Lexmark B3442dw Black and White Laser Printer, Wireless with Ethernet, Mobile-Friendly and Cloud Connection with Automatic Two-Sided Printing CarbonNeutral Certified Office Printer (4-Series)

So, initial unboxing and setup was a breeze, even from the little screen with only arrows and an ok button. Connected to my WiFi no issues. Its from here when the issues begin. It drops off my network constantly - even with turning off all power saving features. I have Windows PCs, Android devices and Chromebooks that all have difficulty sending this print jobs. Even after adding the appropriate drivers, plugins and apps this printer goes missing/unavailable, print jobs stall or error out - in general just a royal PITA. Probably best as a direct connect printer thats shared out from a desktop. Not a feasable network printer IMO. Going to giver this away to a family thjat needs a printer for distance learning.

The printer is fast, quiet, simple to use, and does a great job of double sided printing. Print quality is fantastic and for the price you cant beat it. HOWEVER, read on to save yourself a headache when setting it up. The printer does not come with any software or configuration instructions. I turned on the printer and followed the prompts on the printer screen. When it showed Use mobile device to configure, I didnt realize that it was a QUESTION and not a direction. So I wasted half an hour installing the mobile device on my phone and then tearing my hair out trying to figure out how the $#@#!! its supposed to configure the device if it cant see it on the network (because the printer isnt setup or on the network yet...it was like the chicken or the egg riddle). Finally, I hit the arrow key on the printer and saw that the next option was Configure Printer through Display (or something like that). Ohhhhhhhhhh, now I get it. It would have helped to know that these were options and not directions. I selected OK and was able to add the printer to my network and add my WiFi password all through the printer display. Once I got over that hurdle, everything was fine. There is a mobile app to allow you to print from your iPhone or Android, and for the most part it works. However, one app on my Android will send the print job to the printer, but it never makes it. Very odd...some items print from my phone, some dont. I dont really care being I have never needed to print anything from my phone.

What makes this printer stand apart from other monochrome laser printers is its emphasis on “Full Spectrum Security” and networking features that support remote management. If you are looking for a printer to be managed and supported from a remote location, this printer has unique features that support that objective. I purchased this printer to replace a worn out nine-year-old networked monochrome laser printer in a home office. This printer fulfilled that requirement providing excellent speed, print quality, and printing features. I was surprised by the many networking and security features provided by this printer; many more than needed for my use case. Many of these features appear similar to those found in department level printers used by large corporations to handle the printing needs of many employees where reporting the printer’s status, supply levels, and user access info to remotely located IT personnel is required and/or desired. This printer is a new offering from Lexmark and detailed information (beyond the product description on Amazon) is not yet available on the Lexmark website as of this review (early April 2020). Once this information becomes available, it should be possible to better understand the optimum use case for this printer and evaluate it more thoroughly. My current observations are based on reviewing the menu and setting options provided using the printer’s built-in web server. For now, here are some general setup observations: The box contains the printer (including starter toner cartridge), power cord, a one-page instruction sheet, and a software CD (for MS Windows – however, NOT required for Windows 10). The purpose of the instruction sheet is to walk one through initially preparing the printer to be use by ensuring the removal of shipping related packaging and loading the printer with paper. That is the extent of its value. As this printer is clearly intended be a networked printer (Wired Ethernet or Wireless), I will discuss its use in that context. This printer works out of the box with Linux, Windows 10, and Mac without loading any additional software from Lexmark. Wired setup just involves plugging in an ethernet cable provided by you and connected to your network. Wirelessly connecting to your network is accomplished using the setup provided display window & buttons on the printer. Once the printer has acquired its IP address from the network’s DHCP server, the address will be shown on the printer’s display. With the IP address assigned, the printer can now be installed and accessed by other devices on present on the network. Windows 10 installation simply involves using the add printer feature and selecting the network printer from the menu. Older versions of Windows will require driver installation. This can be accomplished using the CD included with the printer or by downloading the “Lexmark Printer Software G4 Driver and Software” from lexmark.com. Both the CD and download software package contain: Lexmark Installer, HBP drivers, Lexmark Scan driver, Lexmark Fax driver, Lexmark Status Center and Phonebook application. My personal recommendation is to use Windows 10 built in support for this printer and not install this software package. Mac Computers are supported by Bonjour and AirPrint on this printer. In Mac’s system preferences – printers, you can add the Lexmark B3342dw off the menu. Any iOS device (iPhone / iPad) will be able to AirPrint to this printer by selecting it on the iOS device. No installation of additional software is required. The Lexmark B3342dw contains a Web Server that can be accessed using the printer’s IP address and any internet browser on the network. Simply enter the IP address into the browser’s address window and you will be connected to the Printer’s server. There you will find an elaborate menu structure allowing you to configure and view the many features of this printer. Now, for the not so good news (as of early April.) The Lexmark site does not currently recognize this printer’s model number or provide any support information. I was, however, able to register the printer to my Lexmark account. Neither Amazon, Lexmark, or any other source has toner available for this printer. There isn’t any information about when/if toner will become available. The printer was supplied with a starter (approx. 500 sheet) cartridge. Hopefully this situation is only temporary. I strongly recommend waiting for available toner cartridges prior to purchasing this printer.

The Lexmark Color Laser Printer 3 Series C3326dw is much more than I expected it to be. The colors that are printed out on the page are vibrant, the printer is quiet and easy to use, and it doesnt take up a lot of space on the desk. Ive got a big presentation to do this weekend so I decided to print it out in color. Normally, my presentations are printed in black and white. WoW...What a difference! I cant believe how professional it looks. Im sure it will wow my clients as well. Im thrilled to have this printer in my office. I received a special deal on this product for providing my feedback. Yes, I recommend this product

I had a little trouble setting this up. The instructions are graphical so that they work all the different languages worldwide. The first steps go through getting it out of the box, removing all the shipping tape and padding, putting paper in it and the like. At step 12, it basically says turn it on. Then in step 13 there is a picture of the CD and an arrow to a laptop. My laptop doesn’t have a CD drive. So I tried using it on a desktop Windows 10 PC and it couldn’t find the printer. I assume there was a missing step somewhere that was to allow the printer to access my local WiFi network. Since I have a wired ethernet as well as WiFi, I chose to make a wired connection so that I could go to the next step in the setup program. It did find the printer and that allowed me to go further. I did have to do a bit of troubleshooting to actually get it to print. I got some error message about something (SMTP?) not being set up. I kept trying to print and I thought it still wasn’t working until I went to the room where the printer was located and found that it had been printing and double sided at that. I seem to remember it asking me at some point if I used the wireless app to set up the printer. Since I didn’t have a wireless app that I was aware of, I said no. Notice in the lower right corner of the instructions there is an I with arrow pointing to a WWW for I assume information. Does this mean, if you need help search the web? A web might be helpful. On plus side, the printer works fine, with good print quality. I assume that I will get the wireless part working at some point.

*********EDITED MAY 2020: It didnt make it through the tiny starter toner. It connects to the network, it just refuses to print with no indication why. Im a retired network engineer and have dealt with the nastiest of printer problems on networks and repaired printers in the field with paperclips, soldering iron and sheer anger. This one stopped working rather early on and can only print its own configuration- no other print jobs will work and nothing more of an error than it just cant print the job. My last Lexmark was an utter failure, too... and this one will now join it as I have to PAY to recycle them both. As of today, replacement toner is not available anywhere- even from Lexmark unless I mail in the empty one first to refill. Im done with Lexmark after decades of buying dozens and dozens of their enterprise printers at a time.************** This is a no-frills, monochrome printer without all the fancy touch-screen nonsense. What it does, it does perfectly- spit out paper quickly. I print a LOT while Im working on some business plans, consulting and getting my MBA just for giggles despite being retired. My color laser eats toner as if it is free and it most certainly isnt. Having a monochrome, fast, two-sided printer as a default is the best idea ever... save that color printing for when its actually necessary. Its surprising how often one does NOT need color, and the cost savings of not wasting printing in color is significant. I set this up without looking at directions, as I always do. Initially, it didnt detect ANY WiFi networks in my house when there are actually five of them. This was odd, but after several tries it started to see them. I had to go through typing the password through the simple buttons and simple display three times, but it finally connected and all is well. There is an app for this as well as computer software, but I chose to do everything without adding yet another app or yet another bit of software on my computer. Its likely far easier to do it with the apps etc- so unless youre just a glutton for punishment like me, just use their app. When it came time to print, this is when I became a big fan... it spits paper like crazy! I set it to print a large document, four pages per side, double sided... and wow, it was racing through it so much faster than any other printer Ive had. SUPER fast at getting prints done. The print quality is fantastic, too. Double-sided printing saves SO much paper and space, too. Lexmark has always been one of my favorite printer suppliers, mostly known for their commercial machines. My last Lexmark was a color laser which was a complete disaster and never worked well at all. It ended up being recycled without ever having a successful print. Lexmark has redeemed themselves with this one- its a business class machine that will absolutely STUN you with how fast it can put out pages. The ads say 42 pages per minute... which is faster than what I got, but plausible. Bravo, Lexmark. There are cheaper printers out there, but this one delivers performance that is worth every penny.

I love everything about this printer! It prints from my phone with ease! It’s took maybe 10 mins to unpack it and print my first document!

The printer never worked. Never even turned on. Hence never printed. No place to call for help. Had to go to Office Depot and purchase an HP printer that does work.

Slow as molasses

It really works. Easy to install, all the instructions are there, very smooth and quickly. Print quality is good. Prints really fast. Is not very big, size is just perfect. Light, energy saver. This printer arrived just in time, we were in need of a new one and this contains all what we want: wifi connection, print from phone, easy to use, etc. We are in love with our new printer. I received a special deal on this product for providing my feedback.