Epson Expression Home XP-102
Price: $60
Verdict: 2/5
Almost as cheap as the Bronze Award-winning
Canon Pixma MP230, this Epson printer also leaves out many of the features that
you might be happy to sacrifice if you’re on a budget: there’s no fax, the
scanner is limited to 600 x 1,200dpi, and there’s no networking, color screen
or memory card slot.
It was one of the slowest printers in our
tests but, unlike Canon’s Mp230, the quality of the prints didn’t justify the
length of time it look to produce them. It can print borderless photos, but
this is the only thing about it that’s better than Canon’s cheaper rival.
Epson
Expression Home XP-102
Brother MFC-J825DW
Price: $160
Verdict: 2/5
If you’re looking for a full range of
options, the Brother MFC-J825DW has it all: printing, scanning, a fax machine,
double-sided printing and wireless networking.
However, it didn’t produce great-quality
prints and, in our tests, text on plain paper suffered from a visible outline.
The scanner also lost detail from the very lightest and darkest portions of the
images we used to test it.
Running costs are reasonable and it wasn’t slow,
but we expect a better performance form a printer of this price.
Printing costs
Price
per mono page (p)
Price
per color page (p)
Price
per mixed black & color page (p)
Printing speeds
Print
speed: 25-page draft (ppm)
Print
speed: 25-page normal (ppm)
Print
speed: 25-page mixed color (ppm)
Our verdict
You can’t fail to notice that Canon has
swept the board in this Group Test. The manufacturer balances great price, good
value running costs and fantastic quality printing across its entire range. All
you need to do is decide how much money you want to spend.
For a full-featured device and the best
possible results, the Canon Pixma MG6250 is our top choice. It superb print
quality won us over, but everything about the device is top class.
The Canon Pixma MG3250 doesn’t have as many
features but still produces great pictures, and costs less than half the price.
It’s an excellent device for the money and can connect to a Wi-Fi network. It
wins our Silver Award.
Making up the hat-trick for Canon is the
Pixma MP230. It’s worth paying more for the Silver or Gold printers if you can
afford it, but if you don’t want to spend more than $49.5, this is a
surprisingly good model. Its print quality isn’t as good as the other Canon
models, but it’s better than some of the more expensive printers we tested from
Epson, HP and Brother.
Specification
Canon Pixma MG6350
·
Price: $177
·
Max print resolution: 9,600 x 2,400dpi
·
Max optical scan resolution (bit depth): 2,400 x
4,800dpi (24-bit)
·
Max paper weight: 300gsm
·
Paper trays (capacity): 2 (145)
·
Double-sided printing: Yes
·
Document feeder (capacity): No
·
Borderless printing: Yes
·
Direct printing (without PC): Yes
·
Memory card support: Compact Flash, Memory,
Stick, MicroDrive, SD
·
CD printing: Yes
·
Max number of copier: 99
·
Screen: 8.8cm color touchscreen
·
Interfaces: USB, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n
wireless
·
Dimensions: 466 x369 x 148mm
·
Weight: 8.4kg
Canon Pixma MG3250
·
Price: $79.9
·
Max print resolution: 4,800 x 1,200dpi
·
Max optical scan resolution (bit depth): 1,200 x
2,400dpi (24-bit)
·
Max paper weight: 300gsm
·
Paper trays (capacity): 1 (100)
·
Double-sided printing: Yes
·
Document feeder (capacity): No
·
Borderless printing: Yes
·
Direct printing (without PC): No
·
Memory card support: No
·
CD printing: No
·
Max number of copier: 20
·
Screen: 7-segment LED display
·
Interfaces: USB, 802.11b/g/n wireless
·
Dimensions: 449 x304 x 152mm
·
Weight: 5.5kg
Canon Pixma MP230
·
Price: $49.9
·
Max print resolution: 4,800 x 1,200dpi
·
Max optical scan resolution (bit depth): 600 x
1,200dpi (24-bit)
·
Max paper weight: 300gsm
·
Paper trays (capacity): 1 (100)
·
Double-sided printing: No
·
Document feeder (capacity): No
·
Borderless printing: No
·
Direct printing (without PC): No
·
Memory card support: No
·
CD printing: No
·
Max number of copier: 20
·
Screen: No
·
Interfaces: USB
·
Dimensions: 444 x329 x 153mm
·
Weight: 5.3kg
Canon Pixma MG5450
·
Price: $129
·
Max print resolution: 9,600 x 2,400dpi
·
Max optical scan resolution (bit depth): 2,400 x
4,800dpi (24-bit)
·
Max paper weight: 300gsm
·
Paper trays (capacity): 2 (145)
·
Double-sided printing: Yes
·
Document feeder (capacity): No
·
Borderless printing: Yes
·
Direct printing (without PC): Yes
·
Memory card support: Memory Stick, MMC, SD
·
CD printing: Yes
·
Max number of copier: 99
·
Screen: 7.5cm color touchscreen
·
Interfaces: USB, 802.11b/g/n wireless
·
Dimensions: 455 x369 x 148mm
·
Weight: 8kg
HP Photosmart 7520 e-All-in-One
·
Price: $229.9
·
Max print resolution: 9,600 x 2,400dpi
·
Max optical scan resolution (bit depth): 1,200 x
1,200dpi (48-bit)
·
Max paper weight: 300gsm
·
Paper trays (capacity): 2 (145)
·
Double-sided printing: Yes
·
Document feeder (capacity): Yes (25)
·
Borderless printing: Yes
·
Direct printing (without PC): Yes
·
Memory card support: Memory Stick Duo, MMC, SD
·
CD printing: No
·
Max number of copier: 99
·
Screen: 10.9cm color touchscreen
·
Interfaces: USB, 802.11b/g/n wireless
·
Dimensions: 454 x 455 x 220mm
·
Weight: 8.6kg
