Canon Pixma Printers Are Best Buys

Posted by Chad Criswell Aug 2, 2007

Canon has been a powerhouse in the arena of document imaging for decades. Canon printers, copiers, and other office machines have always been some of the most reliable and cost effective on the market. In terms of multifunction printers, Canon has apparently struck gold with their Pixma line. In the August edition of PC World Magazine, Kalphana Ettenson has ranked four Canon multifunction printers as the top four in the category. The Canon Pixma MP600 garners the top spot at $179, followed closely by its more expensive sibling the MP960 which adds support for film scanning and 2400x2400 dpi scanning resolution.

Next in line is the Canon Pixma MP510, the cheapest of the three at $149. With the price cut you also cut out some features, the MP510 has a slower print output speed and smaller LCD display. Rounding out the top four is the Canon Pixma MP530 at $200. The MP530 adds a duplexing sheet feeder to the scanning bed, allowing it to scan both sides of a sheet of paper without help from the user. The MP530 is primarily a small office printer. It has built in fax capability, but no built in networking.

One of many nice things about the Pixma series is that all four of the reviewed printers boast individual ink cartridges. The more expensive of the printers have seven independent ink cartridges while the MP510 has just four. Regardless, this differentiation will likely save you money in the long run as it is much cheaper usually to replace a single color cartridge than to replace cartridges with multiple colors.

The moral of the story appears to be this, if you are in the market for a new multifunction printer for your home or your small office, the Canon Pixma series is a great place to start.