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Introduction to the Lexmark T series A4 printers

The Optra T family of laser printers superseded the Optra S range in 2000. They are an evolutionary step in a very successful line of laser printers. The T models have a more streamlined styling, faster processors, faster engines and larger paper-handling capacities. Lexmark has also incorporated security features to restrict the printing of sensitive documents until a PIN code has been entered on the control panel.

The whole design has been refined to make essential components more accessible and to remove some annoying design problems in the S range e.g. door catches that are too easily broken by rough handling; output bin sensors that are too easily dislodged if users clear paper jams too enthusiastically. The materials used in the fusers have been upgraded to increase the service life of this key component. This has contributed to the Optra T range having higher maintenance intervals.

The capacity of the toner cartridge has been increased from 17,600 pages to 25,000 pages. The design of the cartridge is broadly similar to that used in the Optra S but the printer now tracks the amount of toner remaining in the cartridge and shows the current state of the cartridge on the Menus Test Page. Every cartridge comes equipped with a computer chip that blows a fuse when first inserted into the printer and thereby initialises the cartridge page count to 25,000 pages. The printer then counts down. When the page count reduces to zero, the printer refuses to print until a new cartridge (with a new chip) is inserted and the count is reset.

The chip on the toner cartridge has presented some problems to re-manufacturers as they need to source replacement chips from after-market suppliers. These chips are now available but they add to the cost of the remanufactured cartridge. However, there are a number of court cases in progress in the USA over the design and production of these chips. To date, Lexmark seems to be losing the court cases. There were reports that some after-market chips will not work properly if the printer firmware has been upgraded to the latest version. However, a new range of after-market chips has solved this problem: the new chips do not expire and they can be reused indefinitely. We sell a premium remanufactured toner cartridge for an Optra T for $180 (25,000 page rated) as opposed to $150 for an Optra S (17,600 page rated). The cost per page is similar: 0.72 cents for the T cartridge versus 0.85 cents for the S cartridge. We recommend an original Lexmark cartridge for top quality graphics printing.

The bottom of the range is the Optra T610 that retains the 250 sheet input and output bins of the Optra S range. It is a 16 ppm printer with a 133 mhz processor and a 65,000 page a month duty cycle. The next model up is the T612 with 500 sheet input and 250 sheet output bins, 20 ppm, a 167 mhz processor and a 100,000 page a month duty cycle. The T614 is a 24 ppm printer with 500 sheet input and output bins, a 200 mhz processor and a 130,000 page per month duty cycle. The T616 is a 33 ppm printer with a 200 mhz processor and a 200,000 page a month duty cycle. This family of printers provides a wide range of performance capabilities and duty cycles - it is possible to meet most needs by choosing models within this range. They all use the same toner cartridge.

When a model T is purchased new as a network printer, the new N2000 print server is incorporated on the controller board (RIP board) rather than on a separate card in a PCI slot. This presumably makes production cheaper and enhances performance but it can mean a more expensive replacement if the print server fails in service. When an Optra T printer is purchased as a network model, the amount of standard RAM is doubled. The N2000 print server is also available as a PCI card similar to that used in the Optra S range and it is possible, for example, to upgrade a T614 to a T614N by adding such a card. However, you should also increase the printer memory at the same time. The Optra T uses a Lexmark Marknet N2000 print server that is more advanced than Marknet S model used in the Optra S range and has extra features. However, the Marknet S print servers can still be used in the PCI slots provided in the Optra T models.

The T610 base model has 4mb RAM and the other stand-alone models in the range have 8mb as standard. The T610N network model comes with 8 mb RAM; the T612N, T614N and T616N come with 16 mb RAM. We upgrade the T616N to 48 mb RAM by adding an extra 32 mb SDRAM SIMM. The Optra T models all use 100 pin SDRAM which is faster but more expensive than the 72 pin memory used in S models. Extra memory can be added to all models in the range.

Lexmark has subsequently released the T520 and T522 laser printers. These models were designated as Lexmark T52X and not Lexmark Optra T52X. They come with USB ports rather than parallel ports as the standard output configuration. Of course, the network models also have print servers. Around the same time, Lexmark introduced T620 and 622 models. These were followed by the T630, T632 and T634 laser printers.

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