This is my second personal printer. Previously I used a DELL printer that came with a Dell Inspiron series desktop I got as a gift. That printer was always acting up and I was never really satisfied with it.
I bought this printer for approximately $85 including tax around May 2008. I have been very impressed with it, especially comparing it to the Dell I had previously. I cannot compare it to very high end machines because I have never owned one or used one, so take that into consideration while reading this review.
(PRINTING)
It prints pretty quickly, but it takes several seconds to prepare to print, maybe 10 seconds. So that is a bit of a con but it's not that big of a deal, and if you are printing multiple pages, it only needs that prep time once. However, if you are ust printing out one page, it will take maybe a total of 15 seconds.
(SCANNING)
Scan quality is very good for my needs. It scans at a resolution far greater than needed for my humble uses, which is just backing up documents or scanning the odd photo. Colors seem fine to me, although I don't have the needs of a professional photographer or anything.
(COPYING)
Copying works great, I have had to make several copies for friends and family members, and they are always satisfied with the quality, and one friend even remarked he couldn't tell which was the original and which was the copy. I'm sure if he inspected more closely he could tell, but after a quick glance he mentioned this.
(FAXING)
I rarely fax, and to date I have only had to fax one thing. I had to dig out the manual for this, and after a few minutes of reading and following the instructions, I had my fax sent off in no time, and it went smoothly. I used the ADF (auto document feeder), and it all worked without a hitch. To date I have not had to receive a fax yet, so I really don't know how that will work, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.
The control panel is easy to use and has several ranges of options, including quality, color or black and white, paper options including thickness etc. You can set portrait or landscape, and can apply a couple of different effects to photo's to enhance them.
The maintence options are also easy to access and you can clean the printer and align the machine and other things, although I haven't had to do this past the initial setup.
I also cannot comment on printing directly from a pictbridge compliant device, like a mobile phone or digital camera, since I have no such devices, but the option is nice to have.
I have also used this printer to print envelopes which it does quite well.
Another maybe understated "feature" of this machine is the manual, which is clear and easy to understand. it's very comprehensive and walks you through all features of this machine. Given enough time I'm sure most people could figure things out for themselves, but it's nice to have as a reference, as in the example above when I needed to send a fax, it made it very easy.
Overall I am very satisfied with this product and I recommend it for people needing a lot of functionality and enough features for users with basic needs. It offers a good value for your money and I haven't encountered any problems yet. I am using this on Windows XP Home 32bit.
P.S. I also posted this on Canon's website.
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Buy the Canon PIXMA MX310 Office All-in-One Inkjet Printer here!!!
