Good Print Quality and Reasonable Ink Cost: The Canon i550
Written: Nov 25 '03 (Updated Feb 01 '04)
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Pros: Good print quality, inexpensive ink cartridges, reasonable price.
Cons: Somewhat noisy, initial delay before printing the first print job of the day.
The Bottom Line: See Overall Below.
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| symbiosis's Full Review: Canon i 550 Ink-jet Printer |
About five months ago, I faced a most unfortunate occurrence. Both of my Lexmark printer cartridges had run out of ink at the same time! If you have ever had the unfortunate experience of buying print cartridges for a Lexmark, you will know that they generally cost around $30 a piece. They also only lasted about a month for me. So I could either buy two new cartridges, or buy a less expensive printer for about the same price. After a few weeks of searching, I decided to buy the Canon i550. Here are my impressions:
Appearance
The i550 is a decent looking printer. No, it isn't stunning enough to distract your attention from your new Paris Hilton video. But it is not hideous either. The printer is a bit large. There is a tray that pulls out to hold the pages you print. For some reason, Cannon decided to make this curve upwards at the corners farthest away from the printer. I am not sure why this decision was made, but if you leave your printouts there for too long it will cause them to be slightly curved.
Noise
If you are looking for an ultra-quiet printer, this is not the printer for you. The i550 is fairly noisy, especially right before the first time that you print during the day. During this initial period, the i550 makes strange noises for about 15-45 seconds. At first, I thought something must be wrong. However, it seems to do this every time when I do the first print job of the day.
Ink
The i550 comes with four ink cartridges. Three of the cartridges are color (cyan, magenta, yellow), and the other one is black. This will save you money, since if one color runs out you can just replace that cartridge. I have had this printer for about five months, have printed a significant number of pictures and color-intensive documents, and still have not had to replace a singe cartridge. For comparison, I replaced the cartridges for my Lexmark every 1-2 months. All of the ink cartridges for the i550 cost about $12 each, and are widely available.
Print Quality
For everyday printing, the print quality has been flawless. It is definitely better than my older Lexmark. Photo quality for digital pictures has also been good. My digital camera is fairly old, and only 2 megapixels. Still, with this printer and photo paper, I have been able to make 4x6 photos that are pretty close to the same quality as a normal film camera. I have had the best results using Canon photo paper, and it is also less expensive than Kodak photo paper.
Availability
The Canon i550 seems to have been replaced by a newer model, the i560. So if you find an i550, it will probably be on clearance or on Ebay. I did a quick search on Ebay, and there are quite a few i550s listed there, some at very reasonable prices. You could also consider the i560, which is probably still quite similar to the i550.
Specifications (From amazon.com)
·Print speed: 18 ppm black, 11 ppm color
·Print resolution: Up to 4800 by 1200 color dpi, 600 x 600 dpi black
·Print technology: Advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology
·Print method: Bubble Jet
·Memory: 64KB buffer
·Input capacity: 150-sheet feeder
·Print cartriges: Ink tanks: BCI-3eC (cyan), BCI-3eM (magenta), BCI-3eY (yellow), BCI-3eBk (black)
·Paper handling (standard): 150 sheets 17-pound paper, 80 sheets of high-resolution paper, 1 sheet banner paper (up to 6 connected sheets), 20 sheets of glossy 4-x-6-inch photo cards, 10 sheets of 8.5-x-11-inch glossy photo paper, 1 sheet high-gloss photo film, 10 envelopes, 20 sheets 4-x-6-inch Photo Paper Pro, (standard or borderless), 1 sheet 8.5-x-11-inch Photo Paper Pro, 1 sheet T-shirt transfer, or 30 transparency sheets
·Paper handling/output: Legal, letter, A4, 4-x-6-inch, U.S. #10 or European envelopes, banner paper
·Paper types: Plain, high-resolution inkjet, photo, banner, envelopes, photo cards, high-gloss photo film, transparancies, T-shirt transfers
·Nozzle configuration: 320 black, 256 x 3 (C, M, Y) color
·Interface: USB 2.0 (full-speed), IEEE-1284 parallel
·System requirements: Windows 98, 2000, ME, and XP, as well as Macintosh OS 8.6 to 9x and OS X (v10.1 or later)
·Width: 16.5 inches
·Height: 6.3 inches
·Depth: 10.8 inches
·Weight: 7.3 pounds
Overall
The Canon i550 has been a good printer for me so far. Ink costs are significantly lower than for my last printer. The i550 is a bit noisy, but the print quality is good. Considering the price, print quality, and cost of ink, I think this printer is very good option for anyone doing basic printing and limited digital photography.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 100
Operating System: Windows
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symbiosis
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Reviews written: 49
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