Lexington (KY) - Lexmark today announced five new b/w laser printers for basic office needs that are faster, more reliable and more energy efficient than their predecessors, according to the manufacturer. There are also six new color printers targeting small businesses and enterprise workgroups.

Warm-up times of laser printers, especially black and with models aren’t really terrible anymore, but if occasional fast access to a printer is essential, than Lexmark could have a more convenient printer for you. The company today announced a redesigned and re-engineered E-series, which the firm claims incorporate more than 40 new patents to improve the overall performance of the models.

Included in the new design is an "instant warm-up fuser technology" that reduces the time to first print down to about 6.5 seconds, even from sleep mode, according to the manufacturer. The E-series also offers a new "quiet-mode," which promises a quieter operation noise. Print speeds are 30 pages per minute on the low end (E250d and E250dn) and 35 pages per minute on the higher end models (E350d, E352dn and E450dn). Prices range from $200 for the entry-level E250d to $600 for the E450dn, which includes network capability, a graphical user interface, enhanced security and features that are tailored to larger workgroups and enterprise users.

Lexmark C532dn

On the color side, Lexmark has introduced the C530 series, which replaces the C520 series. Printing speeds are 22 pages per minute in color and 24 in black and white with prices ranging from $500 for the C530dn and topping out at $1300 for the C534dtn, which combines two sided printing support, a 10-digit numeric pad for applications like confidential printing and easy network set-up and a capability to print PDF-files directly from a flash drive as well as a extra 550-sheet drawer.

While Lexmark praises the especially the C530dn’s characteristic as affordable, two-sided color printers for or small workgroups the product family is no exception when it comes to the typical high cost of ownership of a color printer. Just the replacement of toner can quickly exceed the cost of the printer itself, with replacement drums and fuser units accelerating the cost. In the case of the C530-series, standard toner appears to be selling in the range of about $350 to $500 for a complete replacement package (3000/1500 page yield) at the time of this writing. A higher yield toner package can cost about $600.