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 Industry Pulse News Item 
 

New Canon Pixma All-in-Ones For SOHO Start At $99.99

January 8, 2010 - Canon U.S.A. has expanded its Pixma family of SOHO color ink-jet All-in-Ones (AIOs) and printers, with a standalone printer listing at $49.99 and AIOs starting at $99.99.  Among the new arrivals is the PIXMA MX340, which is Canon's first entry-level AIO to feature an automatic document feeder and wireless connectivity.  Also new is the PIXMA iP2702 color photo printer, which lists at $49.99.  All of the new products feature innovative new styling, as well as several upgrades, and are currently being demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

 

Pixma MX340 And MX350 Office All-in-Ones
At a list price of $99.99, the PIXMA MX340 is one of the few (if any) AIOs at this price point with an automatic document feeder--for instance, neither competitor Lexmark or Hewlett-Packard market an AIO with an automatic document feeder (35-page capacity) at this price point.  The Pixma MX340 also features Super Group 3 fax.  Specifications are as follows:

  • Print speed is rated 8.4 (black)/4.8 (color) ppm, and the system can produce a 4" x 6" borderless color photo in approximately 43 seconds.  Canon rates black resolution at 600 x 600 dpi and color resolution at up to 4,800 x 1,200 dpi, and the system is compatible with Microsoft Windows (including Windows 7) and Apple Macintosh. 
  • A 30-sheet paper drawer is standard, and maximum media size is 8.5" x 14".
  • Color copy speed is rated at up to 3.4 ppm.
  • Network scanning is standard.
  • Connectivity consists of Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b/g) USB 2.0, and PictBridge port.  Memory-card slots are provided, and Bluetooth v2.0 is optional.
  • The system uses two separate ink cartridges--a black ink cartridge and a color ink cartridge, the latter of which contains all color inks. 

 

The MX350, which lists at $149.99, is based on the MX340.  One difference is that fax is optional for the MX350, and the MX350 includes a standard Ethernet network interface, while the MX340 does not. 

 

Pixma MX870 Wireless Office All-in-One
The Pixma MX870 provides the most robust office-imaging capabilities.  It too incorporates standard network color print, color copy, and network scan; Super Group 3 fax is also standard.  However, it adds faster print speeds--9.4 (black)/6.1 (color) ppm--and a great paper capacity (150-sheet paper drawer).  It also features a 35-sheet automatic document feeder, automatic duplexing, and Ethernet network interface.  Another difference is that unlike the MX340 and MX350, it uses separate four separate ink cartridges (black, cyan, yellow and magenta).  The advantage of separate color ink cartridges is that users only need replace the particular color that runs out, and not a color cartridge that contains all color inks.  Other specifications for the Pixma MX870 (left), which lists at $199.99, are as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • The system can produce a 4" x 6" borderless color photo in approximately 39 seconds.  Canon rates black resolution at 600 x 600 dpi and color resolution at up to 4,800 x 1,200 dpi, and the system is compatible with Microsoft Windows (including Windows 7) and Apple Macintosh systems.  Maximum media size is 8.5" x 14".
  • Color copy speed is rated at 4.3 ppm.
  • Connectivity consists of Ethernet network interface, Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b/g) USB 2.0, and PictBridge port.  Memory-card slots are provided, and Bluetooth v2.0 is optional.
  • Network scanning is standard, and included is the ability to create secure Adobe PDFs, so that only users with the correct password can open the file.

 

All of the new AIOs utilize five separate ink cartridges, and are equipped with 2.5" LCD Screen and Easy-Scroll Wheel, the latter of which makes it easier to to navigate the menu displayed on the LCD screen.  They also feature a new Auto Document Fix for enhancing scanned images--text is made sharper and blacker, while backgrounds (such as text and images displayed on the other side of a newspaper story) is removed in order to enhance readability.

Also included is N-Up printing, as users can print up to four pages on a single sheet of paper.  With Canon's Easy-WebPrint EX utility, which is for Microsoft Windows only, users can print Web pages more concisely, saving paper and ink.  For instance, the Auto Clip feature lets users select a specific portion of a Web page to print, rather than printing the entire page. 

 

Pixma iP2702 Ink-Jet Photo Printer
The new Pixma iP2702 is an entry-level ink-jet photo printer, and sports high-tech styling and design.  It's mostly matte black, with high-polish black polishing accents.  We like the idea of a matte finish, as Wirth Consulting has found that high-polish finishes, while they are very attractive, tend to be dust and finger-print magnets.  Also of note is that this is an especially compact printer (17.6" wide x 9.8" deep x 5.2" high), and weighs just 7.5 lbs.

 

List price for the Pixma iP2701 (right) is $49.99, making it one of the lowest-priced photo printers on the market.  Specifications are as follows:

  • Rated print speed is up to 7.0 (black)/4.8 (color) ppm, and the printer can produce a 4" x  6" borderless photo in approximately 55 seconds.  Connectivity is via a USB 2.0 port for local printing, and the printer is compatible with Microsoft Windows (including Windows 7) and Apple Macintosh systems.
  • Printer resolution is 4,800 x 1,200 dpi, and is enhanced with what Canon calls it "Full-photolithography Ink-jet Nozzle Engineering" (FINE) with which the printer uses to fire ink droplets as small as 2 picoliters.
  • Using Canon inks and paper, Canon says photos produced with the printer will last up to 300 years when stored in archival-quality photo albums.  There is a black pigment-based ink cartridge, and a single cartridge containing dye-based ink colors. 
  • Software includes new Auto Photo Fix II (see below), as well as Easy-WebPrint EX for more concise printing of Web pages.

 

Auto Photo Fix II

All of the new Pixmas just introduced include Canon's new Auto Photo Fix.  Canon says this technology helps correct common photo errors, such as underexposed images, and can correct for photos captured in both brightly lit and under-lit environments.  Auto Photo Fix also includes overall face detection, scene analysis, as well as brightness and saturation correction.  For Apple iPhone users, the Easy-PhotoPrint EX for iPhone (iEPP) application is available for free at the App Store.