An above-average all-in-one home office machine

I am an online college student, so that means that I do a lot of course work from home. This requires a lot of printing, faxing, and emailing.

I knew that I could not afford an office quality printer that would meet my needs, so I decided to start looking for something that would fall between low entry level and beginner high-end.

I did a lot of research, and finally stumbled upon the Lexmark X2500. I have had numerous Lexmark printers in the past,(most recently the X1150), and I have been very pleased with the performance. I always talked myself out of an all-in-one machine because I could never see myself faxing anything from my home computer.

The X2500 totally changed my opinion of an all-in-one machine. It is a virtual "Home Office Genie". It can fax, scan, copy, print, and email with the proper settings.

The X2500 is so simplified that almost anyone can set it up.

The unit comes with a CD-ROM for easy installation, but in only the most severe cases will it be needed. It is simply "Plug-N-Play" meaning that Windows will find and imtall the necessary drivers for it as soon a it is plugged in.

The scanner works quite well. It runs smoothly as well as quickly, and the images are very sharp and detailed. The color rendition is great. The printer does a great job of printing and it will print up to 9 pages per minute in the black mode. The paper has to be seated correctly because if not, the printer will feed multiple pages, which may cause a jam. Other than that, it's a pretty reliable printer. The copier is pretty good, but don't expect speed from it. It is intended for home use, so if you plan to do bulk copying, you may want to get a heavy duty machine for that purpose.

The software bundle that is included is what really makes the X2500 a great deal. It has fax software that can be easily run on most computers. The fax software is not industrial quality, but it is far more than expected for home use. It easily converts files to the appropriate type in order for them to be faxed. It gives the option of letting your phone ring from 1-5 times. I found this very useful because I use my home phone line as a fax business line also. I am able to answer my phone in plenty of time if it is a voice call coming in. I like the fact that the X2500 lets you preview and correct your fax pages before sending them. You may correct or delete a page if needed. The X2500 is also clever enough to let you scan your own JPEG file onto a cover sheet, which gives your faxes a professional look. I leave the X2500 fax software running in the background at all times and it does not conflict with anything else on my computer. It is also very easy to scan projects into email. This feature is very useful if you want to scan things and email them directly without saving them to your computer.

The X2500 is also very easy to network and share with other computers within your work group. The set-up is quite fast, and it works flawlessly.

Lexmark is basically a printer company giant, and they are very savvy when it comes to accessing customer needs.
The X2500 is no exception. It has lots of features and it boasts a great price. If I had to say that I had one gripe about the X2500, it would be that it does not come with a black printer cartridge. The cartridge can be purchased separately for around $20. The X2500 will function with only the color cartridge, but the prints are not that good. You will definitely need the black cartridge.

Overall, the Lexmark X2500 is a great buy, and I look forward to getting the most use from it.