As desktop space comes at a premium, all-in-one printer / scanner / copier / fax / coffee maker / toasters can be an ideal solution for the student, the small business worker or telecommuter. In fact, these do-it-all wonders have gained such traction in the marketplace that you’d be hard pressed to find a single-function consumer inkjet printer outside of the photo enthusiast or large format categories. While single function printers do still exist, they’re not as relevant of a product category as they were even a few years ago. After all, if you can get a scanner, copier, fax and printer in a package not much bigger than a single function printer and with a price tag not too far off the mark either, why wouldn’t you?

Multi Function Printers (MFPs) are a great solution for dorm rooms or SOHOs. For light-duty copying or for scanning hard copy documents (such as notes) to send via email, they’re invaluable.
Many of the solutions in Canada still incorporate a fax component. Curiously, anecdotal industry evidence suggests that Canada is one of very few hold-out markets where fax is concerned. HP, for example, doesn’t tend to bother with fax capability in the US market as it’s not something that consumers are looking for. Conversely, in Canada fax capability can prove to be a major marketing bullet point and can be a make or break selling feature for some users.

A growing trend in consumer MFPs is wireless connectivity. Several of the MFPs we had In the Lab this month incorporate Wi-Fi as a connection option. This is ideal when desk space is at an absolute premium; once configured, wireless printers can be placed anywhere within range of your home wireless connection without having to string wires. The printer I use at home — the Brother MFC 885CW — sits across the room from my PC, out of the way and not taking up valuable desk real estate.
Without further adieu, let’s get to the actual testing.

We performed the testing of all printers in one day. All drivers were loaded on to our test machine and the printers were tested in succession. If during the initial setup the printer asked if we wanted to print a test or configuration page, we did so. Otherwise, we launched straight in to the test printing.
Colour photo printing capability was tested on matte presentation paper using the Photo Printing Wizard within Windows XP to print off a full letter paper sized still life scene.

Where available, paper type was selected and “best photo” or similarly titled printing mode was chosen. Colour printing was tested using the colour printing test page at nemesis.lonestar.org/site/color_test.html. Monochrome printing was tested using a heavy coverage 10 page specially created for the In the Lab series. We tested the lowest quality “draft,” “economy” or “fastest” printing mode on all printers. We also tested the default “normal” or “standard” mode.

For page per minute (PPM) numbers or time to print results, the stopwatch began when the paper was first taken up by the printer and stopped when the last page dropped into the finishing tray.

Next: The Pixma MP520

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