Per page, nearly everyone knows that laser printers are typically cheaper to run than ink-jets. To give you more variety in color laser printers, Lexmark International, Inc. has just put forth three new printer families: the Lexmark C780n, C782n and C935dn. The company says they are designed for business workgroups that need access to high-quality, reliable color printing technology at affordable prices.

These new printers can be used for everything from printing color logos on letterhead and labels to help businesses increase their brand awareness to helping increase productivity in a retail store by printing color photos of each product on shelf planograms. The Lexmark C780n, C782n and C935dn printer families can print on media that includes heavy card stock for documents such as invitations and oversized banner paper for signage and can also be used for applications such as printing color photos of patients on hospital wristbands to increase patient safety.

While these products offer a cost effective alternative to color document outsourcing, they also feature Lexmark's Color Care technology to help customers manage color usage and control the cost of color in general office printing. For example, network administrators can control which employees can access the color capabilities on each device to make sure that color is only used when necessary. Customers can also use unique tools such as the coverage estimator, which helps customers calculate the approximate cost of specific print jobs so they can determine the most cost-effective way to get large jobs printed.

The Lexmark C780n color laser printer family features print speeds up to 31 pages per minute (ppm) in color and up to 35 ppm in monochrome for prices starting at $899. For customers who need more powerful performance, additional paper handling options or want the ability to upgrade to a multifunction device, the Lexmark C782n color laser printer family prints at speeds up to 35 ppm in color and 40 ppm in monochrome for prices starting at $1,299. The Lexmark C935dn color laser printer family gives customers access to even faster speeds, printing up to 40 ppm in color and 45 ppm in monochrome, as well as A3 ledger or tabloid printing capabilities and finishing options such as stapling, hole-punch and booklets, for prices starting at $3,199. It also features two-sided printing to help customers reduce paper usage.

All three printer families are also supported by Lexmark's new universal print driver, which helps customers increase productivity by making it easy to print to multiple Lexmark products using the same driver.