Lexmark CS737dze Review: $6,800 in Printer Mistakes Taught Me What Actually Matters

The Bottom Line First

If you only read one paragraph: The real cost of an office printer = device price + three years of supplies + repairs + IT downtime. Decisions based on unit price alone cost my team more in about 60% of cases.

I've been handling office equipment procurement for a ~120-person company for seven years now. In my first three years, I made just about every mistake you can make, totaling roughly $6,800 in wasted budget. Not because I bought "bad" brands. Because my evaluation method was wrong from the start.

Specifically for the Lexmark CS737dze desktop wired laser printer: it's a solid enterprise-grade machine. But if you don't calculate supplies cost and actual usage patterns upfront, you'll regret it within 18 months.

Why You Should Trust This (A Track Record of Screwing Up)

In 2021, my company expanded to two new floors and I had to order 15 printers at once. My logic was simple: lowest quote wins.

Eight months later — consumable costs were 40% higher than expected (yeah, the TCO stuff you ignore before buying), paper jams 2-3 times per month on average, and IT was spending 4-5 hours a week on printer issues. By month 11, we replaced the entire batch. Between labor and downtime, that decision cost us about $4,200 directly.

Then in 2022, I made an even dumber mistake: I bought cheap third-party Lexmark printer USB cables to "save money." $3 vs. $15 per cable — I figured it was just brand markup. Within three months, 3 out of 7 cables had connection issues and one machine fried its motherboard port due to voltage irregularity. Repair cost: $380. The OEM cables for all 15 machines would have been $225 total.

That's when I built our team's printer procurement checklist. In the past 18 months, it's caught at least 12 potentially bad decisions (I remember because I log every time we dodge a bullet).

Let's Talk About the Actual Keywords

Lexmark CS737dze: Who It's For, Who It's Not For

The CS737dze is a desktop-level wired laser printer aimed at mid-to-high-volume departments in small and medium businesses. Strengths: controllable per-page cost (if you use OEM high-capacity toner), solid network management features, good driver compatibility.

But here's a counterintuitive point: the cheapest way to own this machine is to calculate your department's actual monthly print volume first — then work backward to pick the right toner tier. Most people do it in reverse. Buy the machine, grab whatever toner, then wonder why their cost-per-page is double what they expected.

Insider knowledge: manufacturers don't split profit evenly between hardware and supplies. Hardware moves volume. Supplies are the long-term margin. This isn't a conspiracy — it's a publicly known business model. But many new buyers don't realize it until year two.

Cricket Printer and Wireless Printer: Completely Different Categories

The term cricket printer causes a lot of confusion in procurement circles. Most people mean small specialized printing devices — label printers, receipt printers. These operate on a totally different logic than office laser printers.

My take: don't try to solve all your printing needs with one device. Office documents go to laser printers. Labels and receipts go to dedicated machines. The all-in-one approach usually ends up being mediocre at both.

As for wireless printers: in enterprise environments, my position might be counter-mainstream — wired first. Wireless is convenient, but for IT, it means more network configuration, more failure points, and more security considerations. If your department has fixed workstations, USB or Ethernet will always be more reliable than wireless.

(Which brings me back to the Lexmark printer USB cable thing — after getting burned, I only buy OEM cables now.)

How Does a 3D Printer Work: Not the Same Thing, But Worth Understanding

People often ask how does a 3d printer work. It's fundamentally different from an office printer. Short version: a 3D printer builds objects by stacking material layer by layer, rather than printing ink on a flat surface. The most common FDM technology melts thermoplastic filament and extrudes it along sliced paths from a digital model. Each layer is typically 0.1-0.2mm thick.

Why bring this up? Because if you lump "printers" into one category during procurement, you'll make bad comparisons. Office printing, label printing, 3D printing — three different technology stacks and cost structures. Comparing them is like comparing truck prices to sedan prices.

Boundary Conditions: When This Advice Doesn't Apply

Let me be honest about a few things.

First, if your company prints very little (under 500 pages/month), the supplies cost math above doesn't really apply. In that case, a cheap reliable machine with third-party toner might be the more rational choice.

Second, the Lexmark CS737dze isn't for everyone. If your team is Mac-heavy and rarely uses enterprise management features, you might be paying for capabilities you'll never touch.

Third, and most importantly: all the numbers above come from my specific context (2021-2024, ~120-person company, US market). Your company size, industry, and printing habits will change the math. Use this as a framework, not a formula.

Final suggestion: whatever you choose, ask for a three-year total cost estimate before you sign anything. That habit alone has saved me more money than every "smart procurement trick" I've ever learned combined.