Lexmark Corporate 74C2SME toner cartridge, magenta, 7,000 pages

According to Lexmark, the 74C2SME yields 7,000 pages. That is a manufacturer figure, and the real page count depends on how much magenta your pages need. Pages with red logos, charts, presentations and photos use more of it, while ordinary black text takes almost no colour toner. So in an office that uses colour mainly for highlights and logos, the cartridge lasts longer than in one that prints a lot of colour presentations.

A colour laser printer builds the image from four toners: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Combined with yellow, magenta produces reds and oranges; combined with cyan it gives purples and blues. Because each colour sits in its own cartridge, you replace only the one that has run out while the others keep working. No toner left in the other cartridges goes to waste.

The supplier data lists the Lexmark CS72x and CX725 as compatible printers. CS72x is the supplier's notation for a printer series; individual models under it are not listed separately in the data. So before ordering, check the model code on the front panel or label of your printer and, if in doubt, confirm in Lexmark's compatibility list that your printer belongs to this series.

The manufacturer's product family is Corporate, and the word also appears in the supplier's product name. Lexmark uses it to set this cartridge apart from other consumables for the same printer. What the Corporate series covers in detail is not explained in the supplier data. For comparison, the data lists the laser toner cartridge type, magenta colour, a 7,000-page yield and the compatible printers – the figures to choose by.

The cartridge weighs 0.234 kg and the pack contains one cartridge. It makes sense to keep a spare in its original packaging in a cool, dry place and open it only when the printer reports that magenta toner is running low. The cartridge is made by Lexmark, so it is the printer maker's own consumable rather than a compatible copy.

Offices and teams with a Lexmark CS72x-series or CX725 colour laser printer that print presentations, reports and documents with logos; admin and IT teams that prefer the printer maker's original consumables; and companies that keep one spare cartridge per colour in stock so the printer never has to wait.