Updated Review: Lexmark C522n Color Printer Does Not Print OpenType Fonts
Thanks to a McBuzzBlog reader, we have confirmation that the Lexmark C522n Color Printer does not print OpenType fonts. (See the comment at the bottom of this post: Lexmark Color Printer for $299 - Read This Before You Buy .)
OpenType fonts are a common font format for use in both Macintosh and Windows computers. (Installing New Fonts, Continued: What's the Difference Between TrueType, PostScript and OpenType Fonts?)
A new laser printer that does not print OpenType fonts is seriously flawed.
The fact that a new Lexmark C522n Color Printer does not print OpenType fonts is unacceptable, regardles of how you plan to use the printer. Selling -- or reviewing -- the Lexmark C522n Color Printer without disclosing the fact that it does not print OpenType fonts is negligent at best. I have spent about 10 hours doing tests of my own, talking to Lexmark tech support by phone, corresponding by e-mail, and talking to the supplier I bought it from, CDW.com , in an effort to resolve the issue.
As mentioned in the previous post, it took Lexmark about 10 days to get back to me after I sent them an e-mail through their Web site. Phone tech support was completely unhelpful. They told me I needed to buy more memory for the printer! The printer comes with 128MB of memory, which is a lot by any standard. More importantly, memory has nothing to do with printing OpenType or any other font.
The McBuzzBlog reader who found that the Lexmark C522n Color Printer he bought had the same flaw wrote me by e-mail directly with his name and more detail about the circumstances, so I have good reason to believe what he says is true. He also notes that Printerbase Ltd, whom he bought the printer from, has now agreed to take it back. Printerbase Ltd told him that Lexmark is aware of the problem.
CDW.com is definitely aware of the problem. Whether they were before I told them about it, I don't know. They agreed to take back the Lexmark printer, pay for the shipping and refund my money. In general, I have found CDW to be a responsive and responsible company. I will be interested to see whether they continue to sell the Lexmark C522n Color Printer after this.
If Lexmark is aware that the C522n Color Printer does not print OpenType fonts, why are they selling this printer anywhere other than a swap meet -- with a big "SOLD AS IS" sign on it?
What's more, if they are really aware that the C522n Color Printer does not print OpenType fonts, why doesn't their tech support department have an immediate answer when someone asks about it? But, in truth, what could they say? -- other than, We're sorry and we have no explanation for why we continue to sell it that way without informing customers up front.
Will I ever buy a Lexmark printer again? Not likely.
OpenType fonts are a common font format for use in both Macintosh and Windows computers. (Installing New Fonts, Continued: What's the Difference Between TrueType, PostScript and OpenType Fonts?)
A new laser printer that does not print OpenType fonts is seriously flawed.
The fact that a new Lexmark C522n Color Printer does not print OpenType fonts is unacceptable, regardles of how you plan to use the printer. Selling -- or reviewing -- the Lexmark C522n Color Printer without disclosing the fact that it does not print OpenType fonts is negligent at best. I have spent about 10 hours doing tests of my own, talking to Lexmark tech support by phone, corresponding by e-mail, and talking to the supplier I bought it from, CDW.com , in an effort to resolve the issue.
As mentioned in the previous post, it took Lexmark about 10 days to get back to me after I sent them an e-mail through their Web site. Phone tech support was completely unhelpful. They told me I needed to buy more memory for the printer! The printer comes with 128MB of memory, which is a lot by any standard. More importantly, memory has nothing to do with printing OpenType or any other font.
The McBuzzBlog reader who found that the Lexmark C522n Color Printer he bought had the same flaw wrote me by e-mail directly with his name and more detail about the circumstances, so I have good reason to believe what he says is true. He also notes that Printerbase Ltd, whom he bought the printer from, has now agreed to take it back. Printerbase Ltd told him that Lexmark is aware of the problem.
CDW.com is definitely aware of the problem. Whether they were before I told them about it, I don't know. They agreed to take back the Lexmark printer, pay for the shipping and refund my money. In general, I have found CDW to be a responsive and responsible company. I will be interested to see whether they continue to sell the Lexmark C522n Color Printer after this.
If Lexmark is aware that the C522n Color Printer does not print OpenType fonts, why are they selling this printer anywhere other than a swap meet -- with a big "SOLD AS IS" sign on it?
What's more, if they are really aware that the C522n Color Printer does not print OpenType fonts, why doesn't their tech support department have an immediate answer when someone asks about it? But, in truth, what could they say? -- other than, We're sorry and we have no explanation for why we continue to sell it that way without informing customers up front.
Will I ever buy a Lexmark printer again? Not likely.
posted by Mark McLaren at
2:33 PM
6 Comments:
When you were advised to purchased buy more memory perhaps it might of been because of this below link for which a lexmark personell go it from if there was no solution at that point in time when you first engaged in conversation ?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/248397
that sounds justifiable, otherwise i would imagine, they wont still persue the inquiries for you provided you remain in contact via email or such since you said you are still awaiting a response ?, or how about emailing back to a requested update ?. I've purchased and sold various lexmark devices myself and also operate one personally, although i obviously dont use the printers for the same purpose as yourself, but have any general problems. before purchasing the printer was that a question you raised about the product before purchasing since its a requirement for your printing purposes ?.
By
Anonymous, at 8:21 PM
Dear Reader,
Thank you very much for your interest in my posts regarding the fact that OpenType fonts do not print on the Lexmark C522n Laser Printer. (Also spelled "Open Type" fonts.)
Since you sell Lexmark printer products and use a Lexmark printer yourself, you obviously have an interest in representing Lexmark printer products accurately and honestly.
I looked at the Microsoft support link you suggest: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/248397
This is not related to my problem. As I mentioned in an earlier post Lexmark Color Printer for $299 - Read This Before You Buy http://mcbuzz.blogspot.com/2006/11/lexmark-color-printer-for-299-read.html
My 8-year-old HP LaserJet printer has only 8MB of memory but it prints OpenType fonts just fine. And I never saw any error messages regarding memory - primarily because this is not the problem.
OpenType fonts are a common font file format. Nothing fancy. OpenType fonts come installed on all Windows and Macintosh machines.
New printers - in 2006-2007 - that do not print OpenType fonts - especially large color printers geared toward a small business or design shop like the Lexmark C522n - are flawed.
The C522n was - as far as I could tell while I had it - a very useful machine, with good color quality and - as you would hope in a laserjet - good definition and sharpness.
But no OpenType?
Perhaps the most frustrating part of this, apart from the time wasted trying to get Lexmark to give me a straight answer as to why the C522n does not print OpenType fonts, was the fact that I tried to contact their customer service representative with an email address I got from CDW.com, the company that sold me the Lexmark printer.
That email did not come back as undeliverable, but I never heard from the Lexmark rep.
If you have a suggestion as to who to notify about the failure of the Lexmark C522n - and the Lexmark support staff - please let me know.
Again, thank you for reading the McBuzz Communications blog.
Mark McLaren
By
Mark McLaren, at 8:51 PM
just bought this printer for our office, hooked it up via a network connection. No word on official drivers for OSX, so for now am just using the OSX generic postscript driver, and it prints every truetype font in my library.
By
Unknown, at 3:39 PM
Dear sixtwenty3dc,
Thank you for reading! Please note that the problem with the Lexmark C522n Color Printer is that it does not print OpenType fonts (also spelled Open Type fonts) on either a Macintosh or a PC. There does not seem to be any problem with TrueType fonts. You are right about that.
Lexmark is still silent about the fact that the C522n Printer does not print OpenType fonts. I have never heard back from them.
By
Mark McLaren, at 3:48 PM
I don't know the exact specifications for your system, but I have to admit I paniced a little after reading your post. This is because I've had Lexmark C522n at home for almost a year, and I've recommended it to many. A relief: I printed a page with 5-6 random Opentype (not TrueType, not PostScript Type 1, Open Type) fonts on it, with InDesign CS1, Illustrator CS1 and Freehand MX on my Windows XP PC system, and they printed out just fine. No problem whatsoever.
I'd love to know what's the combination of OS/equipment that causes the behaviour you've reported, so that I could warn the people I've recommended this printer.
By
Anonymous, at 4:08 PM
The Lexmark c522n failed to print OpenType fonts (aka Open Type fonts) on both Windows XP and Mac OSX.
Windows XP Professional, Version 5.1. Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2, Microsoft Word 2003, WordPad (rtf), Adobe Acrobat 7 (PDF created in MS Word). Tried all of these and possibly a few others I'm forgetting at the moment.
Mac OS 10.3. Software: Microsoft Word - definitely did not print. I think I tried a few others, but I don't recall which.
The project I was working on called for OpenType fonts to be saved in a Microsoft Word template for a PC.
By
Mark McLaren, at 4:40 PM
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