Lexmark 22L0214 - C 770dtn Color Laser Printer User manual

Editor’s
Choice
Reprint
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The Nation’s Leading Independent
Buyer’s Guide for Office Equipment
Lexmark C770n
Lexmark C770dn
Lexmark C770dtn
25ppm full color
25ppm black & white
Sum-up: A strong small-workgroup
printer family, but with tough rivals.
The new C770 family is one of two
similar color laser printer families. At
25ppm in both color and black-and-
white, these models are very afford-
able mid-range color lasers. The print-
ers have relatively modest paper han-
dling, but they otherwise have a solid
but standard set of features.
The three models in this family are:
lThe C770n is the base model, with
600 sheets of standard input and
256MB of memory, along with
standard Ethernet connectivity
($999).
lThe C770dn adds automatic
duplexing ($1,299).
lThe C770dtn adds another 500
sheets of input standard and
holds up to 256MB of memory
($1,549).
Based on an 800MHz processor,
these machines are more than ade-
quately powered. Memory starts at
256MB and can be augmented to
768MB. A 40GB hard disk is an
(expensive) option. PostScript 3
also comes standard.
Connectivity is through USB and
Ethernet. A Wi-Fi interface (IEEE
802.11b) is also available.
The paper supplies, as we have stated,
are limited. These models come with a
500-sheet paper tray and a 100-sheet
bypass. There’s an extra 500-sheet tray,
optional on all but the C770dtn model.
Output is limited to only 250 sheets.
The printer can, however, handle card
stock. Lexmark rates the duty cycle at
100,000 pages a month.
Consumables are on the high side.
You’ll spend 2.6¢ per black-and-white
page and 12.8¢ for color. Such prices
are, unfortunately, increasingly typical
even for midrange color printers. They
offset the low prices of the machines
themselves.
The HP Color LaserJet 3800 family
has a slower speed (22ppm) at a simi-
lar price. The Lexmark C770 family
LEXMARK
Editor’s
Choice
Reprint
Better Buys for Business is
the leading independant
buyer’sguide to office
equipment. Our mission is
to help buyers of copiers,
printers, fax machines, scan-
ners, and duplicators make
smarter purchasing deci-
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Better Buys for Business,
including subscription infor-
maton on independent guide
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els, contact us:
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The Nation’s Leading Independent
Buyer’s Guide for Office Equipment
Lexmark’sC770n has 600 sheets of standard
input and 256MB of memory, along with stan-
dard Ethernet.

© 2006 Better Buys for Business allows both print and electronic reproducton of this document.
has a little advantage in the way of paper supply
(1,100 versus 850 sheets), but it’s very hard to
choose between the two. It comes down to which of
the two vendors you prefer and which of the extra
features they supply you prefer. Both are very good
choices.
The C770 family offers good features at a moder-
ate price. It has strong competition from a number
of other color printers in its speed and price range.
Still, this family is deserving of our Editor’s Choice
Award.
Lexmark C772n
Lexmark C772dn
Lexmark C772dtn
25ppm full color
25ppm black & white
Sum-up: Capable color printers that offer serious pro-
duction capacity at a moderate price.
The new C772 series is similar in many ways to the
C770 series. The engines, speeds, and most of the
configurations are exactly the same as that model
family. So what is the difference?
The family members are:
lThe C772n is the base model, with 600 sheets of
standard input, 256MB of memory, and standard
Ethernet ($1,499).
lThe C772dn adds automatic duplexing ($1,799).
lThe C772dtn adds another 500 sheets of input
($2,099).
In fact, these machines have exactly the same stan-
dard features as the C770 models: 800MHz proces-
sor, 768MB maximum memory, PostScript 3,
optional wireless. What they do have that’s different
is potential to expand.
You have a wide variety of input options. On all
the models, you can have up to two 500-sheet paper
trays in total, or you can add a 2,000-sheet high-
capacity feeder. There’s also an optional 40-enve-
lope feeder.
These models have two unique features as well.
There’s an outdoor media tray that handles special
media, which can be used to create signage that can
withstand direct sunlight and other unusual envi-
ronmental conditions. Lexmark developed this
capacity based on user requests from companies
like retailers that wanted colorful signs they could
Lexmark C770
Consumables costs at-a-glance
Price Yield
Full-color cost per page
Black-and-white cost per page
Black print cartridge $111.00 6,000 $ 0.019 $ 0.019
Cyan print cartridge $203.00 6,000 $ 0.034 N/A
Magenta print cartridge $203.00 6,000 $ 0.034 N/A
Yellow print cartridge $203.00 6,000 $ 0.034 N/A
Waste toner bottle/black $13.00 150,000 $ 0.000 $ 0.000
Waste toner bottle/3-color $13.00 50,000 $ 0.000 N/A
Maintenance kit $582.00 120,000 $ 0.005 $ 0.005
Fuser kit $343.00 150,000 $ 0.002 $ 0.002
TOTAL PER-PAGE COSTS
$0.1275 $ 0.0257
12.75 2.57
Up to two 500-sheet paper trays, a 2,000-sheet high-
capacity feeder, or a 40-envelope feeder can be added
to the Lexmark C772n.

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place at the front door. There is also a banner tray
that allows you to feed 8.5" x 36" paper. These trays
have robust paper-feed roller technology that can
feed thicker-than-usual media.
On the output side, there’s a similar choice of
devices. In addition to the standard 250-sheet out-
put tray, there’s an optional 500-sheet output tray.
You can also get a five-bin mailbox unit, with a total
capacity of 500 sheets. Finally, there’s a 2,000-sheet
finisher that can staple up to 30 sheets, and that also
comes with a 3-hole punch.
These models also have the ability to be upgraded
to a multifunctional with the X4500 copy/scan
unit, the same scanner option that was used with its
predecessor.
Cost per page is less than that of the closely relat-
ed C770. We calculate it as around 1.9¢ per black-
and-white page, 9.4¢ for color. These prices are
much more reasonable than those of the C770 and
are pretty good in terms of the market.
Unlike the C770, the C772 series is in a special-
ized category — there are a limited number of color
laser printers with extended options for output and
input. In fact, this color laser printer family is one of
the few that prints at letter/legal size that has an
extended range of options, including an envelope
feeder, high-capacity feeder, finisher, adequate out-
put capacity, and a mailbox option. Most competi-
tive models offer, for example, only 250 or 500
sheets of output, whereas the C772 models allow
you to stack thousands of sheets.
In spite of added capacity (and the otherwise solid
features it shares with the C770), the C772 family is
quite affordable. There are, of course, very good
ledger-format machines with excellent finishing
options (for example, Kyocera’s FS-C8008 family),
but few letter or legal size ones.
Lexmark has long been clever about getting an
extra bang from its development dollars. Here we
have a printer family that is the higher-performance
version of its virtually identical sibling, yet the mar-
ket niches and prices are quite distinct.
LEXMARK
Lexington, KY
800 358 5835
www.lexmark.com/us_home.html
Vendor Profile
Lexmark was formed when IBM spun off its type-
writer and mainstream printer business back in
1991. The noncompete agreement between IBM
and Lexmark expired in 1996. IBM, at that point,
built up a full line of desktop printers in competi-
tion with Lexmark but a few years ago announced
that it would relabel Lexmark’s black-and-white
and color models. Now Lexmark also provides
printers to a number of companies: Toshiba,
Unisys, RISO, and (in some categories) Dell.
Lexmark is a power in monochrome laser printers,
whereit stands (by some measures) second behind
Hewlett-Packard in terms of market share. The
company also sells an extensive line of color ink jet
printers and has considerable market presence
there. In the color laser printer market, however,
Lexmark is only slowly growing bigger.
Lexmark C772
Consumables costs at-a-glance
Price
Yield
Full-color cost per page
Black-and-white cost per page
Black print cartridge $170.00 15,000 $ 0.011 $ 0.011
Cyan print cartridge $374.00 15,000 $ 0.025 N/A
Magenta print cartridge $374.00 15,000 $ 0.025 N/A
Yellow print cartridge $374.00 15,000 $ 0.025 N/A
Waste toner bottle/black $13.00 150,000 $ 0.000 $ 0.000
Waste toner bottle/3-color $13.00 50,000 $ 0.000 N/A
Maintenance kit $582.00 120,000 $ 0.005 $ 0.005
Fuser kit $343.00 150,000 $ 0.002 $ 0.002
TOTAL PER-PAGE COSTS
$0.0936 $ 0.0186
9.36 1.86

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All Lexmark printers benefit from a variety of
external and internal network servers and connec-
tivity options. They also offer a sophisticated range
of optional software for handling security, adminis-
tration, and file conversion. These tools include
ones that support printing from a number of for-
mats (including PDF and TIFF), allow for form
generation and printing, print barcodes, secure
print, and allow for significant job management.
Lexmark also contends that it has superior color
management tools for all its color laser models.
Lexmark’s current products are quite good. In
speed, price, and features, they contend with every-
thing else on the market. But the opposition isn’t
standing still, and Lexmark needs to keep on devel-
oping new printers to stay near the top of the pack.
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Excerpted from Color Laser Printer & Business Ink Jet
Guides, volume 188, November, 2006. © 2006
Progressive Business Publications, Inc.