We recently had to replace the printer that is hooked up to the kids computer, that one stopped working and they didn't like the hassle of having to do their work on my computer out front. The printer didn't have to be a photo printer, so we were able to save some money and my husband chose the Canon i 450, mainly because of the low price. So far, the kids are happy with the quality it produces on their printed projects and they haven't heard any complaints from their teachers either.
Size
Depending on where you keep your printer, size usually does make a difference, but not with the Canon i 450. With it being only about 15" wide and just under 8" in height, it will fit just about anywhere, which is great if you don't have a lot of space to put a printer. We have it sitting right next to the computer on my daughters large desk and she still has room to do her writing even with the computer and printer being up there.
Connection and Installation
As with most printers, this one hooks up to your computer with a USB cable, which is not included in the box. Once you start the setup software, it will install all the drivers needed and you'll be on your way. It's so easy to set up, that my 11 year old son actually installed the software on their computer.
Printing
This was where things really mattered. I have heard from others that Canon had gone downhill as far as quality goes, so I was surprised my husband chose this one even though it was a good price. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the print quality that came out of this little printer. The colors were bright and vivid and the text was crisp and clear. Of course to get the best outcome when printing photos is to make sure you use Canon's photo paper. Resolution is set for 600 x 600 dpi in Black and up to 4800 x 1200 dpi for color printing. The kids normally print papers and projects that include both black and color, including colored charts and graphs and it turns out very nice.
Speed
This is one area that may turn people away from this particular printer. It's not exactly a speed demon when printing. Canon claims that is prints 18 pages per minute in black and 12 pages per minute in color. We've never timed any printing with this printer and most of the projects and papers the kids print are less pages than the per minute claim, but the claim seems to be accurate.
Other Features
Two Ink Cartridges - Unlike photo printers, this one comes with only two ink cartridges, a black ink cartridge (BC-24 Black Ink Tank) and a color ink cartridge (BCI-24 Color Ink Tank).
True Borderless Printing - The printer can print borderless for 4" x 6", 5' x 7" or 8.5" x 11". We haven't tried printing out any borderless photos, but my daughter has printed out a couple of PowerPoint Presentations with a lot of color and the background color did cover edge to edge on all four pages.
Bubble Jet Direct Printing - We don't have a Canon digital camera, but there is a port where you can print pictures directly from your Canon digital camera.
100 Sheet Paper Tray - The paper tray claims to hold 100 sheets of paper, but we never have that much paper in the tray at a time, which is located on the top of the printer. Because it is a top feed printer, it does make quite a bit of noise when it feeds the paper into the printer.
Media (paper) types - This printer can use various types of paper and envelopes. Plain paper, photo paper, and transparencies. They do recommend that you use Canon brand paper for the best quality though.
Software - There is software included for both Windows and Mac for touching up or editing your photos and for keeping an eye on the ink levels. I can't really comment much on the photo software because the kids mainly do their work in Microsoft Word or a similar program and then they just print it out.
Windows and Mac compatible - The printer is compatible with Windows XP/2000/ME/98 and Mac OS (8.6 to 9.x) and Mac OS X v 10.2.1 to 10.2.x The kids are using the printer on a computer with Windows 98 on it with no problems.
Standard One Year Limited Warranty - I think most printers come with this and you can usually buy extended warranties from the store you buy it from.
My Thoughts
So far, I am happy with the choice my husband made and the kids don't have any complaints either, you can't count the complaints about someone hogging the computer. They have used the printer to print out PowerPoint Presentations, reports and stories they have written and the results have been nice.
This would be a perfect printer for a teenagers computer or even a home computer as long as you aren't going to be focused on printing out just photos. This is a great little printer for general home use or school work.
If you're looking for a printer to serve as an all-purpose household printer, I would definitely recommend you give it a try, if you're looking to print mostly photos, I would suggest you look elsewhere. For the price, this little printer can't be beat.
Up to 18 ppm black, 12 ppm color Prints 4-by-6-inch borderless photos in just 93 seconds 4,800 x 1,200 color dpi, 600 x 600 dpi black Advanced MicroFi...More at Amazon Marketplace
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.