Canon Pixma iP2600 Photo Printer

Manufacturer: Canon USA Part number: 2435B002

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Bottom Line:: The Canon Pixma iP2600 is an excellent option for buyers looking to print their personal photos and text documents. We wish it had external ports for direct image uploading (although we're not surprised it doesn't), but you'll be more than satisfied with this printer's ability to deliver quality photos at a low price.

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store	customer rating	inventory	tax & shipping	price
	Rate this store See store profile	In stock	Enter zip code to get total price: Price +Tax +Shipping =Total price	$49.99 Shop now as of 10/10/2008
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Once you know, you Newegg!	Rate this store See store profile	In stock Best Place to Buy Online - Computer Shopper 2007 Award		$46.99 Shop now as of 10/10/2008
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More stores below Plan B: The Smarter Choice in Color Printing MFC 6490cw $299.99* Print, Copy, Scan & Fax up to 11"x17" estimated street price MFC-5890cn $199.99 Up to 11"x17" Printing High Yield Ink Cartridges estimated street price HL 4040cn $399.99 Up to 21ppm mono/color Network ready *estimated street price
Directron.com	Not yet rated Rate this store See store profile	In stock		$50.98 Shop now as of 10/10/2008
TheNerds.net	Rate this store See store profile	In stock		$54.99 Shop now as of 10/10/2008
Amazon.com	Rate this store See store profile	In stock		$58.95 Shop now as of 10/10/2008
PrinterGalaxy.com	Not yet rated Rate this store See store profile	In stock		$49.99 Shop now as of 10/10/2008
Costcentral.com	Rate this store See store profile	In stock		$49.31 Shop now as of 10/10/2008

*Total price for the Canon Pixma iP2600 Photo Printer are estimated and may vary slightly based on exact tax, shipping, manufacturer rebate or any sale/promotion on the merchant site.

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CNET editors' review

Canon Pixma iP2600 Photo Printer

price range: $46.99 - $58.95

Reviewed by: Justin Yu
Edited by: Rich Brown
Reviewed on: 03/06/2008
Released on: 01/28/2008

The good: Sleek design folds up for unobtrusive storage; portrait prints display evenly balanced colors; lines of text look sharp; low price for print quality.

The bad: Lacks PictBridge port and memory card slot; brighter colors had a slightly gray cast; USB cord not included; exterior is a magnet for fingerprints.

The bottom line: The Canon Pixma iP2600 is an excellent option for buyers looking to print their personal photos and text documents. We wish it had external ports for direct image uploading (although we're not surprised it doesn't), but you'll be more than satisfied with this printer's ability to deliver quality photos at a low price.

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The Pixma iP2600 is Canon's inkjet photo printer for users on a budget. The retail price is $49.99, replacing the Pixma iP1800 as its entry-level, straightforward printer with limited features. As expected in a baseline product, the iP2600 lacks a PictBridge port and a memory card slot but makes up for it with a sleek design, competitive print speeds, and bold, crisp prints. The photos themselves are also incredibly easy to crop, repair, and alter using the included Easy-PhotoPrint EX software bundle. Overall, you'll find that this is a cost-effective printer for text documents and amateur-level photo printing.

Design
It's obvious that Canon put a lot of work into the design of the iP2600. The sleek exterior is 5.6x17.4x10 inches and has a glossy black, slightly mirrored finish that looks sleek on your desk--that is, until the dust settles, literally. The shiny body retains fingerprints, a lot like the display on the iPhone. Smudges aside, the iP2600 doesn't take up a lot of desk space, and it blended in nicely with the rest of our dark peripherals. The output and paper trays both fold into the unit when not in use, creating a tight box that could easily be mistaken for a stereo boom box. The output tray folds down from the face of the printer with a slightly flimsy rectangular arm that extends to corral loose paper. The arm doesn't have a cap at the end, which was counterproductive, and a few of our test sheets flew off the tray as a result. Annoying, but certainly not a deal-breaker.

The control panel is very minimalist, with only power and paper feed buttons on top of the printer. The power button also doubles as an alarm lamp that flashes orange when an error occurs. The power cord and the USB port are on the back. Potential buyers should be aware that you'll need a USB cord to connect the printer to a computer, but as is frustratingly common with printers, it's not included in the box. Appropriate for this price, there are no provisions for external bridge connectivity, so consumers looking to eliminate the middleman and plug a digital camera, a USB key, or a memory card directly into the IP2600 should look to a comparable, more fully featured (albeit higher priced) set like the HP Deskjet D4260 or the Epson Stylus Photo R260.

Performance
The Canon Pixma iP2600 performed admirably in our speed tests. The Pixma churned out 5.68 pages per minute (ppm) of black-and-white text, falling just short of the HP Deskjet 4260 ($75) at 6.03 ppm and the Lexmark Z845 ($50) at 6.85 ppm. The three printers are all within the same general sub-$100 price range, so the slight deficit is expected and acceptable compared with other budget inkjet printers.

Print speeds (in pages per minute)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

PPM (photo)

PPM (text)

Lexmark Z845

0.48

6.85

HP Deskjet D5260

1.01

6.03

Canon Pixma iP2600

0.89

5.68

The Canon also performed surprisingly well in our quality tests. It printed text onto 20-pound generic office paper with dense, well-saturated ink. The characters formed precise, crisp edges with no visible blurriness and minimal misshapes in 8x loupe magnification. The color graphics test came out solid and evenly distributed, but there were certain portions of our graphics document that came out with a slightly neutral color, specifically in areas with gradual color gradients. We repeated our tests in three iterations, and these imperfections were consistent but will likely be unnoticeable unless you have a sharp eye for print quality. In all cases, the photos produced vivid colors and text that popped from the page. Most importantly, we found these results to be accurate over the cartridges' entire life cycle.

We were also impressed with the 4x6 photos we printed on Canon's semigloss paper. They're definitely far from perfect, but the colors were balanced evenly and our subjects' faces appeared to contain an even amount of cyan and magenta, a task that's difficult for most lower-end photo printers to achieve. The solid printing performance and relatively quick output speeds make this printer an affordable choice for printing text, light graphics documents, and digital pictures.

Service and support
Canon ensures support for the iP2600 for a limited 90 days after the purchase date, a meager amount compared with Epson's guaranteed one-year warranty. However, if you do encounter an issue that can't be solved over the phone, you'll still be protected by Canon's "InstaExchange" service: a new printer will be sent out with instructions inside on how to use the RMA number to send your defective unit back to Canon. The highlight of this service is that your new printer will be shipped out the same day, as long as you call in before 3 p.m. ET Monday through Friday.

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Canon USA
Part number: 2435B002
Description: This compact photo printer delivers true ease of use and amazing results. Its patented print head technology lets you produce beautiful, long-lasting photos with borderless edges, from credit- card size, up to 8.5" x 11", and with resolution up to 4800 x 1200 color dpi. It is fast, too: a superb 4" x 6" borderless print takes only about 55 seconds. For better results, the Auto Image Fix feature automatically corrects images for the best possible exposure, color, brightness and contrast. Also, the specially formulated pigment black ink delivers clear, laser-quality text with better readability and a higher resistance to smudging.

General
Printer Type Photo printer - Ink-jet - Color
Width 17.4 in
Depth 10 in
Height 5.6 in
Weight 8.2 lbs
Printer
Inkjet Technology Canon FINE (Full-lithography inkjet Nozzle Engineering)
Ink Palette (Colors) 4-ink
Minimum Ink Droplet Size 2 pl
Print Speed up to 22 pages/min - B/W - A4 (8.25 in x 11.7 in), up to 17 pages/min - Color - A4 (8.25 in x 11.7 in)
Connectivity Technology Wired
Interface USB
Max Resolution ( B&W ) 600 dpi x 600 dpi
Max Resolution ( Color ) 4800 dpi x 1200 dpi
Printer Features Borderless printing
Printing
Color 4-ink
Media Handling
Media Type Plain paper, Cards, Semi-gloss photo paper, Two-sided photo paper, Glossy photo paper, High resolution paper, Matte photo paper, Photo paper, Envelopes
Max Media Size (Custom) 8.5 in x 14 in
Media Sizes 2.1 in x 3.4 in, Letter A Size (8.5 in x 11 in), B5 (6.93 in x 9.83 in), Legal (8.5 in x 14 in), A5 (5.83 in x 8.25 in), 3.9 in x 7 in, A4 (8.25 in x 11.7 in), 3.95 in x 5.9 in
Envelope Sizes International DL (4.33 in x 8.66 in)
Card / Label Sizes 2.13 in x 3.4 in
Total Media Capacity 100 sheets
Media Feeder(s) 1 x Autoload - 100 sheets
Telecom
Modem None
Networking
Networking None
Power
Power Device Power supply
Power Consumption Operational 7 Watt
Power Consumption Stand by / Sleep 0.1 Watt
Miscellaneous
Consumables Included 1 x Ink tank ( Color ) - Canon CL-38, 1 x Ink tank ( Black ) - Canon PG-37
Scanner
Type None

Copier
Copier Type None
Environmental Standards
EPA Energy Star Compliant Yes
Manufacturer Warranty
Service & Support 3 months warranty
Service & Support Details Limited warranty - 3 months, Technical support - Phone consulting
Expansion / Connectivity
Expansion Bays Total (Free) None
Expansion Slots Total (Free) None
Connections 1 x USB - 4 pin USB Type B
Compatible Slots None
Environmental Parameters
Sound Emission (Operating) 43 dBA
Battery
Type None
Software / System Requirements
Software Included Canon Easy-PhotoPrint, Drivers & Utilities
OS Required Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Vista, Apple MacOS X 10.3.9 or later
CNET Labs' Benchmarks
CNET Labs Photo Speed Test (pages per minute) 0.89
CNET Labs Presentation Speed Test (pages per minute) 1.99
CNET Labs Printer Graphics Speed Test (pages per minute) 1.79
CNET Labs Text Speed Test (pages per minute) 5.68

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Canon Pixma iP2600 Photo Printer

Where to buy

CNET editors' review

User reviews

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Specifications

General

Printer

Printing

Media Handling

Telecom

Networking

Power

Miscellaneous

Scanner

Copier

Environmental Standards

Manufacturer Warranty

Expansion / Connectivity

Environmental Parameters

Battery

Software / System Requirements

CNET Labs' Benchmarks

Manufacturer info