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New Canon MFPs launch with support for high-yield ink cartridges

Canon MG4150

Canon updates its MX all-in-one printer/scanner/copier range with an eye to keeping costs down

Canon has announced four new additions to the budget end of its multifunction inkjet range, with recommended prices between £59 and £119.

All of the low-cost printers use just two ink cartridges – one containing black pigmented ink for document printing on plain paper and the other containing cyan, magenta and yellow inks suitable for photo printing. We’re often sceptical about combined-colour cartridges of this sort, as they frequently don’t contain much ink and need to be replaced as soon as one colour runs out.

However, Canon has taken steps to make sure that two-colour ink systems don’t have to cost the earth when the time comes to replace your consumables. High yield versions of the cartridges are available, capable of printing around 400 colour and 600 mono pages before they run out, as compared to a standard cartridge yield of just 180 colour and 180 mono pages. Prices aren’t bad either, with shops charging around £16 for an XL tri-colour cartridge, versus £12 for the low-yield version.

On top of competitively priced document and photo printing, the three cheapest MFPs can scan, copy and send faxes. Even the most basic, the £59 Pixma MX375, has a 30-page automatic document feeder to make multi-page scanning and copying easier. The £79 MX434 has even more features, with wireless networking support which allows you to print directly from compatible cameras and smartphones and the ability to scan directly to a USB memory stick.

Finally, at £99, the feature-packed MX515 is the most capable of the series, with an Ethernet port, 6.2in colour TFT display and an automatic duplexer for two-sided printing, in addition to the features it shares with the other two.

If you have a bit more to spend, the £119 MG4150 MFP still uses the two-ink FINE system, complete with high yield cartridge support, but is oriented more precisely towards home user with a massive range of web services, including direct printing from Google’s Picasa web albums, as well as from smartphones. It doesn’t have a fax, but does include an automatic duplexer and plenty of smart software to make it easy to fix photos and print only the parts of web pages you actually need.

We’ll bring you full reviews in the near future.