|
Design & Features
|
**click to enlarge** |
**click to enlarge** |
The Canon Pixma IP4000 may not win any design awards
for its rather large footprint and bright dull green power LED, however, when
you take its impressive features into consideration, you certainly can
learn to live with it. Its boxy design sports a two-tone silver/dark
gray theme. I would have personally preferred a silver/black design to
closely match a wider range of modern systems. However, when it comes
to printers, I've found that many manufacturers simply don't take this into
consideration at all. In fact, a majority are still being designed in
beige or white.
**click to enlarge**
What I found to be its most impressive
feature, and certainly what lured me into a purchase, was its dual paper path. No other printer on the market does offer this feature and
can be quite useful depending on your printing needs. I for one, print
plenty of labels and DVD/CD case inserts. Unfortunately, a majority of
case inserts are not letter-sized and force you to have to remove the paper. With the Canon Pixma IP4000, you don't need to ever
remove paper to accommodate for inserts or even photo paper. The dual
paper path will allow you to print from the top as well as the bottom tray.
I load standard letter sized paper on the bottom tray and use the top feeder
for inserts and label stock. The software will allow you to easily
select the source prior to printing. Also note that the dual paper
path also supports 2 sided printing.
|
**click to enlarge** |
**click to enlarge** |
When you get to the topic of ink, there is so
much I would really like to say. However I will keep it to the bare minimum
while still providing many with at least some minor knowledge as to the pros
and cons to ink-jet printing. Unlike HP printers, the Pixma IP4000
features a 5-color ink system with four dye-based inks plus a pigment-based
black ink (largest cartridge) designed to mainly improve color contrast and
help provide laser quality text. If you note from the first picture
above, one minor but nice feature is that their genuine cartridges are
completely clear. As most may agree, the ink-tank sensors on all
printers are quite unreliable. In fact, with a select few HP
printers, I've learned to quickly ignore the low ink warnings and would
continue printing for quite some time before they actually did indeed run
out. The clear ink tanks will really let you know when it comes time
to replace one. On top that, it leads to what I think is the most
important feature you should look for when on the market for a new ink-jet...low
cost printing.
Printers with individual ink tanks will greatly reduce the recurring costs
of operation. For example, HP printers have just two ink
cartridges, both of which are very expensive. So much in fact, that
many may be quite hesitant to purchase new cartridges before considering a
whole new printer to begin with. Considering the incredibly low
prices of a majority of ink-jets, this is clearly where the manufacturer
makes their profit.
Another feature to take into account is that
the Canon Pixma IP4000 has a removable and replaceable print head. A
majority of ink-jet printers on the market, like those from Epson, do not
have removable print heads. With the exception of HP printers, this leads to
additional maintenance in order to keep them operating at
their very best. Canon printers not only let you replace individual
ink cartridges, but also let you replace the print head itself if necessary.
**click to enlarge**
The Pixma IP4000 has a PictBridge port on the front
that will support any PictBridge compatible digital camera. Using the
IP4000 with the excellent Canon Powershot SD-300 4mp camera was quite
pleasant. While the IP4000 does not
feature a built-in LCD display, the PictBridge will basically allow you to
seamlessly connect your digital camera and use its display for preview.
Simply preview and hit the print button for quick, quality prints. It worked
quite flawlessly and the prints were fairly impressive, as I will
demonstrate a bit later in this review.
|
