Canon Maxify MB2120 Wi-fi Dwelling Workplace Inkjet Printer Assessment

The Canon Maxify MB2120 Wi-fi Dwelling Workplace Inkjet Printer ($179.99) is a one-drawer model of the Editors’ Alternative Maxify MB2720 Wi-fi Dwelling Workplace Inkjet Printer ($237.27 at Amazon)(Opens in a brand new window) we reviewed a couple of months in the past. In each efficiency and output high quality, the MB2120, the MB2720, and the Canon Maxify MB5420 ($379.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a brand new window) reviewed right here not too long ago, behaved a lot the identical—quick sufficient to be used as an entry-level dwelling or home-based workplace all-in-one printer, with above-average print, scan, and replica high quality. The MB2120’s paper capability, solely half that of these two printers, ensures that the MB5420 stays our Editors’ Alternative. The Canon Maxify MB5120 ($329.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a brand new window) is greatest as a low-cost various meant for lighter-duty use.

Design and Options

Design-wise, the MB2120 ($199.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a brand new window) has a lot the identical look as different Maxify printers. It comes with a 250-sheet paper cassette, and no multipurpose, or override, tray, whereas the MB2720 comes with two 250-sheet cassettes. The MB2120 offers solely half the enter capability of the MB5420 as nicely.

At 10.3 by 18.3 by 18.1 inches (HWD) and weighing 23.2 kilos, the MB2120 has the identical footprint as all different Maxify all-in-one (AIO) printers, together with each the MB2720 and the Canon Maxify MB2020 ($109.99 at Canon)(Opens in a brand new window) , which the MB2120 replaces. All of those fashions include 50-sheet computerized doc feeders (ADFs). However the MB5000-series fashions have duplexing ADFs, and the MB2000 machines don’t. A duplexing ADF has the flexibility to scan two-sided paperwork mechanically, with out your having to flip pages manually. To get an auto-duplexing ADF, you’d have to step as much as both the MB5120 or the two-drawer MB5420.

Whereas the MB2720 comes with a 3-inch contact display for configuring the machine, and printing from and scanning to cloud websites and USB thumb drives, in addition to different walk-up, or PC-free, duties, the MB2120 has solely a 2.5-inch non-touch LCD. That show anchors a bigger management panel with a number of buttons for navigation and different features, in addition to a couple of standing indicators.

Connectivity and Cellular Printing

Primary connectivity choices embrace Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and a direct USB connection. Have in mind with that final possibility that your printer just isn’t related to the Web, and subsequently cannot reap the benefits of among the MB2120’s cloud and cellular options.

A lot of in the present day’s workplace printers, together with entry-level fashions like this one, include peer-to-peer protocols similar to Wi-Fi Direct and near-field communication (NFC) for connecting your cellular units to the printer with out both system being a part of a community. Canon has taken a considerably completely different strategy right here. A lot of the MB2120’s cellular connectivity is dealt with via the corporate’s personal Canon Print Enterprise app, in addition to Maxify Printing Options. These and different Canon utilities present not solely cellular connectivity choices, however additionally they help with connecting to cloud websites, similar to Google Cloud Print or Microsoft OneDrive.

Print Pace

Earlier than discussing how briskly this AIO prints, it must be identified that PC Labs not too long ago up to date its benchmarking routine; because of this, our database does not but comprise many entry-level, low-volume inkjet AIOs like this one, which limits our skill to make many direct print-speed comparisons between this Maxify and its opponents. Now we have, nonetheless, reviewed the entry-level, low-volume Epson WorkForce WF-2760 All-in-One Printer . In some ways, together with worth and options, it and the Maxify MB2120 are comparable, despite the fact that the WorkForce mannequin is, relying on what you print, significantly slower.

Canon charges the Maxify MB2120 at 6 seconds for the primary web page out and 19 pages per minute (ppm). Throughout our assessments on a Home windows 10 testbed with an Intel Core i5 processor, whereas printing our calmly formatted textual content doc, the MB2120’s first-page-out time was under Canon’s ranking (8 seconds) and it accomplished the job a little bit quicker (20ppm). As we added formatting, colour, graphics, and embedded photographs, the MB2120 slowed down considerably, dropping to 7.8ppm.

This time, although, there was solely a 1.6ppm distinction between this Maxify and the WorkForce WF-2760 (6.2ppm), which might be a shortcoming on a machine with a better quantity ranking, however which issues much less right here. As well as, the MB2120 printed our 4-by-6-inch take a look at images on the price of 1 each 43 seconds, a mean time among the many Maxifys we have examined recently, and 23 seconds quicker than Epson’s comparable WF-2760 AIO.

Working Prices

As with its sibling, the MB2720, the MB2120’s working prices are 2.7 cents per monochrome web page and eight.1 cents per colour web page, which we derive by dividing the value of the ink tanks by the producer’s said yield dimension, after which making use of some extra easy arithmetic. To get a decrease value per web page from a Maxify, you’d have to step as much as one of many MB5000-series fashions such because the MB5150, or maybe the Editors’ Alternative Maxify MB5420. With the higher-yield ink tanks these printers help, the price per web page drops to 1.5 cents per monochrome pages and seven.1 cents for colour.

By comparability, whenever you use the highest-yield tanks with Epson’s WF-2760, the working prices are 6 cents per black-and-white web page and a whopping 17.3 for colour. Stepping as much as the one-drawer Maxify MB5120 will value you between $150 and $180, and the two-drawer MB5420 runs from about $250 to $280 or extra, relying on the place you purchase it. Whereas these worth variations could seem vital, should you print greater than, say, 1,000 pages every month, it’s possible you’ll wish to have a look at a higher-end Maxify.

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Output High quality

Most Maxify fashions have comparable output high quality, as there aren’t any vital variations between the print engines and different {hardware}. That mentioned, the MB2120’s textual content output regarded laser-quality throughout the board, with smaller serif and sans-serif fonts holding their form as small as 4 factors, making even the “nice print” legible. Our embedded enterprise graphics, together with a number of bar, pie, and line charts, in addition to shaded tables and different figures, regarded good, although I did see some comparatively gentle banding (a daily sample of faint striations) within the darker backgrounds on a few of our PowerPoint slides. However lighter-colored gradients, hairlines (0.5 level and smaller), and lighter fills usually regarded glorious.

As you’d count on from practically any Canon inkjet printer, images regarded practically nearly as good as, and in some instances higher than, what you get from most different business-oriented inkjets—adequate for many enterprise purposes, similar to, say, insurance coverage adjustors’ earlier than and after pictures, and even perhaps the keeper picture at times. This isn’t, nonetheless, a photograph printer, and lots of photo-centric printers, together with Canon’s personal five- and six-ink photo-ready Pixmas (the Canon Pixma MG7720 Wi-fi All-in-One involves thoughts), print higher images.

Conclusion

Contemplating what you hand over for a mere $20 (or so) financial savings between the 2, solely beneath some particular circumstances may we advocate the Canon Maxify MB2120 Wi-fi Dwelling Workplace Inkjet Printer over the MB2720. The extra 250-sheet paper cassette alone is nicely value $20, until after all these further couple of inches of peak make the MB2720 too tall for its supposed location. When you seldom, if ever, change your print media, say from letter dimension to snapshot (4 by 6 inches), and in case your print and replica masses are mild and also you count on them to remain that approach, then the MB2120 is perhaps a better option. In any other case, the MB2720 is value stronger consideration.