Review Mid-range, inkjet all-in-ones are the mainstay of most printer makers’ catalogues, so for one to stand out, it has to offer extra features, better performance or improved cost of ownership to get noticed. Canon has introduced the Pixma MP560 to build on a successful design in at least two of these three ways.
Canon’s Pixma MP560: the changes are more than cosmetic
There are many instances when a new printer model is nothing but a replacement for one that’s gone before, often with more minor cosmetic changes than between this year’s and last year’s Ford Fiesta. However, that’s not the case with the Pixma MP560. It may appear like the MP540, but actually has a lot more going for it.
Indeed, it looks much like Canon’s recent run of all-in-ones, coloured in silver and high-gloss black plastic, but the concave sides are less pronounced and it’s a little squatter than its predecessor. At the back, a flap folds up and lifts to become a 150-sheet paper tray for photo sheets, though it can be used for special media, like letterheads, too. Read the rest of this entry »
Review The Selphy CP780 is a tiny personal photo printer for producing lab-quality 6 x 4in prints. At just 176 x 132 x 75mm it can sit unobtrusively on a shelf or at the back of a drawer, ready to be brought out quickly for those occasions when you want an ad-hoc hardcopy of a photo you have taken with your digital Camera.
Canon’s Selphy CP780
Canon has resisted the urge to make the device cute at the expense of functionality, so it remains relatively plain, compact and rectangular. We tested the silver version; the white version would have been plainer still. If you want cuteness, buy the pink or blue versions.
Unfortunately, the impression of compact tidiness is destroyed when you plug in the power cable at the back and a USB cable at the side, leaving cables trailing in two directions across the table. Putting the two inputs together would have made the device appear classier.
A plastic paper cassette slots into the front of the unit, with a hinged flap on top acting as the output tray. The cassette is designed to hold any of a range of Canon-branded media including 6 x 4in photo cards, 100 x 200mm wide-format photo cards, and various sizes of stickers. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Recent offerings suggest a handful of printer manufacturers are trying to move inkjet technology into the lower-end small office, SoHo space, by targeting those wanting the superior colour inkjets can produce, without all the glossy photo facilities of family and photo-buff models.
Doing the business: Canon’s Pixma MX330 all-in-one inkjet
Indeed, Canon is doing its bit to differentiate between the two markets by producing the PIXMA MX range of business-oriented all-in-ones, as well as the older PIXMA MP range with extra photo facilities. The MX330 is a mid-range device, coming in at just over £100 and offering an Auto Document Feeder (ADF) and walk-up scan to USB drives, but no memory card slots or CD/DVD print. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Laser printers have been nudged out of the personal, one-per-desk market by the continued growth of inkjets. For straight black print, though, there’s nothing to touch laser copy, and Canon has fortified its entry-level mono laser range with the i-Sensys LBP3100, a small machine with a couple of interesting design tweaks.
For starters, the LBP3100, one of the smallest printers in the i-Sensys range, has a footprint when closed similar to that of a 15in laptop.
Decked out in ice-white, with a glossy white lid and pull-down cover at the front, the printer looks unprepossessing, but because of that it fits in easily with most home and office decoration.
To print, the machine has to be opened up, and the lid folds forward to become the output tray. The front folds down to become a 150-sheet feed tray, but the clever part is that there’s a hinged cover behind the front panel, which folds out to cover and keep dust off the paper. Many personal printers have separate covers for their feed trays, of course, but most are separate fittings which have to be stored independently when the printer is closed. Read the rest of this entry »
