Shiny but slowish
Canon’s Pixma MX515 is a smart inkjet
all-in-one aimed at the home office market. It may lack the bells and whistles
of its higher-end siblings, but it has a practical set of features
nonetheless, including a fax modem and a 30-sheet automatic document feeder
(ADF).
The MX515 can print over wifi, but it also
has a wired Ethernet port, which is a more reliable option if it’s within reach
of your router. Only one interface can be active at a time, so you need to
disable wifi to use the network port. It supports Apple's AirPrint, so you can
output wirelessly from your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. And Canon’s free app
also enables you to scan directly to your iOS device.
The Pixma MX515 is a compact and stylish all-in-one, but its running costs are
nothing to write home about
It has a single paper input tray with a
capacity of only 100 sheets. The input tray is mostly protected from dust by
the output tray above it, but when empty both can be folded up neatly. To the
left are two memory card slots, while the top panel is given over to the ADF -
which folds closed when not needed - and the control system.
We have mixed feelings about the MX515’s
controls. Its small screen is clear, but you can’t alter the angle for easier
viewing. To navigate, you use a mix of three dedicated buttons below the screen
and a four-way rocker switch without an OK button in the center, a setup that
we found counterintuitive. On the other hand, there's a great- looking system
of blank buttons that only light up with additional options when they’re
relevant, greatly reducing clutter.
To
navigate, you use a mix of three dedicated buttons below the screen and a
four-way rocker switch without an OK button in the center, a setup that we
found counterintuitive.
This isn't a slow text printer, but on
graphical j obs it was one of the most lethargic inkjets we’ve reviewed. Our
color graphics test inched out at just 2.3ppm, while each postcard-sized
photograph took three minutes. Fortunately, the results were uniformly good,
with stronger colors on plain paper than we've seen from other Canon inkjets.
Duplex prints were less impressive, as they were noticeably fainter despite
lengthy drying pauses. These pauses also contributed to their slow speed: ten
sides of color printed onto five pages took six minutes 26 seconds.
Our scanner tests underlined the advantage
of a wired network port over wifi: the MX515 was as fast over Ethernet as when
connected via USB, completing a 600dpi photo scan in just 21 seconds. Captured
images were in sharp focus with accurate colors, and the scanner only struggled
to distinguish the two very darkest shades in our test pattern. Copy quality
was also well above average.
It’s modestly priced, but this is offset by
its comparatively high print costs, particularly black-only pages, which cost
3p each.
The MX515 isn’t a bad choice if you’re
after something stylish for light use, but its high running costs and slow
graphics print speeds should make you think twice.
Details
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Price
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$142
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Manufacturer
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Canon
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Info
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.com
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Needs
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OS X 10.5.8 and higher
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Pro
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Stylish * Comprehensive specs * Decent-quality prints and scans
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Con
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Expensive to run * Slow
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