Lexmark C736dn workgroup colour laser printer

Paper mountain?

Wed 7 Oct 2009 // 08:02 UTC

Stocking consumables for the C736dn is made more awkward by its component design. There are separate toner cartridges for each colour and each of these is available in capacities of 8,000 and 12,000 pages black and 6,000 and 10,000 pages for each of the colours.

A surprisingly small footprint for a workgroup colour laser

They are also available in return programme – where you agree to send the empties back to Lexmark – or non-return programme versions. The return programme cartridges are cheaper as an incentive and we've priced the high yield versions, which give even better economy. The drums are available singly or in a four-pack and again we've used the four-pack pricing, as it works out cheaper. If you only print occasional colour, though, the black drum is likely to need replacing separately. Finally, there's a waste toner bottle.

Adding this lot up and doing the maths gives a cost per page of 1.15p for black and 8.42p for colour. These costs are both reasonable for this class of machine.

Verdict

This is a robust, workgroup workhorse, with plenty of room for expansion. It's fast, even in duplex mode, and the print quality is more than adequate for general business use. PIN-protected, walk-up printing is a useful bonus and the machine is widely compatible with a range of operating systems, but maintenance is more fiddly than it should be. ®