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Out of the box (6.00)
The Lexmark X342n monochrome laser printer is a very basic printer, so it only comes with the basic equipment—power cord, phone cord for hooking up the fax, auto-feeder paper tray, dust cover, the installation CD-Rom (Windows only), and quick setup guide. The toner cartridge comes installed with protective tape and tabs.
Manual/Quick Start Guide (7.00)
The quick start guide is mostly graphics only—black and white with color numbers and arrows to indicate steps and movement direction, respectively. Printer setup on most printer models is very easy these days, so visual-only setup aids are generally not problematic. The X342n’s instructions are no different in this respect.
The manual, or "User’s Guide," comes only as a 105-page PDF document, which users should discover when they install the drivers. Two notes in small type on the quick start sheet instructs users to refer to the User’s Guide for more information, but these are the only indications. Users not installing the drivers, notably those who may be using the unit as only a copier and fax, may not know where to look for the documentation, so a clearer note in larger type on the quick start sheet should be included.
The manual includes detailed information on setting up the individual functions and installing the software, as well as installing additional language control panel faceplates and optional paper trays. Graphics and text boxes describe the printer and its controls. A detailed troubleshooting menu guides users simply thorough problem-solving.
Setup (5.50)
Setting up the Lexmark X342n is as easy as unpacking it and plugging it in if all the user intends to do is use the copy function. Getting the printer fully set up takes about 20 minutes, a long time in general but about average for a multi-function laser printer. The only pieces to put together are the auto document feeder tray, which comes in two pieces and snaps into the top of the feeder unit. The toner cartridge needs to be removed, plastic tabs and tape removed, and the cartridge reinserted before the unit can be used.
The on-unit menu’s default settings serve fine for first-time users, but as familiarity grows, settings can be changed to accommodate paper types, copy density, fax settings, etc.
Drivers and Administration (5.00)
The X342n is meant to work with computer applications, so there is very little in the way of driver interface such as is found with photo all-in-one inkjet printers. This is a document workhorse, so a plethora of settings are not necessary.
The Properties window accessed through Microsoft Word and other programs is five-tabbed: Layout, Paper/Quality, Watermark, Profiles, and About. Basic print orientation and page order settings are possible in Layout. Paper/Quality allows the paper source and type to be set. An Advanced button provides extended options, such as toner darkness and paper size. Paper size is not but should be an option available in the main driver window. It’s something that users will want to change often, so it should be readily available.
The Watermark tab allows users to add standard or customized watermarks (Confidential, Draft, etc.) to documents, helpful for business users. Profiles can be saved in the profiles tab, allowing users to save custom settings for continued use.
The Help menu is, in keeping with the printer, very basic and utilitarian—just 2 to 3 line instructions and text boxes describe simply the printer’s settings and options.
Software (7.00)
The X342n ships with one software program, Presto! PageManager, and two utilities. OCR, optical character recognition, is a plug-in for use in Word and other text editing programs. QLink is a very basic scanning utility.
Presto! PageManager is a document browsing and organizing program. Users can import and export documents, save files as PDFs, print and fax documents, and scan files from the Lexmark X342n. For office users who manage multiple documents, this is a pretty handy program. It features the typical browser setup, with the file tree on the left and the window pane on the right for viewing document and image thumbnails. Users can import and export files, as well as set scan settings.
A separate toolbar window with quick scan controls appears when Presto! is opened. These five customizable buttons allow users to quickly scan media to specific applications or file types. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is also enabled with this program, allowing users to scan text documents and convert them into editable text. The Scan button on the scanner can be linked to any of the selected programs via this program as well. Presto! can interface with any scanner hooked up to the computer.
QLink is a very stripped down scanner control. Opening the utility allows users to change the scan settings for each location scanned to, either to a file or to a specific application. The list of applications can be added to. Settings are minimal, with selections for image type, size, and resolution; file format; and file path. Image types include text, gray, and photo. Image size ranges from 2.5" x 5" card to a legal-sized document. Strangely, Presto! Allows users to set resolution from 150 to 1200, but QLink only allows from 100 to 600.
Document file format can be set in QLink as bitmap, jpeg, or pdf, while setting the Photo file type allows the addition of the tiff format. The only adjustments that can be made are brightness and contrast settings.
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