Lexmark OPTRA C720N

WHAT'S HOT: Price, performance, and print quality. The C720n churns out plain black text at 12 pages per minute--acceptable for just about any office--and color graphics at 2 ppm. For a printer that can keep the office humming and deliver color when you need it, $2469 is a good price. But what really caught our eye was the print quality: The C720n produces very black, accurate text that doesn't miss fine serifs or blur heavier strokes; it prints narrow parallel lines as well as a monochrome laser can; and its colors look rich, with great detail and subtle texturing.

WHAT'S NOT: The C720n comes with relatively limited paper capacity--the printer's standard tray holds only 250 sheets. An add-on 500-sheet tray costs $445, while a duplexer costs $650--high prices for options. In addition, the printer has no auxiliary feed and can print on legal-size paper only with a separate tray costing $87.

The C720n's online documentation could use some reorganization. The manuals, while thorough, are spread across two CD-ROMs and split into a passel of separate documents that you can't browse or search through easily.