Two components in the electronics department bucking the miniaturization trend (accompanied by more and more power) are monitors and printers. The advantage of a large monitor is clear enough, let’s say. But what about printers?
You can certainly pick up a small printer, but it will only make small 4×6 prints. A large printer can produce prints as big as 13×19, which are big enough unless you have a Sistine ceiling to plaster. As you move up in size, the cost of trouble-free, small dye-sub consumables becomes unreasonable, so you find only inkjet options with either dye or pigment based ink systems with their inherent tendency to clog and spit.

With its $399.99 MP950, Canon has rethought the printer game, producing a rather large box that includes not just a printer but a copier and a scanner, too. Also included is a card reader and PictBridge port. And a generous 3.6-inch color LCD panel lets you run the whole thing without turning on your computer. Built-in intelligence automatically corrects red eye, sharpness and brightness values (or you can fine tune them yourself). Canon has built a photo lab into this box.
y combining a printer, copier and scanner into one box, you may find yourself saving a little table space. But with a 8.5×16.5 footprint, it does need a table, not a desk.

The MP950 also distinguishes itself by refusing to make compromises on quality. The ink system is Canon’s finest, the new ChromaLife100 set, so the printer can produce photo prints that rival the dedicated photo printers in Canon’s line-up. The 3200-dpi scanner handles not only reflective copy but transparencies, too (and well-designed film holders are included). The copier reduces to 25 percent and enlarges to 400 percent and does it in faithfully reproduced color from either reflective or transparent material.

In short, the MP950 isn’t simply an all-in-one office machine, but Canon’s best of breed in one box. Even its weakest link, the scanner, is more than adequate for making prints. And, like any photo lab, that’s what the MP950 is built to do: make lots of prints. Let’s take a brief tour of all the features

FEATURES

9600×2400-dpi resolution with microscopic droplets as small as one picoliter using FINE printhead technology

ChromaLife100 ink system for lasting, beautiful photos

Borderless 4×6-inch photo in approx. 46 seconds

Direct photo printing from memory cards and PictBridge-ready devices

Quick printing, copying and scanning of photos and documents

Scan 35mm slides and negatives with maximum 3200×6400-dpi optical resolution

Duplex printing

Dual paper supplies

Standalone color photocopying functions of originals up to 0.8-inch thick

 Loading ...