Lexmark C920 adds a host ofnew improvements:

    Faster color speed (32ppm vs. 28 ppm).

    Faster mono speed ( 36ppm vs. 28ppm).

    Faster processor (1 GHz vs 600 MHz).

    New user interface with 10-digit keypadand graphic LCD allowing illustrationwalk through of user maintenancetasks.

    IEnhanced ColorCare technologyfeature set with new print permissioningon a user/host-basis (with MarkVision10.2) and improved coverage estimator.

    ImageQuick comes as standardproviding pull printing from file and web/URL destinations.

    Direct USB port Interface at device forwalk up PDF printing from flash USBdrives.

    Even more extensive security optionsspanning production and storage,transmission, access and management.

    Product Dynamics

    Lexmark C920 under scru tiny b y a BERTL analyst

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 2

    Color at Worktm

    Target Market:

    The Lexmark C920 is targeted primarily as acorporate color device focussed on deliveringhigh speed good corporate color qualityedger/A3 output.

    n our opinion the image quality on the C920s to a high level and will satisfy the needs ofany general corporate office user, but maynot be quite high enough to be the machine ofchoice in the graphic art studio (which is notts intended market).

    The added functionality that Lexmark hasbuilt into the C920, namely the USB DirectPrint and ImageQuick feature add someunique selling features that make a verystrong case for placing the Lexmark C920nto walk-in service print locations such asprint for pay high street businesses, businesscenters in hotels, airports, conferencecenters, Internet cafs etc.

    The speed, size, price and noise level of thedevice make it a good workgroup capablecolor printing solution satisfying the needs of

    multiple users. With high paper input andoutput capabilities and a powerful controllerthe device should be able to handle abusy workflow throughout the day.

    While in reality no-one is going to beplacing 200,000 pages per monththrough a device of this type the designof the unit in our opinion looks up the jobof handling significant workloads whenrequired. This is aided by the easy enduser replaceable consumable items thatreduce the need for service engineer

    visits.

    Design:

    The Lexmark C920 is engineered like agiant clam-shell. To access the printingmechanics of the device you press a

    button at the top of the console and lift the lidof the unit up (see image below).

    From here you can now gain access to thefour in-line 600dpi, 4-bit LED enginecomponents. The four photoconductor drumunits slide into housing mounted on theunderside of the lid of the unit. The separatetoner cartridges slot in alongside the imagingdrums.

    The lid is then lowered positioning theimaging units over the transfer belt which

    carries the paper under the drum units wherethe four toner layers are built up in a singlepass. The sheet is then fed through the fuserunit and either output or fed through theduplex unit, flipped over and re-fed throughthe same paper path to create the double-sided output.

    Product Dynamics

    Fuser Unit Transfer Belt Imaging Drum Toner Cartridge

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 3

    Color at Worktm

    Hardware Installation:

    Continuing Lexmarks tradition in theworkgroup space, the C920 is easy to installand set-up. We would recommend that aminimum of four people aid with the lifting andpositioning of the device. From thepoint where the device had beenmanually lifted to the desktop, theentire hardware installation to thepoint where a test page could beoutput from the device controlpanel was 25 minutes.

    Device Driver Installation:

    The installation of the device ontoa PC was equally simple andquick. The Lexmark installation CDwizard asks users or theadministrator to follow simplenstructions which guide themthrough the process.

    Administrators will like the ability tonstall the driver onto one or multiple remote

    PC desktop locations within a singlenstallation process. To achieve this theadministrator chooses the remote installationand then either enters the specificnetwork location, browses acrossthe network to the location orspecifies a pre-defined list of PCs.For example, an administratorcould set up a list of all the PCsunder the second floor salesdepartment.

    He/she wants all users on the

    second floor sales department tohave access to the LexmarkC920, a process that, withLexmarks installation wizard, canbe achieved in a matter ofseconds. Administrators can atthe same time designate which ofthe drivers they want to install on

    each PC, including the option to install blackonly drivers which allows the administrator tokeep better control over color usage. Theinstallation of the driver software added only afew minutes to our total set-up time.

    Product Dynamics

    Abo ve: Administrators can specify b lack only or

    full color driver installationsBelow: Administ rators can specify remote PC

    locations

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 4

    Color at Worktm

    Maintenance:

    All the consumable components on theLexmark C920 can be user-replaced withoutthe need for sophisticated tools or a highevel of technical ability.

    To aid users with user intervention taskssuch as paper jams and other events thenew Lexmark interface now includes a largerLCD panel that supports icons.

    The allows the device to prompt users onhow to resolve issues with a walk-throughseries of screens actually showing the usermages of the steps that need to be taken.

    This is a great step up in terms of user-friendliness compared to the text drivenprompts of the past.

    n the images to the right the device istalking us through how to rectify a loosecomponent in the fuser unit.

    Product Dynamics

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 5

    Color at Worktm

    Paper Handling

    nput:

    A maximum of four 550-sheet universal trayscan be stacked below the main printer unit.These trays can accept paper sizes up toedger/A3.

    Positioned on the printers right side, a 100-sheet multipurpose bypass tray handlespaper sizes up to 12 wide and length up to48 . This means that in addition to being ableo handle oversized A3/ledger printing onto

    12 x 18 paper stock, Lexmark C920 userscan also create banner print outs.

    The ability to print on oversized ledger/A3paper allows users to reproduce edge to edgeedger/A3 documents onto the oversizedsheets and guillotine down the whiteunprinted sides to create a high qualityprofessional output.

    The ability to print banner pages is growing inpopularity as companies look to reduceprinting overheads and reduce waiting timesby taking more print runs in-house rather than

    send jobs to an external agency or printshop.All trays can feed paper weights from 60 to176 gsm (16lb bond to 47 lb bond).

    Each universal drawer has sliding paperguides which allows for easy realignmentwhenever paper sizes change. This is anadvantage versus some competing units withprecut holes that must be aligned with thepaper guides.The Lexmarks sliding guide approach makes

    it easier for thosewith physicalhandicaps to usethe deviceeffectively.

    In addition to theuniversal trays theLexmark C920can also beexpanded via a3,000 sheet largecapacity feederwhich sits to theright side of thedevice.

    The feeder can accommodate letter/A4 sizedpaper only and requires that either the fouruniversal trays are installed or the dualuniversal tray and cabinet configuration is inplace, thus ensuring that the paper exit feedguide to the high capacity unit is aligned tothe print engine. Equipped with this unit theLexmark C920 now boasts an impressivemaximum paper capacity of 5,300 sheets,

    placing it well above the capacity of its mainrivals which max out at 3,000 sheets.

    Finishing:

    The Lexmark C920 can be equipped with anoptional finisher unit. In addition to offeringcorner stapling and hole punch finishingcapabilities the finisherunit also increases theoverall output stackingcapacity of the device upto 1,100 sheets. We

    would have liked to haveseen a saddle-stitchfinisher option, a featurethat is available on somerival units and a popularfinishing option in certainenvironments.

    The LexmarkC920s 550-sheetuniversal traysaccommodatespaper weights upto 176 g/m2 (47 lb.bond) and hassliding guides onboth axes.

    3,000 sheet large capacityunit takes capacity up to a

    maximum 5,300 sheets

    Finishing option forthe Lexmark C920

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 6

    Color at Worktm

    Scan

    Remote management of the Lexmark C920or the average office user can be

    accomplished through the devices embeddedWeb Server. By entering the IP address of theprinter into their browser search window userscan view features such as toner and paperevels, see what jobs are scheduled at thedevice, and other information.

    Administrators can also, with the correctauthority, configure network and securitysettings, check print statistics, and establishemail alert conditions. A nice extra in theirWeb implementation is an emulated consoledisplay, which is automatically refreshed,showing the desktop user what is beingdisplayed on the devices touchscreen. This isa useful aid for technical support when tryingo talk users through problems at the device.

    A feature that we would like to have seen ints Web implementation is the ability to see

    the job queue. While we were able to see thata job was in progress, we were unable to seehow long that job was going to take, nor knowwhat jobs lay behind it in the queue. Thismeans that a user out of line of sight musttake a risk on the device not being busy whenthey submit a job.

    Device Management

    Toner levels and emulated console are displayedon the Lexmark C920s home page.

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 7

    Color at Worktm

    Scan

    MarkVision:

    Lexmark provides powerfulWindows-based managementutility called MarkVisionProfessional, free via the web.

    BERTL has always beenmpressed with the level ofunctionality, integration and

    desk-based managementcapabilities available to the enduser (and the IT Manager)hrough MarkVision.

    Acting like a sophisticatedNMSTivoli and OpenViewMarkVision lets administratorsorganize printer and MFPdevices into a logical categoriesbased on MarkVisions internalSNMP-based fields. Using aolder metaphor, administrators

    can then quickly navigate to anarea of interest. For eacholder, they can choose filter

    criteria from a set of static fieldslocation, paper size, etc.), or

    dynamic ones tied to status oresource levels. Since sub-olders inherit the parent foldersilter settings, administrators can

    create a hierarchy of devicegroupingse.g., printers, colorprinters, color printers within thesales department, etc.

    Overall, the softwares features,settings, and and action menus

    provide administrators withmany ways to arrange anddisplay device data. They canalso create custom views todisplay built-in graphics andables. And they can create

    new tables by selecting from

    MarkVisions set of device fields.

    Device Management

    With MarkVision , admini strators can create customer views to displayboth tabular and graphic data.

    Folders organize printer devicesboth Lexmarks and othervendorsby both static and dynamic fields. Sub-folders inherit filter

    criteria from all parent folders.

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 8

    Color at Worktm

    Scan

    Print Permission Technology:

    n MarkVision 10.2 and later, new internalables allow administrators to control color

    permissions. Lexmarks Print PermissioningTechnology bases color authorization onboth host computer names and userdentifiers.

    With a specific computer enabled for color,any userregardless of individualpermissionscan print color documents.

    The alternative offered to the administrator ishe ability to restrict color job delivery on a

    user ID basis.

    As the screenshot below illustrates John andRingo are prohibited from printing in color.

    This list of user IDs is created usingMarkVision but downloaded and stored oneach individual printer. The list can beupdated whenever required and a broadcastst set up so the updating on the list can be

    achieved in a single operation rather than on

    a device by device basis.

    We would have preferred to have acentralized list with devices checking back tothe central user list for authorization. Thiswould make the administration even easierand also tie in better to any future plans tobuild in cost control and auditing procedures.

    There is also no ability to specify a quantity ofpages for a user, the user is either colorenabled or not, which puts it at a slightdisadvantage versus some rival costcontainment packages.

    We would have also liked the ability set athreshold level that a user could print in color,with a warning email sent informing the userwhen they were approaching their limit.

    Lexmark does offer a cost containmentsolution through Pharos, which provides arange of hardware and software costcontainment and print auditing capabilities.

    Device Management

    MarkVision host table allocating userswith color printing rights

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 9

    Color at Worktm

    ScanDevice Management

    MarkVision Messenger:

    MarkVision is designed as server-basedsoftware and supports a Web interface inaddition to Windows. Roving administratorscan therefore manage printers remotely.

    The Web interface includes MarkVisionMessenger. This application allowsadministrators to build email alerts on a largeset of conditionse.g., finisher , defectivesupply, and life waning. Messages cannclude macro fields allowing device specificnformation to be inserted into the messagetext.

    For convenience, MarkVision letsadministrators tie alerts to individual folders

    containing a filtered set of devices. With asingle click, alert conditions can be targetedto group devices, rather than forcing manualentry of IP address or host names.

    This is a valuable administrative featureallowing IT managers to set up the alertsupport structure once for each group ofdevices, or each floor of a building rather thanhaving to go into each device individually andset up the same system time after time. Thisalso allows for much faster switching out ofsupport staff details and replacement withnew personnel made responsible for takingover the task of maintaining devices aroundthe network .

    Email messages can contain device specific in formation.

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 10

    Color at Worktm

    ScanSecurity

    Psec

    Through the Lexmark C920sembedded Web interface,administrators can turn on thestandards-based IPsec (InternetProtocol Security) protocol. IPsecs a framework for a set ofprotocols for security at thenetwork layer of the TCP/IPprotocol. IPsec supports bothauthentication and encryption. Amajor advantage of IPsec is thatsecurity arrangements can bemplemented without requiring changes toexisting user software. For example, withWindows XP and 2000, IPsec can be enabledthrough the Microsoft Management Console(MMC). Networking protocols like telnet,FTP, HTTP, LPR, Discovery and others canthen be secured transparently.

    To enable security for the Lexmark C920,administrators must first configure how thenitial authentication of devices is performed.They can choose from pre-shared keys,

    digital certificates, or Kerberos authentication.

    In many LAN environments, the pre-sharedkey may be sufficient and is simpler toimplement. Administrators enter the samesecret shared key on both the Lexmark C920and on Windows by setting up an MMCpolicy.

    After the devices authenticate each otherthey can then, depending on the policyconfigured, encrypt the data or print stream.The Lexmark C920 supports DES, 3DES, and

    AES. These standards must be included in

    the Windows encryption policy for a securitynegotiation to completesuccessfully.

    With authentication andencryption configured,administrators then useTCP/IP Port Access Webpage to select which ports toenable security on. Ifdesired, ports can beconfigured to accept bothsecure and non-secure

    Pre-shared secret keys can be quickl y configured on bothLexmark and in Windows.

    Microsoft Management Console shows security bindings

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 12

    Color at Worktm

    ScanDirect Print

    mageQuick DragNPrint:

    DragNPrint is a direct print utility thats provided with the driver CD as astandard feature for the LexmarkC920.

    Lexmarks Direct printing will be apopular resource among users lookingfor fast reproduction of high bandwidthgraphic files. The reason being thatLexmarks direct printing allows usersto send PDF, JPEG, HTML, TIFF, GIF,BMP, and PS files directly to the print enginewithout launching an application or RIPingthe file into a PCL or PostScript file. The timealone required to open an application suchas Photoshop can be longer than the time ittakes to print the file in some instances.

    Users are able to set up as many direct PDFqueues as they require. This is a valuablefeature allowing users to set up a direct printqueue with the required documentproduction features necessary for a specificob type. For example, a user could set up

    one job queue defaulted to duplex output onpaper from tray one, while another queuecould be set to incorporate n overlay of thecompany letterhead and print from thebypass tray.

    We also liked the ability to be able to use thedirect print facility without having to first opena browser or windows application. This step,which is found on many rival devices canswallow up much of the time advantage thatthe process is supposed to deliver.

    Users of the Lexmark C920 have multipleways in which they can route a job into adirect print queue. They can either drag a fileon the desktop onto the ImageQuick icon orthey can simply right click on the file andselect the direct print queue from the SendTo options. (as shown to the right.)

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 13

    Color at Worktm

    ScanDirect Print

    Another valuable and unique feature on theLexmarks ImageQuick utility is the ability toset up automatic print scheduled events.

    These can be files stored on a local device,networked device or even URLs pulleddirectly from the world wide web.

    Scheduled events can be set up to go out ona one off basis or at regular intervals, to beset by the user.

    The user simply sets up the location of thefile, be it a network folder location or theURL address (if a web site address), theprint parameters and saves the job as ascheduled task.

    This function has a broad range of real-lifeapplications. In the example below a stockbroker in New York has set up a series ofscheduled print events that ensure that whenthe brokers arrive in the morning that theyhave the main news page of the NYtimes,CNN, Financial Times and the Nikkei Indexall ready to scan before the days events getunderway. In a business where time ismoney this can be invaluable.

    In another example a retail head office couldset up a specific URL with the f lyer designfor the days promotions. Each regional storesets up a scheduled print so that eachmorning the point of sale material and dailyflyers are ready to be displayed and handedout immediately.

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 14

    Color at Worktm

    ScanDirect Print

    There is another way in which files can besubmitted directly to the Lexmark C920without the need for a printer driver, orndeed without the need of a desktop PC.

    We were very pleased to see that, afteryears of asking, a manufacturer has finallyncluded a USB flash drive reader on thedevice console. For years manufacturershave been boasting about their ability tohandle raw PDF data. However, it is onlynow that a user is finally able to walk up to adevice with a USB flash drive (an IT gadgetthat has moved away from being a geekmust have to being a standard piece ofequipment for the IT literate) and print a PDFdirectly from the device.

    This function has a great number of potentialreal-world benefits. The most obvious beingn the service print industry, namely businesscenters in hotels, airports, conferencecenters, internet cafes and high street printfor pay businesses. In these instancestravelling business people will frequentlyhave laptops and USB pocket flash drives. If

    they receive a contract or order form viaemail and need to get the file printed theyhave only to transfer the file to the USB card,pack away the laptop and walk down to thehotel business center or airport lounge andprint the file.

    To use this novel feature we simply had tonsert the USB flash drive into the socket onthe front console panel. We were then ableto browse through the folder tree of the driveuntil we reached the PDF file we wanted toprint.

    At this point users can only select thenumber of sets they require. We would haveiked to have the ability to choose featuressuch as duplex or finishing options (ifavailable) allowing for even greaterdocument flexibility.

    Browsing through subfolders on the USB drive

    Select the PDF file you want to pri nt

    Specify the number of copies required

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 15

    Color at Worktm

    ScanPrint

    Printer Driver Functionality:

    Lexmark users will feel at homewhen they first open up the printerdrivers of the C920. We werepleased to see that the layout of thePostScript and PCL drivers isvirtually identical, allowing users toswitch between the two PDLs withno difficulty.

    The drivers are split out into fourtabs; Page Layout, Paper, PrintQuality and Other Options. The tabsclearly define which printing featuresthey cover, so no time is wastedbrowsing from tab to tab.

    The one production feature that differsbetween the two drivers is the postermode, which is missing from the PCLdriver. This valuable feature allowsusers to split a document up intomultiple printable portions which canthen be attached to create a largeposter. A common application for this

    would be in an education center or aretail outlet where budget restraintsprevent print outsourcing.

    Within paper mode there is the option tospecify the paper source for the document.There is no ability to select a different papersource for the front or back cover. This is afeature that may restrict the devicessuitability in environments that use, forexample, pre-printed header stock or useheavy card stock for cover pages onmanuals, brochures, presentations, etc.

    Stapling, hole punch and offset are alsoselected from here (if installed.) We werempressed by the ability within More PaperOptions to be able to set up a substitutionpolicy when a paper size is submitted to thedevice that is not currently loaded. Users can

    choose between multiple options that allowproductivity to continue, rather than clog upthe print queue, waiting for assistance.

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 16

    Color at Worktm

    ScanPrint

    Printing PDF files in book let mode usingthe PostScript Driver:

    Like many other printer and MFPmanufacturers, Lexmark uses its ownemulation of PostScript, rather than have topay the royalty attached to using the trueAdobe PostScript 3 driver. While testing, wefound one instance where the non-AdobePostScript driver created an issue.

    The test involved printing a PDF file inbooklet format. The task requires the driverto reorder the pages in the document,arrange them two-up on the page and printthe document in duplex, so that when thepages come out the document can be foldedover creating a booklet. Using the PCL5cdriver the job was carried out exactly asdescribed.

    However, when we attempted to carry outthis job using the Lexmarks PostScript 3driver the results were not as expected.

    nstead of the two-up, duplexed booklet

    ayout, the document appeared to spool butnothing ever appeared at the printer queue.

    This same test is also creating problems forother non Adobe PostScript driven printers.The test was repeated using both the fullAdobe Acrobat package and the AdobeReader free utility, with versions ranging from5.0 to the new 7.0 with the same result.

    BERTL analysts looked into the issue furtherand discovered that the issue could beresolved by selecting a specific advanced

    feature within the print command in theAdobe Acrobat or Reader application. Thefeature is Print As Image. This featurecreates a substantially larger file than thedefault print setting. However, the output is acorrectly laid out booklet. The feature is notan obvious choice to the average office user

    and is not one than an IT manager wouldwant to set as a default setting within thedevice.

    For example, a 16 page PDF test file spooledinto a 6.55MB file using the default PDF printsettings but became a 36MB spooled filewhen sent in Print As Image file.

    The resulting output is standard simplex printmode is also significantly slower (over 200%slower on the same 16 page PDF we hadused for the booklet test), not taking intoeffect the five-fold increase in bandwidth thatthe MIS is not going to be pleased about.

    Adobe Reader being changed fromdefault to revised settings for

    successful booklet printing

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 17

    Color at Worktm

    ScanPrint

    Color Controls:

    The PostScript 3 driver(illustrated right) lets usersselect from a number of coloroptions, including the ability tomanually set color contrast,color balance and colormatching. Toner darkness canbe manually set, andColorSaver (which applies lesscolor to save money on colordraft prints).

    Using RGB options, PostScriptusers can manually set images,text and graphics colorcorrections individually or as aset. Options include sRGBVivid, sRGB Display, and Vivid.CMYK options allow users toconfigure controls for images,text and graphics at once.Options include Vivid CMYK,Euro CMYK and US CMYK.

    The color controls on the PCLdriver are identical to thePostScript driver with theexception that there is no ColorMatching tab.

    The color matching tabspecifies whether the userwants to use ICC profile-basedcolor matching, allowing usersto more accurately match colorsto those displayed on thescreen.

    We would have liked a more visual guide tohow these color adjustments would affectmage quality. This is achieved by some rivalcompanies through the use of a thumbnailmage which changes its appearance as colorfactors are adjusted by the user.

    Image management tool s on the Lexmark C920PostScript 3 printer driver

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 18

    Color at Worktm

    ScanPrint on Demand

    Both drivers include a range of job deliveryoptions. In addition to sending a job to print,we could also choose between:

    Verify Print:

    Prints the first copy of a multiple copy printob, then holds remaining copies until youeither continue printing the job or delete theob using the printer operator panel.

    Reserve Print:

    Stores a print job on the printer for printing ata later time, i.e Print on Demand functionality.To find stored jobs, we had to scroll throughthe job menu to our username, then scroll tothe job we wanted to reprint.

    Repeat Print:

    Does the same as reserve print but producesa printed set of the job at the same time.

    Confidential Print:

    Sends print jobs to the device with a securePIN. Users must first scroll to their username,then enter the PIN number using the keys onthe printer operator panel. We were pleasedto see that the PIN is now displayed asasterisks when entered by the user. In thepast, the PIN had been displayed as theactual numbers on screen allowing a potentialthief to oversee the data entry code.

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com

    tel. 732-761-2311fax. 732-761-2312

    [email protected]

    Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibitany reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewedelectronically through the www.BERTL.com website and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format.

    Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies oromissions contained in this document.

    Page 19

    Color at Worktm

    ScanImage Quality

    Lexmark will be first to tell youthat they are not envisioning theC920 as the ultimate tool for thegraphic artist, a claim made bysome other manufacturers withtheir ledger-capable desktopprinters.

    That is not to say that the imagequality from the device is not toa high standard. In fact, thequality of the C920 is the bestwe have ever seen from aLexmark device, and is certainlymore than up to the job ofproducing any color output thatwould normally be requiredwithin a corporate or generalwalk up service printenvironment.

    The overall appearance of theoutput was more matt thangloss, a factor that will beappreciated by corporate users.While high gloss may look more

    professional it is often harder touse in an office environmentwith overhead lighting creatingglare.

    Colors were reproduced well,arge areas of solid werereproduced without any banding orstreaking.

    Fine lines, grayscales and small text fontswere all reproduced accurately.

    Compared to the output of a high poweredgraphic-arts device the output has a slightlyflat appearance and looks at time veryslightly hazy compared to the super crispappearance of a graphic art print out.

    Having said that, to be making these typesof observations you have to get your noseup to the output or bring out the eyemagnifier, two practices that do not occurwhen corporate users judge the quality ofmaterials they are producing for

    presentations, sales demos, managementreports, etc.

    The images above show the differencebetween a $30,000+ graphic art solutionversus the Lexmark C920, priced manytimes less.

    Abo ve: Lexmark C920 PostScr ipt 3 reproduct ion of a high-reso lu tionPhotoshop file

    Below: The same file reproduced on a high -cost graphic art device

    Note: Both images have been scanned at 600dpi, zoomed to 172% forillustrative purposes only.

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    Lexmark C920

    www.BERTL.com Copyr igh t 2005 BERTL, Inc. 27-Jun-05All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit

    d ti f th t i i f ti f thi d t Thi d t l b i d

    Page 20

    Color at Worktm

    Summing Up

    Summary:

    While the Lexmark may have its f laws, it hasan enviable number of unique features thatput the device on its own in terms of user-friendliness and productivity in various real-world settings.

    The installation and maintenance proceduresare up to Lexmarks usual high standards,with MarkVision providing a professionalmeans of managing one or multiple devicesaround the enterprise.

    The direct print facility via ImageQuick andthe USB interface on the device front panelprovide a wealth of walk-up and automatedprinting abilities that are designed to makethe job of printing business critical tasks asstreamlined as possible.

    mage quality will satisfy all but the mostcritical of business users.

    There are areas we would like to seemproved on the next

    generation product,ncluding a moreflexible user ID costcontrol systemallowing users to beallocated a set limitper month rather thanthe yes or no optioncurrently available.

    We would also like tosee the USB directprint facility expanded

    to include the abilityto choose finishing/document productionoptions in addition tothe quantity choiceoption, this wouldmake the unique

    feature even more impressive, especially if asaddle-stitch bookletmaker could be added,the third of our wish list items.

    While no device is perfect, the Lexmark C920is certainly setting the standard for productsin its sector, and will be a tough device tobeat when placed in the hands of a sales repwho knows how to tie in the devices featurerich attributes to a customers real-life needs.