Lexmark Platinum Pro 905
Manufacturer: Lexmark Part number: 90T9005
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Accessories
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The Lexmark Platinum Pro 905 is a fully capable all-in-one business device, but its touch screen might throw a wrench in your workflow. The Smart Solutions widgets add virtual customization to the control panel, but we wish Lexmark had retained a few hard buttons as well. As the top dog in the Lexmark printer family, the Platinum Pro 905 does the job, but the HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless does it better.
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Where to buy
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Once you know, you Newegg! | ![]() | In stock Free Three Day Shipping | Enter zip code to get total price: Price +Tax +Shipping =Total price | as of 12/08/2009 |
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PREMIER SOURCE of cutting edge electronics since 1973. | ![]() | In stock *Accepting Orders* (Out of Stock). Auth. Lexmark Dealer | as of 12/08/2009 | |
| Amazon.com Marketplace | ![]() | In stock | as of 12/08/2009 | |
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| California Computer Center | ![]() | In stock | as of 12/08/2009 | |
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CNET editors' review
Lexmark Platinum Pro 905 price range: $299.95 - $399.98
- Reviewed by: Justin Yu
- Edited by: Rich Brown
- Reviewed on: 09/25/2009
The good: Fast print speeds; two separate paper trays; easy wireless setup; comprehensive driver features; foolproof Smart Solutions widgets.
The bad: No Bluetooth support; expensive; auto-document feeder not adjustable.
The bottom line: The Lexmark Platinum Pro 905 is a fully capable all-in-one business device, but its touch screen might throw a wrench in your workflow. The Smart Solutions widgets add virtual customization to the control panel, but we wish Lexmark had retained a few hard buttons as well. As the top dog in the Lexmark printer family, the Platinum Pro 905 does the job, but the HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless does it better.
Businesses shopping for a new multifunction printer already have enough decisions to make without throwing a touch-screen option into the mix, but most of the big printer vendors already have models with one or one in the works. We've reviewed the Brother MFC-990CW and the HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless, but Lexmark's latest printer, the $400 Platinum Pro 905, forges into new territory by offering a touch screen without any additional buttons.
To get around the benefits of having such buttons (shortcuts, essentially), you can connect the printer directly to the Internet and browse a handful of "Smart Solutions," Lexmark's nickname for customizable widgets that you can add to the touch-screen's display. It's a great idea and works effortlessly with the hardware, but the Platinum Pro 905 suffers from iPhone syndrome. Sometimes, hard buttons just make things easier, especially in a business environment. Instead of the Platinum Pro 905, we recommend the HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless, it's a more utilitarian solution for businesses that can use a touch screen for creative purposes without sacrificing efficiency and time.
Design and features
The Lexmark Platinum Pro 905 is the expected size for a business-ready printer, copier, scanner, and fax machine. It measures 12.1 inches tall by 18.31 inches wide by 15.42 inches long. The printer makes a departure from Lexmark's former glossy white Apple-esque aesthetic in favor of a darker, more professional-looking design. In addition, the entire printer--including the paper trays drawers, touch screen, and even the auto-document feeder--are void of sharp edges, creating a look (in conjunction with the blacks and dark grays) that summons memories of Tie Fighters in that old space wars movie, whose name currently escapes me.
There isn't a lot happening on the front of the printer. The only hard button on the 4.3-inch "MyTouch" LCD is a small power button to the left of the touch panel, leaving a small Wi-Fi status indicator and a media card reader with a PictBridge USB port on the right to round out its face. The paper tray at the bottom is another feature that gives the Platinum Pro 905 an advantage over its competition. Instead of creating just a simple tray like so many others before it, the printer actually has a silo drawer built into the base that adds more heft and durability to the 150-sheet container. Additionally, the Platinum Pro 905 also includes another 150-sheet paper tray, bumping the total capacity to 300 sheets of paper. However, there is a downside. Only the first tray has the necessary guides to accommodate 4x6-inch photo paper--the bottom drawer only supports legal and letter sizes. The lower tray is also easy to detach from the rest of the machine if you're trying to save space on a desk.
The entire control panel is 9.5 inches wide, but the actual display is only 4.3 inches long. The screen is bright and easy to read, but we wish you could adjust the display's angle. Instead, it sits at a fixed level that's a little hard to read unless you're standing directly over the printer. As expected, the black reflective LCD is also a serious fingerprint magnet. Four large icons are prominently displayed on the home screen, including one for "Smart Solutions" that brings you to a customizable menu for all your downloaded applications. Hitting one of the "add more applications" plus icons takes you to the SmartSolutions landing page where you have to register for a user name and password. From here, you can connect the printer to a network with an Ethernet cord or you can connect wirelessly through the Setup Utility built into the driver; however, Bluetooth isn't supported on the printer.
We were able to set up the printer to communicate with our lab test system and the Internet connection in less than 10 minutes; however, we encountered a snag in our own security that forced us to use Wi-Fi. Lexmark already offers a handful of free solutions in its library that you can add to the printer, ranging from direct application shortcuts (scan to e-mail, scan to fax, copy, and so on) to photo viewers (Photobucket and Picasa), and online apps like Google Calendar. Once you drag an application to the window that represents your printer, the software immediately gives you even more customization options by way of various icons, relabeling, print quality, and so on. You can also adjust each solution to a different setting. Once you're satisfied with the order and layout of your new apps, it takes almost no time to sync them to the printer, where they will show up under the "SmartSolutions" button on the home screen.
Currently, there are only 12 additional SmartSolutions available to add to the printer, but most of them are simply application shortcuts that would probably exist as physical buttons on any other printer--options such as scan to fax, scan to file, copy, and so on. According to Lexmark, more exciting applications are on the way, but the app store is still lacking--for now.
We tested all of the SmartSolutions and one of our favorites is the Eco-Copy shortcut that lets you customize a button to immediately print on both sides of a sheet of paper using minimal ink and at a low quality. We also commend Lexmark for building a cartridge finder SmartSolution that locates and prints out a copy of a map showing the nearest retailers carrying the ink cartridges for the Platinum Pro 905. The driver gives you the option to print using all available ink, black ink, or color ink only to extend the life of consumables.
The printer is one of many to use Lexmark's newest Vizix individual ink cartridges--one pigment black for printing text and three dye-based yellow, cyan, and magenta cartridges for color prints. Using the $5 105XL cartridges, we calculate the cost of a black page of ink to cost 1 cent, and 3 cents per page of color. Business users who print a large volume of black text and graphics will be happy to see such a low cost for black ink, even cheaper than the Officejet Pro 8500's 1.6 cents per page. On the other hand, the 8500 can handle 5,000 more prints per month with a 15,000-page duty cycle before it needs time to cool down.
The Platinum Pro 905 ships with minimal documentation to conserve paper, and you can access most of the instructions, warranty information, and promotional offers on the CD included in the box. Along with the drivers that support Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Mac OS X, the CD also gives you an onscreen progress bar that automatically pops up when you print. It shows you the progress of your job in an easy-to-read percentage bar (the LCD on the control panel also shows the progress), displays a graphic representation of your ink depletion and a warning when the paper trays are running low. A similar message also shows up on the MyTouch screen and you can even see exactly what page the printer is working on at a quick glance.
Performance
There's no doubt that the Lexmark Platinum Pro 905 is one of the fastest printers in the industry right now, but for $400, it really should be the fastest. That award still goes to the $399 HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless that prints at almost twice the speed with the exception of the single-sheet photo speed test, which the same time as the Pro 905 at 1.39 pages per minute. Don't be fooled by the sorting in the graph--take a closer look and you can see that even the Epson Artisan 800 beats out the Platinum Pro 905 in four out of the five tests as well. We aren't dissatisfied with the results of this printer, but the competition exceeded our expectations whereas Lexmark only delivers average speeds.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| Presentation speed | Photo speed (1 Sheet) | Color graphics speed | Text speed |
We maintain a similar opinion about the Platinum Pro 905's print quality. The black text prints aren't lacking at all, in fact, they are close to the laser quality that we've come to expect from Lexmark. The black lines appear rich with a slight hint of wicking that creates a blurred image, but such imperfections are acceptable with inkjet printers. On the other hand, the color graphics test sheet and photo snapshot just don't compare against the HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless. While the HP's photos look consistently sharp, the Lexmark suffers from jagged edges and smearing that ultimately create an inferior snapshot, not to mention that the color photos look inferior compared with the original. Businesses that aren't in the business of printing photos won't be disappointed with the Platinum Pro 905's print quality, but creative professionals and photographers will find a superior investment in the Officejet 8500.
Service and support
Lexmark covers the Platinum Pro 905 with a generous five-year warranty that includes lifetime priority phone support. The warranty will also transfer ownership in case you want to sell the printer within the five years. In addition, the Lexmark Web site's AnswerBase provides a comprehensive list of FAQs, how-tos, dockets with device specifications, warranty extension information, and driver updates. Users having trouble with the printer can contact technical support via live chat or e-mail (according to Lexmark, it responds to questions within one business day) from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. PT weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. Finally, Lexmark also offers customer service training in both their printers and general computing at designated authorized locations. Online courses are also available.
Find out more about how we test printers.
User reviews
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Absolutely the best printer I have ever owned
by PrintAplus on September 30, 2009
Pros: Lowest Black Ink Cost, Wireless N, web-enabled, stunning photo quality, business card scanning, touchscreen, fast, 5 year warranty
Cons: I actually do not have any complaints about this product.
Summary: I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that Mr. Yu gave this product a 4 out of 5 star rating. He obviously missed some of the features that ...
Summary: I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that Mr. Yu gave this product a 4 out of 5 star rating. He obviously missed some of the features that make this the best printer on the market. His cost per page analysis is all wrong. Lexmark offers a high-yield black ink tank for $4.99 which makes B&W printing less than a penny per page. I have tested both the HP8500 and Pro905 for picture quality and the Lexmark wins hands down. Some other things he fails to mention is that the Lexmark comes with a 5 year warranty that covers the printhead. HP's warranty is no where near that. The HP 8500 series is also not web-enabled so there is no way to upgrade or customize the printer. Since the Lexmark is connected to the web, I can upload applications that make sense to me and help my business run more efficiently. The touchscreen option makes my life less complicated than all of the buttons on the HP model. The touchscreen is very interactive and easy to use. Mr. Yu mentioned that fingerprints get on the reflective screen and this is true but Lexmark was kind enough to include a special towel used for cleaning this special type of screen. Lexmark also offers wireless-N printing which speeds up throughput and increases range for printing. The HP 8500 series does not. Mr. Yu does not even mention the fact that the Lexmark Pro905 comes with business card scanning software that will allow up to 8 business cards at a time to be scanned and automatically synchs with common contact management applications such as Outlook, Lotus Notes, etc. The HP 8500 has none of this. Bottom Line: I do not feel that this review is anywhere close to being objective. In fact, if one did not know better, one would assume Mr. Yu is on the HP payroll. Do yourself a favor and go to a store and test them for yourself. I for one am extrememly happy with my decision.
4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great printer - Inexpensive ink!!!
by Capital_WRKR on October 15, 2009
Pros: Black ink costs $4.99. I literally bought 10 of those black catridges for $49.99 and I get 5,000 pages???? WOW...the best HP cost me $70+ for just less than 5,000 pages. Plus, the Lexmark machine has apps I downloaded FOR FREE!
Cons: I honestly see none. Anyone that doesn't take notice to this machine or any Lexmarks like it are crazy! Get off the HP bandwagon and look at who makes quality products THAT ARE BACKED UP BY 5 YEAR WARRANTIES.
Summary: So, I can get black ink (which is what my home office typically consists of) for $5. Its about time some company comes down on price. Before, I was spending $...
Summary: So, I can get black ink (which is what my home office typically consists of) for $5. Its about time some company comes down on price. Before, I was spending $70 on two HP cartridges that ran out after a month. Do the math and that is roughly $800 on ink in a year. Now I will probably spend $120 on black and very little on color in a whole year.
The apps you can download are awesome. I follow the local paper just outside of Oklahoma City (where I am from). The news comes on my printer screen. This is helpful because I don't have to waste time logging onto the internet at my computer. Also, I pre-programmed my Platinum to copy 2-sided and two copies of each job and black & white ALL into 1 button. This printer is extremely user friendly and it spits out some good prints (black and color). The sales associate that sold it to me showed me a picture from the Platinum and the same from the best HP photo printer. Needless to say the Lexmark was better.2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Fantastick
by gskomasa on November 19, 2009
Pros: I have gone trhough a dozen printers in the past few years. The biggest frustration is the cost of ink. Lexmark figured it out. Great prints at low cost. The screen panel works well, eliminates buttons and allows applications direct access.
Cons: Blue tooth. So my phones have to liink to the computer to print. It would be great to just walk in and print from the phone or device.
Summary: Bottom line. --- Lexmark makes a great machine and now it is really great producing high quality low cost prints.
Of course the larger than normal print head helps make ...Summary: Bottom line. --- Lexmark makes a great machine and now it is really great producing high quality low cost prints.
Of course the larger than normal print head helps make it fast. The individual print cartridges let me replace only the ink that is needed. The XL cartridges give me triple ink so I can put out an entire mailing without running out of ink. Finally, Lexmark is a quality office brand. The five year warrantee shows that it should be the last printer I buy in the next few years. -
Auto-Document Feeder doesn't work
by daltoncoon on October 14, 2009
Pros: Pros
Shiny Shiny
Its reasonably priced?Cons: Cons
Auto-document Feeder
Auto-document Feeder
Auto-document Feeder
And did I mention the Auto-document FeederSummary: This thing is a Joke, if you plan on Scanning/Copying/Faxing anything at all get a different printer. The first one I got didn't work at all, after ...
Summary: This thing is a Joke, if you plan on Scanning/Copying/Faxing anything at all get a different printer. The first one I got didn't work at all, after calling Lexmarks Tech support department (a waste of 2 hours), they mistakenly sent me a Pro 205 to replace my Pro 905, wasted another hour with their support dept. and finally received a proper replacement, which I will admit worked better, though not well.
The autodocument feeder does not recognize a single sheet of paper by its self, you have to open the flatbed and place it in manually. I know it sounds so terrible... however if you place a stack of paper there, it consistently takes multiple sheets, and almost always leaves the last sheet there.
If this is a scan, then you have to start at the beginning and in order to avoid frustration as it will continue to take multiple sheets, you just wind up placing each document individually into the flatbed.
If this is a Copy then you have to go through your document and see what pages didn't copy and redo them and then reorder your copied document.
If this is a Fax then you are going to have to call the person you faxed and see what pages they missed and resend those.
If you try to Scan/Copy/Fax something that is not a perfectly flat, pristine document (ie a mail piece) you better iron it first, any kind of bend or fold and the auto-document feeder will not recognize that it exists...
Unless you want to waste all your time opening and closing the document lid scanning/copying/faxing pages one by one, this printer is not for you.
If you can care less about the scanning/copying/faxing function and want a printer that is slower with poorer quality than its competitors and has terrible support... This is it!
I have spent countless hours being jacked around by their tech support, i cannot return it to the store purchased from as the serial number doesn't match the one on my receipt thanks to their swap. They promise to return calls and never do. They promise a refund but tell me it will take 5 to 7 weeks to process. So now after buying a Lexmark I will be out of a printer for almost 3 months.
I know its Shiny, but if you wish to copy/scan/fax then Move on!1 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Lexmark
- Part number: 90T9005
- Description: myTouch is a 4.3" touch-screen LCD of Lexmark Platinum Pro905 that steps you through your print job with bright colorful icons. Create your own custom job icons online, or view and print right from the web. WiFi N gives you the freedom of wireless technology with 3x the coverage and faster transfer speeds than traditional wireless networks. With WPS, enjoy a simple wireless setup process that involves only two steps. An Ethernet port adds even more choice. Two automatic feeder trays for 300 sheets maximum storage two paper types loaded for lower intervention and more printing flexibility. Save money and resources with automatic two-sided printing. And individual ink cartridges mean you change ink only when a color's low.
General
- Width 18.3 in
- Depth 15.4 in
- Height 12.1 in
- Weight 25.6 lbs
Printer
- Inkjet Technology Lexmark Thermal Inkjet
- Ink Palette (Colors) 4-ink - Cyan, magenta, yellow, black
- Ink Cartridge Configuration 4 cartridges (1 each: cyan, magenta, yellow, black)
- Direct Printing Specifications PictBridge
Miscellaneous
- Microsoft Certifications Compatible with Windows 7
Environmental Standards
- EPA Energy Star Compliant Yes
Manufacturer Warranty
- Service & Support 5 years warranty
- Service & Support Details Limited warranty - 5 years
Environmental Parameters
- Min Operating Temperature 60.8 °F
- Max Operating Temperature 89.6 °F
- Humidity Range Operating 8 - 80%
Dimensions & Weight (Shipping)
- Width (Shipping) 21.3 in
- Depth (Shipping) 19.3 in
- Height (Shipping) 19.1 in
- Weight (Shipping) 32 lbs
Accessories
- Lexmark Cartridge No. 100 - print cartridge (33783299)7.88 - 34.34
- Lexmark Cartridge No. 100XL - print cartridge (33783296)14.34 - 35.47
- Lexmark Cartridge No. 100A - print cartridge (33869654)13.24 - 28.28
- Lexmark Cartridge No. 100 - print cartridge (33783283)12.74 - 33.64
- Lexmark Cartridge No. 105XL - print cartridge (33783280)4.99 - 323.23
Manufacturer info
- Lexmark
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Lexmark products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://www.lexmark.com/
- Address:
740 New Circle Rd. NW
Lexington, KY 40511 - Phone: 800/539-6275
- Email: CorpComm@lexmark.com









