In October 2001 Lexmark introduced their entry-level E320 and E322, at the time the highest-performing monochrome laser printers under $500. With a print speed of up to 16 ppm and a first page-out time of less than 12 seconds (<15 seconds for the E322n and E322tn), the printers offered higher performance at lower costs, making them popular among businesses, students and home users.
There are four models in the E32X series. The E320 (which replaces the E312L), the E322 (base), support both parallel and USB connections. The E322n (network-ready) has one USB and one Ethernet port. The E322tn, available on the Lexmark Canada website, is the E322n model with a 250 sheet drawer added. All have true 600 x 600 dpi and 1200 Image Quality resolution and ten adjustable darkness settings. The "easy-to-use" and "intuitive" control panel indicates when a toner-low condition is reached.
The E320 ships with a 1,500-page starter cartridge, and all E322 models ship with 3,000-page Prebate cartridges. The starter cartridge is not available after market. The E32X cartridges are not compatible with the E312/E312L models, or vise-versa.
Both Prebate and non-Prebate single-element print cartridges contain electronic chips, located on the contact end caps. The chips are matched to a toner paddle encoder wheel specific to the type of cartridge (Prebate vs. non-Prebate). This type of chip is often referred to as a "killer" chip, since the printer will not operate once it has detected a toner-out condition and written data to the chip.
The PCR is located on the door of the printer, rather than in the cartridge, that drops through a port in the top of the cartridge.