By Jasmine Osada

With prices coming down, multi-function printers would be a good choice if you can afford the little extra space.

The Lexmark X4950 wireless 3-in-1 printer comprises copy, scan and photo printing features aside from the regular document printing options.

With its well-defined lines and minimal design, the black and silver Lexmark X4950 looks really great for most home or small office settings. Space-saving features like a pull-out control panel and compact paper tray designs also means that the printer takes up as little space as possible.

The X4950 excels as a document printer and a copier. Black and white text documents were printed in a mere handful of seconds and print quality was good, with sharp, crisp letters. Documents in colour were also executed efficiently, though the colours can be more vivid.

As a copier, the X4950 feels like one of the fastest in the market. Black and white copies came out very well each time and the gray scaling was impressive. Colour copies were also churned out very quickly, although the colour replication was a little on the yellow side, and can, again, be more vivid.

The X4950's wireless printing feature also worked very well, and setting up the network is really quite easy, as the installation program guides you along every step of the way.

As a photo printer, the X4950 was good, but leave quite a bit to be desired. The printer features memory card slots and a PictBridge USB drive slot so that users can print their photos without going through a computer.

The printer's photo selection and editing interface and functions are also pretty straightforward and easy to use. The only downside is that the wait time between prints is a long 15 seconds.

Print quality was good, though each photo-quality print takes slightly more than a minute to complete - slow by photo printer standards.

The Verdict

The Lexmark X4950 is a good, all-rounded printer that delivers quality in all its functions. It's in document printing and copying where this printer really excels.
If you intend to use the printer mainly for documents, scans and copies, then the Lexmark X4950 is a good choice.