LEXMARK'S OPTRA C COLOR LASER PROVIDES UNPARALLELED FUNCTIONALITY IN PRICE
RANGE

GREENWICH, CT., SEPT. 25, 1995 ...Lexmark International Inc. today
announced the Optra C, the company's first color laser printer that sets
new standards for value and quality in the color laser market.

The newest member of Lexmark's award-winning Optra family of lasers, the
Optra C is a desktop size color network laser printer that prints at
speeds of 12 pages per minute in black and 3 pages per minute in color.
Its output, at 600 x 600 dots per inch and Continuous Tone, provides
photographic-quality CMYK color on plain paper with support for the major
color management standards.

Like the other Optra family members, the Optra C also benefits from
Lexmark's industry leading network connectivity and MarkVision network
printer management utility software. With an estimated street price of
$6,400, the Optra C is among the more affordable color lasers on today's
market.

PART OF THE FAMILY

The Optra C's similarities to its fellow Optra family members don't end
with MarkVision support. The Optra C comes with PostScript Level 2 and
enhanced PCL5 with Color emulations at no extra charge, so it works with
virtually any software applications. Also, the Optra C uses the same
connectivity options available to the Optra monochrome laser family, which
saves money for existing users of Optra printers.

Past Optra customers will also recognize the "look and feel" of the Optra
C. The operator panel has the same 4-line by 20-character LCD screen and
four easy-to-push staggered buttons for simple selection of modes and
settings. All of the Optras also use the same hard drive and flash memory
options and internal network adapters, making it easy for customers to
order and utilize similar features.

PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINT QUALITY

The Optra C's photographic-quality output follows a long line of print
quality industry standards for Lexmark, which also delivered the market's
first monochrome lasers boasting true 600 x 600 and 1,200 x 1,200 dpi
resolutions. By providing photographic quality on plain paper, the Optra C
eliminates the need for users to buy expensive special papers to get
outstanding color images and black text on the same document.

The Optra C supports three screening techniques for color printing:
Continuous Tone (or Contone), Color Grade and Stochastic. Depending on the
type of image to be printed, each mode produces superlative quality
output.

In Contone, the image's tones realistically blend together to show a
continuous density range between lighter and darker areas, providing
outstanding photographic quality. Color Grade enables the Optra C to use a
unique combination of screen frequency, screen angle and spot function to
provide high quality halftone images. In Stochastic mode, the Optra C uses
pseudo random placement of same-size dots to eliminate recurring patterns
in images and graphic fills.

The Optra C also provides adjustable gloss levels, allowing users to select
the image gloss to suit their individual needs. It supports most major
color management standards, including ColorSync 2.0, Windows 95 ICM, Agfa
PhotoTune and key DOS application support, as well as PANTONE CALIBRATION
for solid color simulations.

FAST PROCESSING & PRINTING

The Optra C's fast print speeds of 12 ppm in black and 3 ppm in color
eliminates the need for a dedicated color printer in a workgroup
environment, since many typical business color applications will print
quickly and won't monopolize the printer and black-only print jobs will
print up to 12 ppm.

The Optra C combines fast processing with advanced data compression and
high-speed drivers and data transfer to provide optimized performance. Its
standard 8 MB of memory, combined with Lexmark's RAMSmart advanced memory
compression, can print most jobs from the common color business
applications, but the memory is expandable up to 64 MB to optimize
performance for the most complex image applications.

NETWORK CONNECTIVITY

The Optra C takes advantage of Lexmark's heritage of providing the broadest
network connectivity in the printer industry. Like its Optra counterparts,
the Optra C has two internal network adapter (INA) slots to receive
MarkNet XL INA cards for connection to a wide variety of network operating
systems.

Lexmark's highly acclaimed MarkVision network printer management utility
software, which provides easy installation and management of network
printing, is a standard feature of the Optra C and Lexmark's other network
printers. Now users in Windows 3.1x and Macintosh environments, including
those operating on Novell networks, can manage their Lexmark printers
through MarkVision.

The Optra C is compatible with major operating systems and environments
including Windows 3.1x, Windows NT, OS/2, DOS, Macintosh, UNIX and AS/400.
The Optra C is also Windows 95 Plug and Play compatible.

Unlike some color lasers whose toner replacement is messy and difficult,
the Optra C's easy-to-install toner cartridges are simple to access and
replace. The Optra C also has automatic monitoring and calibration to
ensure its outstanding print quality during temperature and humidity
fluctuations. It complies fully with the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's Energy Star Printers program.

The Optra C includes a one-year onsite warranty and is available from
Lexmark's distributors and dealers.

Lexmark International is an independent worldwide company that develops,
manufactures and markets network and personal printers, typewriters,
information processing supplies and keyboards.

For more information about Lexmark network printer products, call
1-800-891-0331. Internet users can find press releases and product
information on the Lexmark home page at http://www.lexmark.com.
 
 =========================================================
 From the 'New Product News' Electronic News Service on...
 AOL (Keyword = New Products) and Delphi (GO COMP PROD)
 =========================================================
 This information was processed from data provided by the
 company/author mentioned. For additional details, please
 contact them directly at the address/phone# indicated.
 Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 =========================================================
 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ  08080  USA
 Email: rbakerpc@delphi.com  -or- RBakerPC (on AOL/Delphi)
 =========================================================
