For years, Canon has been producing a number of quality, consumer-priced printers under the Pixma line. What has been so great about the Pixma printers is that, despite their relatively low cost, they are excellent, high-quality printers with several features. I used to use Canon’s iP4200, a very capable piece of equipment that outputted high quality text documents and photos. With the iP4300, Canon has taken it one step further and has improved on nearly every aspect of the iP4200.
First and foremost, Canon has significantly changed the design of the iP4300. Rather than the somewhat rounded, matte-textured iP4200, Canon went with a more boxy and glossy look for the iP4300. The front door for the iP4300 is triggered by pressing a slim button on the front of the printer which causes the door to slowly descend into the open position.
While the power button and main indicator lights are on the outside of the printer, the rest of the buttons and the PictBridge input, lie behind the front door. PictBridge is a technology that allows you to print directly from your camera, bypassing your computer entirely, although your camera must also be PictBridge-enabled. The iP4300 is definitely a bulky printer and is therefore likely to take up quite a bit of desk space.
Like the iP4200 before it, the iP4300 features a removable paper tray on the bottom of the printer, which is great for printing out photos. A new feature of the iP4300 is duplex printing. Duplex printing enables you to print on both sides of a piece of paper without having to manually turn the paper over. While this is a neat feature, I have found that I can print double-sided documents just as, if not more quickly, by manually flipping over the papers.
Setting up the iP4300 is fairly straightforward, although, like so many other printers, the iP4300 does not come with a USB cable, therefore forcing you to have to purchase a cable in order to hook the printer up to your computer. However, the iP4300 does come with all the ink you need, so besides the USB cable, you are all set to start using your printer. The iP4300 comes with all the software you need to get your printer up and running, including some useful photo editing software.
The iP4300 has a very useful way of letting you know when your ink is running low. Although your computer will generally tell you when your ink is low, the iP4300 has LED lights which indicate the ink levels of your printer. When you first install all of the ink cartridges, they will glow red, however, as time goes on, they will start to blink, the faster they blink, the closer they are to being empty. Although this is not a major feature by any means, and you will probably only see it when you are replacing one of the five cartridges and notice another cartridge is running low, it is still nice to be able to visually see how your ink levels are doing by just opening the lid of your printer.
In terms of operation, the iP4300 is a very solid printer. Photos come out looking like professional prints (you can print borderless so they look just like a normal photo) and text documents come out quickly and sharply. The iP4300 is a great all-around printer. Whether you are using it for work, school or home, photos or text, the iP4300 does not disappoint.
Filed under: Reviews, Technology Tagged: | Canon, iP4300, Pixma, printer
