The LBP7680Cx is Canon's first laser
printer that's designed to be equally at home in small business and enterprise
workgroup environments. Workgroups will appreciate its support for Canon's multifunction
embedded application platform (MEAP) for integration into existing printer
management systems. MEAP enables the printer to run Java apps, and Canon's
focus is clearly its uniFLOW print and scan document management software.
With
impressive print speeds and good output quality, the i-Sensys LBP7680Cx has a
lot to offer. Its management features will be over kill for many users, though
Installation is a breeze: an automatic
routine finds the printer and loads PCL, Post Script and Canon's own UFRII
drivers. It runs under Lion, but support for Mountain Lion was unconfirmed as
we went to press.
Once you've figured out how to use it, the
control pad on the top of the device provides access to all the printer's
features, including the new front USB port for walk-up printing.
As well as a user mode for viewing
consumable levels, the web UI has an admin mode for configuring the printer.
It certainly delivers in the speed stakes:
a 20-page Word document was despatched in one minute, with a time to first page
of around 15 seconds, while our complex 24-page DTP document with graphics and
photos completed in one minute II seconds, with a time to first page of 15
seconds.
The Publication setting ups the
interpolated resolution to a quoted 9600 x 600dpi. Impressively, our DTP
document output just as quickly at this quality level as it did at the General
setting.
At the General setting, color photos were a
tad pallid, but the Vivid Photo option produced rich, vibrant colors with good
detail.
Mono pictures didn't benefit as much, but
detail was still good and text was pin-sharp.
Running costs are similar to other color
lasers at this price: taking all consumables into account, a mono page costs
2.7p and a color page 12.4p to output.
In all, the LBP7680Cx is fast, affordable
to run and delivers good-quality results. You're paying a premium for MEAP; if
you need it, this is still a reasonably priced printer, but if not, there are
cheaper deals around.
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Information
Price: $370
Info: canon.com
Needs: OS X 10.4.9 - 10.7
Pro
·
Fast
·
Quality output
·
MEAP enables enterprise-level integration
Con
·
MEAP hikes up the price
Ratings: 4/5
Pages per minute
·
20pp plain text 60 secs 20ppm
·
24pp DTP 1:11 mins 20.3ppm
·
600 x 600dpi
·
USB
·
Ethernet
·
Embedded MEAP
·
250-sheet tray
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