By Ben Pate

The Lexmark Optra T610 is a printer from a number of years ago that provided an excellent balance between power and ease of use. While, currently, most printers are suitable for either office or home use, the user-friendly and versatile Lexmark Optra T610 was built to accommodate both. This is a rarity these days, which is why the Lexmark Optra T610 paired with the Lexmark Optra t610 toner is such a gem. If you're lucky enough to find one online or for sale second hand, it is a terrific investment.

Speaking of ease of use, the Lexmark Optra T610 was simple to install (in about five minutes, on average, including installing the software and the toner cartridge) and functional in design. Its square shape made it easy to fit in even the tightest areas, and it was also compact enough to carry around to different locations. The toner cartridge was so noted for its ease of installation that it became one of the hallmarks that drew people back to the printer over and over again.

As for power, the Lexmark Optra T610 featured a paper tray with capacity for 350 sheets. The printer could also accept three more paper trays, upping the paper capacity to as much as 2,000 sheets. For use at home or at the office, the Lexmark Optra T610 could adapt to any setting without being too complicated or high tech. This also meant it worked well for those whose printers served dual purpose, for home use and home-office use.

Let's look again at printing speed. This printer typically prints 12 pages per minute, though it can potentially print as many as 15 pages a minute. And the printing is done with few delays. Of course, every printer is going to have the occasional paper jam. However, with this model, it is easy to extract the offending paper, due to the printer's simple front-opening design.

With printing that quick, what type of quality should you expect? The T610 produces a crisp 1200 by 1200 dpi print resolution and also prints well on a variety of paper, including card stock, transparencies and envelopes.

The Lexmark Optra T610 was compatible with Macintosh, UniX, oS/2, and Windows 95/98 and Windows NT operating systems, among others. As we move away from these systems and Windows 7 takes over, unfortunately, use for the Lexmark Optra T610 will dwindle. But it will still remain worthwhile and relevant for users with older operating systems.

The power behind the Lexmark Optra T610 happened to be in its Lexmark Optra t610 toner. It used a standard toner cartridge which, on average, produced about 10,000 pages with a life cycle of about 65,000 pages per month.

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