Canon PIXMA iP100 review

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Verdict:

Get your boss to buy you one. Expensive, but versatile for printing on the go.

Review Date: 20 Jun 2008

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Reviewed By: Kat Orphanides

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

Canon's iP100 is a slim portable printer, available with or without a battery for £210 and £167 respectively.

Like Epson's PictureMate 240, it uses a four colour dye-based ink cartridge for photo printing, but it also has a pigment black cartridge which allows it to print extremely sharp text on plain paper.

Unlike most portable printers, it can take both plain and photographic paper in sizes up to A4, which is remarkable given its size. Borderless photo printing is supported at A4, 6x4, 7x5 and credit card sizes. A PictBridge USB port lets you print directly from a compatible camera, and you can send photos from a mobile phone's infra-red connection. If you want to print via Bluetooth, however, you have to buy an optional adaptor.

Despite using only four inks, the iP100 produced better-looking photos than the six-ink printers we tested. The quality of its photographic colours and shading was almost perfect. Skin tones, bright colours, fine detail and low contrast images were all reproduced with lifelike accuracy. Plain paper print quality was also excellent on both graphical and text documents. Black lettering was sharp and dark, while colour images were clear and accurately shaded. Six photos printed in nine minutes and 50 seconds, while ten pages of normal text took a minute and 15 seconds.

The iP100's portability comes at a price. This is the most expensive printer here, and we'd recommend buying the version that includes a battery pack, which is even pricier. It's also expensive to run. A page of A4 mixed colour costs around 8.8p, while photos cost 35.3p each. It's not worth the money if you don't need the portability or range of sizes, but if you do, this is our favourite portable printer for both quality and convenience.

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