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Where to buy Canon Pixma MX700
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CNET Editors' review - Canon Pixma MX700
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CNET Editor's rating: 8.0 out of 10
Reviewed by Felisa Yang Review date: 10/18/07 Release date: 08/21/07 The good: Fast print and copy speeds; great print and scan quality; ADF; two paper sources; preview LCD; memory card slots and PictBridge port. The bad: Scan speeds are just OK; lacks advanced fax features; PictBridge port can't be used for USB flash or HDD devices; no duplexer. The bottom line: The Canon Pixma MX700 is a great choice for small offices with a wide variety of print tasks. This inkjet multifunction beats out the competition with a winning combination of features and performance. The Canon Pixma MX700 is a double threat of a multifunction inkjet, combining high-quality output with fast task speeds. Though it lacks some options that would make it even more compelling as an office workhorse--advanced fax features and a duplexer, to name two--when compared to other $200 office-oriented inkjet multifunctions such as the Lexmark X9350, it comes out on top with the best combination of features and performance. It even improves on Canon's last-generation office multifunction, the Canon Pixma MP530, by adding an LCD, networking, and media card slots. Due to the somewhat limited fax functions and task speeds, the Pixma MX700 is best suited for offices with light print needs and those who can take advantage of non-office features such as photo printing. Small offices that need faster, high-volume text prints and more basic office functionality should look into low-cost laser multifunctions such as the Lexmark X340n or the Canon ImageClass MP4690, though you'll have to spend more money.
Design The control panel is busy but well organized and easy to navigate. The centerpiece is a 1.8-inch color LCD mounted on a pivoting panel. While the LCD is small for previewing photos, it's fine for perusing menus. Next to the LCD are menu and settings buttons, a four-way navigation button, and OK and back buttons for scrolling through menus. An alphanumeric keypad lets you enter fax numbers. And four task buttons--copy, fax, scan, and memory card--let you switch functions. Dedicated enlarge/reduce and fax quality buttons let you make those adjustments, and a feed switch button allows you toggle between the front and rear inputs. You get your choice of two paper inputs: the rear input holds as many as 150 sheets of plain paper and can be used with all of the recommended paper types. The front input resides under the output tray and holds up to 110 sheets of plain paper. Canon recommends using the front input for plain paper only, as media entering the printer through the front bends around a roller--a potential problem for thick media such as photo paper or very thin media like t-shirt transfers. Both trays have extension flaps that support and corral the paper. The Pixma MX700 uses a four-ink system with individual ink tanks. The black is a pigment-based ink, ideal for text prints. The three color inks are dye-based, better suited for graphics and photos. The black tank costs $16.25 to replace, while each color tanks costs $14.25. Canon estimates that it costs 3 cents to print a black page and 6 cents to print a full-color page--both are reasonable costs for a small office.
Features Copy settings are standard on the Pixma MX700. You can scale between 25 percent and 400 percent using preset values (scale to fit) or custom values. Special copy options include 2-on-1 and 4-on-1 copies, borderless copy, image repeat, collated copy, fade restore for photographs, frame erase, and sticker copy. Scan options include Save to PC, Save as PDF, Attach to e-mail, and Open with application. While you can choose the scan target and initiate a scan using the printer's control panel, most of the functionality lies with the MP Navigator EX software on your PC. You can choose the save location, pick scan-to applications, and edit scanned photos and documents. File format options include PDF, TIFF, JPEG, and bitmap. If you've installed the MX700 on a network, you can use the included Canon IJ Network utility to scan documents to PCs on the network. One feature that we'd like to see Canon start including in their multifunctions is the ability to scan to a memory card or to a USB drive connected to the PictBridge port. Canon currently doesn't support USB hard drive or USB flash drive connectivity, unlike the Lexmark X9350 and the HP Officejet 6310. The fax options on the MX700 are very basic and may not suit the needs of some offices that require advanced fax capabilities. Though the control panel lacks dedicated one-touch dial buttons, you can program as many as 40 coded speed dials. If you need a visual reference, you can print out the speed dial list. Unfortunately, you can't save more than 40 entries, regardless of whether they're tied to speed-dial codes or not. Sending options are basically nonexistent. You can't send a group fax, nor can you schedule a fax to be sent out at a later time. Receiving options are likewise limited. The only option you have is to turn on memory receive, which stores incoming faxes in memory rather than printing them. (Memory receive is also triggered by low ink levels and lack of paper.) Unfortunately, the memory is not secured by a password. Other fax functions that we'd like to see include fax forwarding and junk fax blocking. The Lexmark X9350 offers many of these extra features. The memory card reader accepts most common types of memory cards, though some will require an adapter (not included). You get two options for how to choose photos: you can either go through the contents of your card, changing the number of prints along the way, and starting a batch print when you're done, or you can print as you go, making changes to photos individually. View options include standard, full screen, enlarged (you'll need to use the directional keys to scoot around to see the entire image), and slide show. As far as editing goes, you can edit manually to some degree or turn on the Auto Image Fix (doing so grays out the manual options). The manual options include red-eye reduction, vivid photo, photo optimizer, noise reduction, face brightener, image optimizer, and color effects (sepia and illustration). These are manual options in that you can pick and choose which to use, but they operate in a binary on-off mode. More discrete options include tweaking the image's brightness and contrast. Special photo print options include layout prints, sticker print, print all, and an index print. Unlike Canon's photo-oriented multifunction, the index print isn't scannable. Additionally, it doesn't list the file name, just the image number, so it's of limited use as a reference.
Performance
Inkjet multifunction printer performance (in pages per minute)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Canon Pixma MX700
3.95
4.74
5.03
1.05
7.41
In our task quality evaluations, the Canon Pixma MX700 excelled, keeping pace with the Pixma MP530. Its black text prints were sharp, dark, and consistent; close inspection showed some minor jagged edges, but overall, the text prints were excellent for an inkjet. The color graphics print was also impressive, with great color reproduction, smoothly saturated color blocks, and sharp detail in photo elements. The 4x6 photo also showed sharp details, but had a very faint yellowish cast. Skin tones need more warmth and we noticed a very faint graininess present. You can see it only when looking very closely, but it's there nonetheless. Both color and grayscale scans were impressive. We saw lots of detail, good reproduction of patterns, and great color accuracy. Overall, the MX700's print quality makes it good for both general office printing, such as documents, and graphical work.
Inkjet multifunction printer quality
Canon Pixma MX700
Excellent
Excellent
Good
Excellent
Excellent
Service and support User opinions - Canon Pixma MX700
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Average5.9out of 10
Average user rating from 34 users
8 out of 10 - Excellent 35 out of 37 users found this user opinion helpful. 4 out of 10 - Mediocre 25 out of 34 users found this user opinion helpful. 9 out of 10 - Spectacular 15 out of 15 users found this user opinion helpful. 1 out of 10 - Abysmal 23 out of 35 users found this user opinion helpful. 8 out of 10 - Excellent 12 out of 13 users found this user opinion helpful. 3 out of 10 - Poor 11 out of 13 users found this user opinion helpful. 3 out of 10 - Poor |
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