Lexmark Printing Woes in Leopard
Philip writes in with issues with Lexmark. It appears that his printer doesn't work with Leopard. Here's Lexmark's message, "Thank you for contacting Lexmark, Unfortunately the z53 is not compatible with the Mac OS 10.5. If you require further assistance please let us know."
Here's my response: This is an extremely typical response from a printer company. Just to let you know, any printer under $200 dollars is most likely losing money for the company. They make their money from ink and supplies that you must purchase from the manufacturer. I can't recommend a single printer for purchase. Each of them have their own issues but printers are a necessary peripheral for many users. The manufacture never stated that they would continue to rewrite their drivers as operating system software was updated. If Mac OS 10.5.2 breaks my HP software, HP is not required to update their software quickly or at all for me or other users to resolve the issue.
If you are the proud owner of a 1200 dollar HP OfficeJet All In One printer and you're running Microsoft Windows then there may be a chance that the drivers will continue to be updates for years to come. However, if the printer is a $39 dollar HP inkjet from the local office supply store then I wouldn't expect to have support for that product 5 years after I purchased the device.
I'm terribly sorry that Lexmark is turning their back on you and other users but its a sad reality with all printer manufacturers.
