photo printers

After two horrible experiences with HP printers I purchased a Canon i550 two years ago. It never disappointed. When I decided I wanted scanning and copying capability it was a sure thing to stick with Canon. I have been using this multipass for about a month now and I am very happy with it. Great photo & document print quality. And, as well known, one great advantage to Canon printers is the reasonably priced ink cartridges. I LOVE having the ability to use the copy function when the pc is not on. This makes my bill keeping and schoolwork much easier. This mfp looks impressive on the desk and is a dark navy blue color with silver details. The only aspect of the printer that has bothered me is the size; it's a little on the large side. But, this is minor in my office as I have plenty of room for it. Looking at other mfp's at the stores, the large size is pretty standard. I ordered this on Amazon (...)- a FABULOUS price for the function and quality of this Canon. Thanks, Amazon!

After paying $30.00 for HP cartridges for years, I selected the Canon specifically because the ink cartridges were $7.00 or less and the color $15.00 or less. While I didn't expect the ink to last as long as the HP tanks, I was pleasantly surprised to get well over 100 sheets of greyscale printing by using the draft and standard modes and reserving quality mode only for presentations. In ink savings alone this printer will pay for itself compared with other brands, many many many times over.

The only real problem (and its not really a problem) with the printer is a long warmup period followed by some overdramatic printer head gymnastics when you go to print a document or use the copier. It can take well over 30 seconds between your print request and when the first page actually starts printing, although the printer is speedy enough after it starts. For casual home or office use this really isn't a problem.

The printer is obsessive about cleaning itself because the ink cartridges don't come with a printer head. This reduces the cost of the ink cartridges considerably but the printer has to take extra care in keeping the permanent head clean. So the long warmups are actually saving you money.

Another thing to note is that the scanner is only 8 1/2 by 11 so if you need to scan legal documents this isn't the model for you. If you want to make an occssional copy or scan a photo the scanner is perfect.

Regardless of where you are printing from (photoshop, word processor, or using the copier) print quality is excellent and the supplied drivers makes it easy to configure the printout. All three functions (scanning, printing, and copying) work flawlessly as as you expected.

The supplied software is worth the price of the printer alone offering an adaquate photo retoucher ( this software won't work with .gif images though ), Optical Character Recognition, and little applets to make handling scanned images (storing, attaching to email) easy.

Setup was a mild chore made easier by following the large poster in the box, there was nothing too difficult, mostly removing packaging and installing the printer ink for the first time. The poster was quite insistant that the USB cable (which is not included and must be purchased seperately) not be attached until last.

The unit itself is about a foot tall, a legal page wide, and a page and a half deep. So it's taller than you might expect. The unit is shiney black plastic, although the top is a more attractive textured black. The sides are light gray. They match the 2004 model Dell computers fairly well. Another nice feature is the output hopper can be folded up when not in use to save space and it just looks nicer. When you print, the hopper will automatically open.

There is no USB cable included with the printer so you'll need to get one. The Belkin cable Amazon recommends with this printer is a great value and works with either USB 1.0 or 2.0 (the printer can understand both). The printer does come with a color and black ink cartridge. The ink cartridge is the popular and widely used BCI-24 series, I had no problem finding replacements on Amazon, Wal Mart, and my local office supply stores.

All told this is a perfect home/small office unit that will fit just about any budget. After a month's use, I'm very satisfied with the quality and value of this printer.

I was considering this product until I checked Canon's website. No OS X support. It works in 9.1 and OS X in "classic" mode but no real OS X support. Most of the included software works in XP only.
From Canon's site...

"""Mac OS X Compatibility

Canon multifunction products are not supported in Mac OS X. Please see below for the list of products compatible with Mac OS.

All models not listed are compatible with Windows operating systems only."""

Check it out at canonusa. Look for MultiPASS MP360.

One star due so lack of support for Macintosh OS X when they support it for their digital cameras.