The Lexmark MC3426i is an all-in-one color laser printer designed for office use. It uses a four-cartridge system compatible with Lexmark's C3210 standard cartridges as well as Lexmark's C341X high-yield cartridges. It features an ADF scanner capable of duplex scanning, cloud fax, and copy capabilities, support for up to three input trays, and a manual page feeder. Its connectivity options include USB, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, and Ethernet, as well as USB support for external storage devices, and it also supports Apple AirPrint, Mopria Print Service, and Lexmark's Print app.
Our Verdict
The Lexmark MC3426i is good for family use if you only plan on printing documents. It has an excellent page yield for black and color printing and a very low cost per print; because of the high yield, you don't need to replace the cartridge very often, and as a laser printer, there's no risk of clogging, so maintenance requirements are low. This printer produces crisp black text and clear color charts and graphics, culminating in excellent print quality. However, the color accuracy, color gamut, and photo printing are all sub-par on this printer as it's primarily an office printer.
- High black and color page yield.
- Automatic duplex scanning up to 22 ppm.
- Outstanding print quality for black and color documents.
- Wide and convenient range of connectivity options.
- Prints poor quality photos.
- Struggles to reproduce fine details in images.
- Leaking toner while printing requires additional cleaning.
The Lexmark MC3426i is an excellent printer for small or home office use. It has a fantastic page yield for black and color documents, around 1900 and 1500 pages, respectively, and prints quickly at 26 black pages per minute and 25 color pages per minute. The print quality of black and color documents alike is outstanding. It has a full feature set, including automatic duplex scanning up to 22 pages per minute via its ADF, and a wide range of connectivity options make it convenient to use. Finally, while its build quality is robust overall, the toner door has some fragile parts that do not inspire confidence in its longevity.
- High black and color page yield.
- Prints black and color documents quickly.
- Automatic duplex scanning up to 22 ppm.
- Outstanding print quality for black and color documents.
- Wide and convenient range of connectivity options.
- Small fragile plastic pieces on toner hinges.
- Leaking toner while printing requires additional cleaning.
The Lexmark MC3426i performs excellently for student use cases, although it's really designed as an office printer for businesses that print thousands of pages a month. That said, if you need to print this much as a student, you won't need to spend much on toner due to its excellent page yield and low cost per print. This printer features a wide range of connectivity options, making it accessible and convenient to use. The print quality is exceptional, producing crisp black text and vibrant color charts and graphics that are great if you need to add a splash of color to a lab report. It also has a fully featured scanner capable of duplex scanning up to 22 pages per minute, so scanning your notes before midterms or finals is a breeze. Like all laser printers, however, it isn't suited for printing any image with small or fine details.
- High black and color page yield.
- Prints black and color documents quickly.
- Automatic duplex scanning up to 22 ppm.
- Outstanding print quality for black and color documents.
- Wide and convenient range of connectivity options.
- Struggles to reproduce fine details in images.
- Leaking toner while printing requires additional cleaning.
The Lexmark MC3426i produces excellent black-and-white documents with clear, legible text and sharp-looking fine details like charts and graphs. This printer has high page yields and an exceptionally low cost per print. While getting the first page out takes a while, black-and-white documents print quickly, yielding 26 pages a minute.
- High black page yield.
- Prints black & white documents quickly.
- Outstanding print quality for black & white documents.
- Small fragile plastic pieces on toner hinges.
The Lexmark MC3426i produces poor photos. Like all laser printers, it suffers from a narrow color gamut, reducing the range and contrast of colors it can print, and it also struggles to reproduce colors accurately. Moreover, it can't produce small or fine details in images, meaning photos with background objects will appear obscure and difficult to see. That said, it's fine to add a splash of color to an office document like a chart or graph, and because of its high color page yield, the cost per print of color photos is low.
- High color page yield results in low cost per print.
- Prints poor quality photos.
- Struggles to reproduce fine details in images.
- Doesn't support glossy photo paper of any size.
Performance Usages
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the Lexmark MC3426i. While there are no variants of this printer, it appears to be a refresh of an older model, the Lexmark MC3426adw. The printing, copying, and scanning specs are all the same. The housing has identical dimensions and weight; the main difference is the removal of analog fax capabilities on the MC3426i in favor of a subscription-based cloud fax service.
You can see our unit's product label here.
Popular Printer Comparisons
The Lexmark MC3426i is an all-in-one color laser printer designed for office use. The Lexmark prints quickly, its cartridges yield many pages, and its print quality is superb for black and color documents alike. It also features an ADF scanner that can do duplex scans quickly. However, this printer falls behind other laser printers in its class, like the Brother MFC-L8905CDW, in terms of printing speed, yield, and quality. Nevertheless, the Lexmark is well suited to high-yield printing environments and is a versatile, all-in-one solution for office and business needs.
Check out our recommendations for the best printers for small business, the best laser printers, and the best office printers.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is a much better printer overall than the Lexmark MC3426i. While both are designed primarily for office use, the Epson is an inkjet with a supertank reservoir, and the Lexmark is a color laser printer. Owing to its reservoir, the Epson yields significantly more pages than the Lexmark and has a lower cost per print. The Epson is also more versatile, as it's well suited to printing photos, which all laser printers struggle with due to poor color accuracy. Print speed is almost identical with these printers; however, the Lexmark is slightly better built overall.
The Brother MFC-L8905CDW is a better printer than the Lexmark MC3426i. They're both all-in-one color laser printers with ADF scanners capable of duplex scanning designed for small office and business environments. While both printers perform well, the Brother has better black color print yield, printing and duplex scanning speeds, and better scanning quality out of the box.
The Lexmark MC3426i and the Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw/MF751Cdw are all-in-one color laser printers that perform similarly overall. While the Lexmark offers better cost per print performance, gets the first page out faster, and has an ADF scanner that is twice as fast as the Canon, the Canon has significantly better scan quality out of the box, features a much better display, and prints a third more color pages per minute. Which printer is right for you will depend on the features or performance you value more.
The Lexmark MC3426i and the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw each have their advantages, as they trade blows regarding performance, features, and quirks. While the HP prints and scans faster, has a better display, and offers superior scan quality out of the box, the Lexmark has a lower cost-per-print, significantly better build quality, and better print quality out of the box. Both printers get the job done in an office setting, so which printer is right for you will come down to personal preference regarding features and performance.
Test Results
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