The Lexmark C530 printer is one of a group of colour laser printers based on what is called the 5022 engine; it is used in the C520 / C522N / C524 etc.

This is the complete list:

Model name	Page Per Min	Configuration	Machine type	Intro-Date
Lexmark C520n		Network	5022-010
Lexmark C522n	20ppm	Network	5022-210	Oct 05
Lexmark C524	20ppm	Non-network	5022-400	Oct 05
Lexmark C524n	20ppm	Network	5022-410	Oct 05
Lexmark C524dn	20ppm	Network	5022-430	Oct 05
Lexmark C530dn	22col 24mon	Duplex, network	5022-130	Oct 06
Lexmark C532n	22col 24mon	Network	5022-310	Oct 06
Lexmark C532dn	22col 24mon	Duplex, network	5022-330	Oct 06
Lexmark C534n	22col 24mon	Network	5022-510	Oct 06
Lexmark C534dn/dtn	22ccol 24mon	Duplex, network (550-sheet tray)	5022-530	Oct 06

The C53X is slightly faster handling mono pages than it is with colour (cleaning cycles?).

The C534 machines offer more features than the C530 - notably there is a USB port on the front panel for direct printing from USB pens and PictBridge cameras. There's a numeric keypad used for giving a PIN to release jobs from the print que, and the C534 can take a hard disk to store jobs on as well.

Print costs are the real difference between the C530 and C534. The C534 takes high yield black cartridges with a capacity of 8,000 pages anc extra high yield colour cartridges with a capacity of 7,000 pages. Where the C530 has a per-page cost of 2.6 cents for black and 14.5 cents for colour the C534 can cut this to 1.9 cents black and 9.6 cents for colour (US prices). The basic deal is that your pay significantly more for the C534 but that buys the ability to use the low-cost catridges.

The C53X family is based quite closely on the C52X family which looked similar and was just fractionally slower at 20ppm. There is a lot of commonality of parts but the C524 high capacity cartridges can't be used in the C522 and Transfer Belt for the C53X is different to that for the C52X. The C53X fuser can be fitted in the C52X printers but the fusers from the C52X can't be used in the C53X.

The C52X family was replaced by the improved C53X family. In turn it was replaced as a sales item by the very different C54X family in 2008.

The C52X 5022 engine also appears as the IBM Infoprint Color 1634 (?).

Lexmark C530

A duplex and network version of the 5022 engine. The limitation is that the C530 only takes smaller cartridges. The C534 is a bit faster and has a few more features.

Lexmark publicity says

"Now's the perfect time to liven up your documents with brilliant color laser printing. Very attractively priced and easy to use, the Lexmark C530dn brings big surprises to small, budget-sensitive workgroups. That includes outstanding color, rapid print speeds, major networks compatibility and integrated duplex printing – a real rarity for such a compact, exceptionally priced printer! Great for the environment and your budget, it includes integrated duplex printing to reduce paper waste and drive down costs.

Attractive yet fast: Reach up to 22 ppm in color and produce professional documents with vivid 4800 Color Quality and support for PCL 6 and PostScript 3 emulation.

Easy on your workgroup: Compact, quiet and network-ready, the C530dn is easy to set up, and includes an intuitive operator panel for simplified operation.
With duplex everyone wins

How much of your profits are headed straight for the waste bin? By printing on both sides of the page, now you can reduce paper waste and drive down costs considerably. Of course, that also means less reloading and therefore less user intervention. This makes it an intelligent solution for you, your budget, your workgroup and the environment.
Speed and quality unite!

With Lexmark's rich, vibrant 4800 Color Quality, you can make an impact on everything from spreadsheets to graphics to marketing presentations. But enjoying brilliant color should never mean compromising productivity. Backed by a rapid processor and 128MB of memory, the C530dn reaches up to 22 ppm in color, 24 ppm in monochrome. "

Control:

A 4 line LCD control with direction arrow buttons.

Duty Cycle:

65,000 one-time maximum Impressions per month.

The C532 claims 75,000 and the C534 100,000. Quite why the C534 might be thought more robust is unknown. All three printers have a maintenance interval of 120,000 pages - the life of the fuser.

Print Speed:

Headline print speed is generally given as 24ppm.

Print Speed (A4, Black):        Up to 22 ppm
Print Speed (A4, Color):      Up to 21 ppm
Print Speed (Letter, Black):    Up to 24 ppm
Print Speed (Letter, Color):    Up to 22 ppm
Time to First Page (Black)    as fast as 10.5 seconds
Time to First Page (Color)      as fast as 11 seconds

Print Resolution:

Print Resolution, Black 1200 x 1200 dpi engine resolution. (2400 x 600 dpi). A laser printer can vary the intensity, length and area of the dots it generates and use a dither pattern to generate something that will look better to the eye than the crude resolution might suggest. Lexmark claim "4800" Color Quality for the C53X family.

Paper Handling:

Paper Handling Standard: 250-Sheet Output Bin, Integrated Duplex, 100-Sheet Multipurpose Feeder, 250-Sheet Input Tray. Paper input is not expandable

Paper Input Capacity (Standard): 350 pages 20 lb or 75 gsm bond
Paper Input Capacity (Maximum): 350 pages 20 lb or 75 gsm bond

Printable Area: 4.2 mm of the top, bottom, right and left edges (within)

Envelope Capacity: 10

Media Types Supported: Card Stock, Envelopes, Labels, Plain Paper, Transparencies, Refer to the Card Stock & Label Guide. Media Sizes Supported: 7 3/4 Envelope, 9 Envelope, A4, A5, B5. Envelope, C5 Envelope, DL Envelope, Executive, Folio, JIS-B5, Legal, Letter, Statement, Universal.

Tray 1:

100-Sheet Multipurpose Feeder

Tray 2:

250-Sheet Input Tray.

Face Down:

Paper Output Capacity (Standard): 250 pages 20 lb or 75 gsm bond

Duplex:

Built in on this model

Processor:

375MHz processor

Memory:

Memory, Standard 128 MB,Memory, Maximum 640 MB. There are memory expansion options

Interface:

USB Compatible with USB 2.0 Specification

(It might we worth noting that the C534 provides pictbridge as well - its an argument for using that model)

Network:

Ethernet 10/100BaseTX (RJ-45).

Optional Network Ports

Lexmark N4050e 802.11g Wireless Print Server (Print Only),
External MarkNetTM N7020e Gigabit Ethernet, External
MarkNetTM N7000e Fast Ethernet (USB)

Network Protocols:

TCP/IP IPv4, AppleTalkTM, TCP/IP IPv6

LPR/LPD, Direct IP (Port 9100), Socket (Raw TCP/IP), IPP
(Internet Printing Protocol), HTTP, Enhanced IP (Port 9400).

Print Languages:

PCL 5c Emulation, PCL 6 Emulation, Personal Printer Data Stream (PPDS), PostScript 3 Emulation, PDF 1.5, xHTML

System Compatability:

Microsoft Windows Operating Systems Supported: 2000, NT (4.00/4.00 Server), Me, XP, Server 2003, 98 2nd Edition, XP x64, Server 2003 running Terminal Server, 2000 Server running Terminal Services, Server 2003 x64 Edition, Vista.

Citrix MetaFrame: Microsoft Windows 2000 Server running Terminal Services with Citrix MetaFrame XP Presentation Server or Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0.

Microsoft Windows Server: 2003 running Terminal Server with Citrix MetaFrame XP Presentation Server or Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0, Microsoft Windows 2000 Server running Terminal Services with Citrix Presentation Server 4.0, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 running Terminal Server with Citrix Presentation Server 4.0

Apple Macintosh Operating Systems Supported: Mac OS X, Mac OS 9.x

Linux Operating Systems Supported: Red Flag Linux Desktop 4.0, 5.0, Linpus Linux Desktop 9.2, 9.3, Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 3.0, 4.0, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8.0, 9.0, SUSE Linux Professional 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, Debian GNU/Linux 3.0, 3.1, Linspire Linux 4.5, 5.0, SUSE Linux 10.0, 10.1

Novell Operating Systems Supported: Open Enterprise Server for Netware with NDS, iPrint or Novell Distributed Print Services (NDPS), NetWare 5.x, 6.x with iPrint or Novell Distributed Print Services (NDPS)

UNIX Operating Systems Supported: Sun Solaris SPARC 7, 8, 9, 10, HP-UX 11.00, 11.11, IBM AIX 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, Sun Solaris x86 10

Other Operating Systems Supported: IBM iSeries or IBM AS/400® Systems with TCP/IP with OS/400® V3R1 or later using OS/400 Host Print Transform.

Virtually any platform supporting TCP/IP and having PostScript will be able to work with the printer.

Power:

Models for 120V and 220V operation

Power Consumption:

Energy Star Compliant.

Dimensions:

Packaged Size (mm - H x W x D): 570 x 633 x 553 mm
Size (mm - H x W x D): 484 x 440 x 512 mm, Size (" - H x W x D) 19 x 17.3 x 20.2 "

Weight:

Weight (lbs)57.0 lbs. Weight (kg) 25.9 kg

Acoustic Noise:

Noise Level, Idle 31 dBA
Print Noise Level, Operating 53 dBA

Consumables:

As with most colour laser printers a CMYK process is used. (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK). A toner is needed for each colour. Users will often find that they use much more black than other toners simply because black text is much more readable and therefore most pages use more of it. The printer has a photoconductor for each colour and they will need replacing after 20,000 pages. The fuser will ultimately need replacing as well if the printer is heavily used.

Toner:

Because the C530, C532 and C534 belong to a series which offers printers for low to mid volume use there are different toner options. The small toner catridges fit the whole range - but don't offer particularly attractive economics. The higher model number printers can take most of the small cartridges but they can also take a cartridge intended to offer lower cost per page.

The printer ships with demonstration cartridges with a 1,500 page life and standard photoconductors.

Lexmark also have:

Standard cartridges - sold with no restriction. they can be returned at no cost to Lexmark for recycling.

Return program cartridges should be used once then returned directly to Lexmark for remanufacturing or recycling. Lexmark will provide a freepost bag to do this. Cartridges may be refurbished but there is a discount on the price.

These printers give a warning that toner is low. The user manual suggests removing and shaking cartridges to get a bit more printing ability from them until print is persistently faded. This will often give user time to order a replacement.

Toner yields are for an average page cover of 5% as per ISO/IEC 19798. Yield will differ for pages:
with heavy cover where toner will be used proporionately.
with very little cover where other components may fail before toner is exhausted.
where the printer is used intermittently which uses more than continual use.

Normally these factors are not very significantly but extremes of use such as intermittently printing one line may make them so.

These toners fit the Lexmark C530:

C5200CS	Cyan	Return Program	1,500 pages	C520,	C530
C5200MS	Magenta	Return Program	1,500 pages	C520,	C530
C5200YS	Yellow	Return Program	1,500 pages	C520,	C530
C5200KS	Black	Return Program	1,500 pages	C520,	C530

C5202CS	Cyan	1,500 pages	C520,	C530
C5202MS	Magenta	1,500 pages	C520,	C530
C5202YS	Yellow	1,500 pages	C520,	C530
C5202KS	Black	1,500 pages	C520,	C530

C5220CS	Cyan	Return Program	3,000 pages	C522, C524,	C530, C532, C534
C5220MS	Magenta	Return Program	3,000 pages	C522, C524,	C530, C532, C534
C5220YS	Yellow	Return Program	3,000 pages	C522, C524,	C530, C532, C534
C5220KS	Black	Return Program	4,000 pages	C522, C524,	C530, C532, C534

C5222CS	Cyan	3,000 pages	C522, C524,	C530, C532, C534
C5222MS	Magenta	3,000 pages	C522, C524,	C530, C532, C534
C5222YS	Yellow	3,000 pages	C522, C524,	C530, C532, C534
C5222KS	Black	4,000 pages	C522, C524,	C530, C532, C534

The C532 and C534 can also take 5,000 and 7,000 page colour toners. That makes them better value if large print volumes are expected. They are also rated for a higher monthly duty cycle.

Waste Toner Box: The message "82 Waste Toner Box Nearly Full" is given somewhat before the waste toner box runs out of space. the message "82 Replace Waste Toner Box" is given when the box is actually full.

C52025X Waste Toner Box, yield 25,000 Images, C52025X

Lexmark have designed an enclosed box for the waste toner to limit user contact with the material and the danger that it will make a mess. Emptying some toner out is not recommended - but may get the printer going!

Photoconductors:

The message "Black PC Unit Life Warning" or "Cyan PC Unit Life Warning" (etc). is given when a replacement photoconductor will shortly be needed. The single pack will suit situations where there is a big difference between black and colour use. The 4 pack will suit people doing mainly colour printing.

C53030X, Photo Conductor, 1 pack, yield 20,000 Images C53030X

C53034X, Photo Conductor, 4 pack, yield 20,000 Images C53034X

Transfer Kit:

The printer gives a message " Transfer belt life warning" when it is time to order a new belt. The actual remaining life is determined by environment, duty cycle and toner coverage. Be aware that although new belts can usually be delivered in a day or two shortages are possible.

40X3572, Transfer Kit 40X3572

Changing the transfer belt may change the alignment of the toner cartridges. The user manual recommends running the alignment procedure. Details are given in the user manual. But in brief:

1 With the printer off.
2 Hold the Go and rightarrow buttons whilst turning the printer on.
3 Release the buttons only when message "performing self test" appears.
The message "CONFIG MENU" appears
4 Press downarrow until the message reads "Color Alignment"
5 Press Go to print the alignment page.
6 Press downarrow until Set A apperas and then press Go
7 From the printed sheet find the straightest of the 20 lines beside the letter A
8 Press left or right arrow until that number is displayed then press Go.
9 Repeat steps 6 through 8 to align sets A through L
10 Press Go
11 Press downarrow until "Exit Config Menu" appears and
12 Press Go again to exit.

Fuser:

The printer gives a "fuser life" message when the fuser will soon need replacing. When the message "Replace fuser" appears the fuser needs replacing. Lexmark original fusers have some documentation accompanying them.

Lexmark rather unusually make three different fusers for different regional voltages. Order the correct one which is 220-240V in the UK and Europe, 120V in the US and (I think) 100 Volt in Japan.

40X3569 (120V/50–60Hz) Fuser for C52X, C53X, 40X3569

40X3570 (220–240V/50–60Hz) Fuser for C52X, C53X, 40X3570

40X3571 (100V/50–60Hz) Fuser for C52X, C53X, 40X3571

Maintenance Kit:

The fuser is sometimes talked of as a fuser maintenance kit. So far as we know this is just a fuser - not a fuser and a set of rollers.

Whats In The Box:

Warranty:

One Year Onsite Repair

Product Certifications: Energy Star, CSA, ICES Class B, BSMI Class B, VCCI Class B, FCC Class B, UL 60950 3rd Edition, IEC 320-1, CE Class B, CB IEC 60950, IEC 60825-1, GS (TÜV), SEMKO, UL AR, CS, TÜV Rh, C-tick mark Class B, CCC Class B, CISPIR 22 Class B, MIC Mark

Spares:

0040X0070, Pickup Roller for cassette (aka Pick tyre) , used in the C520, C52X, C53X, C75X, C76X, etc 0040X0070

40X3607 Pick Arm Rollers 40X3607 (2 cassette)

40X3573 Paper Pick Mechanism 40X3573

12G9616, Service Manual CD 0012G9616

Service:

We are researching maintenance contracts and repair options for these printers

Options:

There is no option for an extra tray as there is on the C532 and C534.

Memory can be upgraded:
0013N1523    128MB DDR-DRAM
0013N1524    256MB DDR-DRAM
0013N1526    512MB DDR-DRAM

Flash Memory:
001021208    32MB Flash Card
001021209    64MB Flash Card

Language Cards:
001021243    Japanese Font Card
001021240    Korean Font Card
001021241    Simplified Chinese Font Card
001021242    Traditional Chinese Font Card

Connectivity Options:
001021294    USB (2 Meter) Cable
0014T0155    Lexmark N4050e 802.11g Wireless Print Server
0014T0220    MarkNetTM N7020e Gigabit Ethernet Print Server
0014T0230    MarkNetTM N7000e Fast Ethernet Print Server - USB

*

Information given here is compiled from various sources: Lexmark web site, Lexmark PDF publicity material, Lexmark User Guides and service manuals where they are publically available. Nothing said here should be considered an offer for sale (and indeed these printers are no longer sold new).

Created and copyright by Graham Huskinson, July 2009.