Canon Pixma MP110 review

Looking at the Pixma MP110, you wouldn't guess that it's the least expensive device in this group.

Its light grey plastics and neat design will look good on any desk, and it has a neat orange display for showing copy options. Canon has shown restraint and designed a control system that's easy to use. There are no extra features like memory card slots or PictBridge ports to be found, so digital camera owners will have to print using their PC.

Inside this smart box, though, lies some very ordinary technology. The MP110 uses Canon's older BCI-24 cartridges rather than the individual ink tanks found in most Pixma devices. These make the MP110 extremely expensive to run, with each mono page costing over 5p and each colour document over 9p. The MP110 is also one of only a few devices in this test that need to have their ink cartridges aligned manually before use.

At least the prints are good. Although it can't compete with either the MP750 or PSC 1610, none of the prints from the MP110 were disappointing. It's also surprisingly quick for such an inexpensive device. An acceptible A4 photo printtook just four minutes and three seconds to appear. Five pages of good quality black text were produced in one minute and 29 seconds. The only disappointment came in our mixed-colour report test, where the MP110 produced text that looked slightly brown rather than black.

When copying, the MP110 produces a single black and white page faster than any other device in this test, taking just over 18 seconds. It produced surprisingly good results in our scanning tests, where both our magazine page and photograph were reproduced well. The MP110's scan quality was bettered only by the MP750, which costs almost £100 more.

The Pixma MP110 might look good, but most users should be put off by its high day-to-day running costs.