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Review:

The $130 Lexmark Interpret S405 meets the needs of a multitasking business environment with quick output from any of the print, fax, and scanning features. We also appreciate the simplicity of the wireless setup, but the autodocument feeder gets easily jammed and replacing the individual ink tanks can inflate the overall cost of ownership. And although we didn't experience the connectivity issues that overwhelm the user reviews for this printer, we can't ignore competing devices from Canon and Epson that offer a snag-free user experience for less. We've seen the Lexmark Interpret S405 for under $100 on ... Expand full review

The $130 Lexmark Interpret S405 meets the needs of a multitasking business environment with quick output from any of the print, fax, and scanning features. We also appreciate the simplicity of the wireless setup, but the autodocument feeder gets easily jammed and replacing the individual ink tanks can inflate the overall cost of ownership. And although we didn't experience the connectivity issues that overwhelm the user reviews for this printer, we can't ignore competing devices from Canon and Epson that offer a snag-free user experience for less. We've seen the Lexmark Interpret S405 for under $100 on Amazon.com, which is reasonable, but if you're inclined to spend more than that, we suggest the superior Canon MX410 instead.

Design and features
The autodocument feeder (ADF) gives the S405 a larger footprint than the printer's lower-end linemate, the Impact S305. The S405 measures 8 inches tall, 18.8 inches wide, and 13.31 inches deep, but only weighs 17.1 pounds, making it easily maneuverable around the office. Like the S405, this model gets a gray-and-black color treatment with a glossy black ADF, so it should have no problem fitting in with the rest of your office decor.

The control panel sits on the front face of the S405; it can either stay flush with the unit or come out at an angle for unobstructed visibility. Lexmark opted for a small two-line grayscale LCD display, with a cluster of shortcut buttons lining the top edge. There's also a standard directional pad for scrolling through menus and a pad for dialing numbers on the fax side.

As is typical for most multifunction printers in this price range, Lexmark includes a multimedia card reader as well as a PictBridge-compatible USB port on the lower right side for accessing snapshot photos without need for a computer. The reader supports SD, Memory Stick, xD, and MMC cards, effectively letting you leave the USB cable for your digital camera at home.

There's another USB port on the back for a direct connection to a host computer, but you can also use the built-in 802.11g/b wireless print server. Setting up the wireless connection is a simple matter of inserting the included setup CD and running through the connection wizard. We encountered no difficulties setting up an ad hoc wireless network using an initial USB connection, but we should note that many of the CNET user reviews are reporting frequently dropped router connections that require a computer reboot to fix.

The Impact S305 can handle up to 100 sheets of plain paper in the rear-loading, adjustable tray, and all prints shoot out of the front onto an extendable plastic arm. This method is standard for modern printers, but office jockeys used to robust features like autodocument feeding, double-sided printing, extralarge paper trays, and alternate page layouts might find Lexmark's Platinum Pro905 more tailored to their needs.

Some of the CNET user reviews for the S405 report frustrating problems with loading paper into the ADF, and we ran into similar issues with the fickle paper path that's used to load up to 35 sheets of paper into the machine: the tray is so sensitive that even a slightly misaligned stack of paper in the ADF will cause the spool to jam and cancel a job, which can also be damaging to the ink head and cartridges. Throughout our testing, we encountered numerous paper jams and see little reason to recommend using the ADF on the S405, unlike the Canon Pixma MX410, on which the ADF operated smoothly and gave us no trouble.

Part of the initial setup requires you to install the printhead and each of the four ink cartridges. While many other manufacturers like Canon only include a two-ink cartridge bay in their budget offerings, Lexmark gives you three individual cartridges (yellow, cyan, and magenta) plus a separate black cartridge for richer, more realistic snapshots.

The printer is also one of many to feature Lexmark's newest Vizix individual ink cartridges. Using the XL-capacity cartridges, which offer a better overall value, we calculate the price of one page of black ink at 5 cents per page and one page of color at 3 cents per page. Both costs are average for a printer at this price, but note that the S405 won't print if even one of the cartridges is depleted, so plan to spend more money in the long term on refills.

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The S405 ships with minimal paperwork to conserve paper, but you can access most of the instructions, warranty information, and promotional offers on the CD included in the box. Along with the drivers that support Windows 7, XP, and Vista and Mac OS X, the CD also automatically installs several Lexmark productivity programs on your computer. The Lexmark Toolbar gives you a shortcut bar on top of your Web browser for easy-access printing. Lexmark's Productivity Studio and Imaging Studio programs provide an easy way to autoedit or crop your photos and include them in a series of creative projects, and the Lexmark Service Center acts as a troubleshooting aide should you encounter a snag in the printing process.

On the other hand, the Canon Pixma MX410 offers all of the above with its Canon Solution Menu EX, but adds its new HD Movie Print feature that rewards adopters of the Canon hardware ecosystem with the ability to pull still snapshots out of videos shot with compatible HD video cameras. Canon's software also allows you to edit video images to prepare a clip for capture, and grabbing still shots from the video is as simple as selecting a video snippet and either capturing a group of 10 frames or hitting the "capture" button to select single images.

Performance
Like its linemates, the Interpret S405 excelled in all four of the output speed tests, although it still takes second place to the reigning champ of print speeds, the Epson WorkForce 610, which blows away the competition with 13.24 pages of text per minute, compared with the S405's 7.65 ppm. Lexmark also comes in second to Epson in the color graphics speed tests and the 10-page presentation speed test. We performed all tests using the printer's default setting, although it also offers a faster "economic" setting.

Printing performance (in ppm)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

The S405 outputs acceptable-quality prints, and black-text prints come close to laser quality with fully formed lines and crisp tones throughout the document. Thinner lines also appear rich with a slight hint of wicking that produces a blurred image, but such imperfections are acceptable with inkjet printers, especially at this price. We also have few complaints about the quality of color prints and snapshot photos. After closely examining several sample prints, we found all of the 4x 6-inch photos reproduced with a strong color gamut and little loss to overall quality, and we wouldn't hesitate to use this printer to submit professional documents like presentations and office handouts.

Service and support
Lexmark covers the Interpret S405 with a generous three-year warranty that includes lifetime priority phone support. The warranty will transfer ownership in case you want to sell the printer within that time. In addition, the Lexmark Web site's AnswerBase provides a comprehensive list of FAQs, how-tos, device specifications, warranty extension information, and driver updates. You can contact tech support via live chat or e-mail (they claim to respond within one business day) from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. PT weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. PT on Saturdays. Finally, Lexmark also offers customer service training in both its printers and general computing at designated authorized locations. Online courses are also available.

Conclusion
The user reviews for the Lexmark Interpret S405 indicate widespread connection and installation snags, and while we didn't have the same experience, we don't doubt that these problems are occurring. Overall, we hesitate to recommend this printer for its mechanical failures and high cost of ownership, especially with alternatives like the Epson 610 (slightly pricier with many more features) and the Canon Pixma MX410 (slightly cheaper with the same features) available.

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