This review is based on supporting a bunch of them.
I support about a half dozen of these I have directed multiple clients to buy. At home, I've got two. (One for my older son who now does lots of reports with pictures in the seventh grade.)

The true cost of using a printer.
The true operational cost of the printer is wonderful for the budget-minded. The true cost of a desktop printer is never the cost of the printer or the paper. It is the replacement of printer ink that eats into your wallet. Canon provides a 4-cartridge system (black, cyan, magenta, and yellow) so you replace only what you need. Better than that, Canon has made the ethical choice and designed the cartridges so you can buy half-price generic replacements on the web (at places like gettoner.com and pacificink.com) if you don't need Canon-quality inks. (For personal photo printing, however, I do use the Canon-brand inks.) By taking this approach, the consumer is assured that the prices Canon charges for ink will be competitive. (This is one of the reasons I am not a fan of most of the newer HP, Lexmark, or Dell printers. The suck you in with a low price for the printer and then often lock you in to horrible ink prices.)

By setting the printer to "draft" mode, you use 30% to 50% less ink while printing about twice as fast.

It's Quiet
By setting the printer to "quiet" mode (in print properties), you can continually and quietly print documents while on conference calls or listening to quiet music.

Over the years, I have had to call Canon technical support three times with configuration or other issues. Unlike experiences noted in other reviews of other manufacturers, Canon did not make me wait unreasonably long. The technical support people I spoke to provided me competent technical support in clearly spoken and easily understood English. (Shocking, I know.) For the quality of technical support alone, Canon is worth considering.

What's next?
For my next purchase, I am waiting until early 2005 when the Canon MP750 is expected to be available at just between $200 & $300. The next generation should come with a scanner and native duplex printing, both of which are essentials for me. If I don't buy somebody's color laser, my next purchase will probably be the MP750.

Envelopes and Clear Labels are big problems.
The only real troubles I have had with the i560/i590 line is printing envelopes and clear labels. Even though there is an envelopes setting and adjustment, I have had envelopes repeatedly jam and eventually destroy one of these printers. For me, envelopes are a no-no with this printer.

As with all ink-jet printers from all manufacturers, clear address labels come out terribly. They are meant for laser printers, so beware before spending $50 on clear premium labels.

Don't ignore the paper.
By the way, the quality of your output on this printer certainly varies with the quality of the paper used. Keep on hand plain copy paper for every-day work, but experiment with heavier and glossier stocks for fancier and more professional requirements.

The bottom line PROS:
Dependable zippy printing, much appreciated quiet mode, much-above-average print quality of both text and pictures, top-notch technical support, and extremely low cost-per-page operational costs. If you are not going to buy a color laser, this is an excellent value.

The bottom line CONS:
Terrible handling of envelopes. Less than professional photo quality for bright reds, (but rarely noticed by non-professionals).

- Leon Roomberg www.roomberg.com 12/15/2004


Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): $120.00
Operating System: Windows