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Canon has prolonged its cartridge-free inkjet line with two mono MegaTank fashions. The Canon PIXMA GM4050 (opens in new tab) is an A4-sized multifunction printer (opens in new tab) outfitted with a scanner, ADF, Wi-Fi and all the opposite options you would possibly want in a small workplace, besides color. And you’ll have that too should you purchase the non-obligatory tri-colour cartridge.
In essence although, this can be a primary, black and white multifunction system whose headline characteristic is the outstanding web page yield. One bottle of black ink offers you 6,000 printed pages and there are three bottles within the field. Costing round £300 (US$411, AU$538) that makes this inkjet extra economical to purchase and run than most lasers. It appears to be like at first look like this comparatively inexpensive all-in-one system actually does have all of it, however there are a couple of options lacking. We should always most likely warn you from the beginning that it’s not Mac appropriate.
Design and construct
The Canon PIXMA GM4050 makes an attempt to cover its bulk with curved corners and a reasonably low profile (it’s 23cm excessive), nevertheless it’s nonetheless a substantial lump of black plastic. It’s actually not going to win a Pink Dot design award like its key competitor, the Epson EcoTank ET-M2140 (opens in new tab).
Sticking with the extra conventional kind issue, Canon has positioned the ADF (computerized doc feeder) on high of an A4-sized flatbed scanner, which is on high of the printer. In case you are solely within the printer part, then the Canon PIXMA GM4020 is the mannequin for you.
The entire management panel folds outwards, making it simpler to see if you end up standing over the printer. Nonetheless, the show is a really small two-line affair, which is tough to learn from any distance.
There are connections for an Ethernet cable and USB information cable on the rear, however there’s no entrance USB port, or reminiscence card slots. The very first thing you discover concerning the design might be the clear plastic reservoir within the entrance left nook which makes it straightforward to see how a lot black ink you’ve left.
If this have been a color mannequin, just like the Canon PIXMA G6050, there could be three extra tanks on the fitting hand facet, however being mono, there’s simply an empty area on this case. This area is simply giant sufficient to retailer a spare cartridge. That’s proper, Canon’s refillable MegaTank printers should not fully cartridge-free. They use a small small black cartridge that’s topped up by the bottled ink. You even have the choice of putting in a tri-colour cartridge beside it once you need to improve to color printing.
Options and specs
The Canon PIXMA GM4050 is a three-in-one multifunction system, which is to say you can print, scan and duplicate. There’s no fax facility, however we’re guessing that’s not going to be an issue for almost all. It additionally provides a 35-sheet ADF for scanning or copying a number of paperwork. Wi-Fi is inbuilt, there’s an auto duplex mode, a two-line show and the power to print on paper sizes as much as A4, together with envelopes.
Spec Sheet
Kind: Mono 3-in-1 A4 inkjet printer
Capabilities: Print, scan, copy
Ink: refillable black ink
Connectivity: Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, USB
Knowledge storage slots: none
Print pace: 13 ipm (mono)
Paper capability: 350 sheets (fundamental + rear trays)
Print high quality: 600 x 1,200 dpi
Scan high quality: 1,200 x 2,400 dpi
Apple AirPrint: no
Google Cloud Print: no
Consumables included: 3x black ink bottles (18,000 pages)
Dimensions/Weight: 403 x 369 x 234 mm (WxDxH)/9.2kg
This isn’t a premium mannequin, so there are a couple of options lacking. There’s no touchscreen for instance, no entrance USB port for walk-up printing, no NFC or Bluetooth connectivity and sadly, no dual-side scanning. And in contrast to different inkjets, it could’t print on photograph paper. As talked about, this mannequin is primarily meant as a mono printer, though you’ll be able to add a tri-colour cartridge if the necessity arrises.
Canon provided an non-obligatory CL-541XL cartridge, costing round £27 (US$37/AU$48) so we have been capable of check its color printing credentials too. It’s value noting although, that this 15ml cartridge is able to printing simply 400 color pages, whereas a bottle of black ink, costing £13 yields 6,000 mono pages. In order that’s 7p per color web page and 0.2p per mono web page.
Some specs are spectacular, just like the terrific 18,000 web page yield with the included black ink and the 250-sheet paper capability. Different specs, just like the sluggish print pace and restricted print decision are disappointing. With no AirPrint assist and no drivers for Mac, Apple-users ought to cease studying now. There’s no Google Cloud Print both by the best way, solely Canon’s personal PIXMA Cloud Hyperlink. To print from a smartphone, you’ll need to obtain the free Canon PRINT app for iOS/Android.
Setup and operation
Organising this MegaTank printer isn’t any harder than the typical cartridge-based printer and the directions, accessible within the field or by way of a QR code sticker on the printer itself, are very clear. It’s only a case of eradicating all of the items of orange transport tape after which loading your paper and ink.
Pouring one bottle of ink into the reservoir was a painless and splash-free course of for us, and it already looks like a significantly better system than the outdated overpriced inkjet cartridges.
Getting the printer to affix our native Wi-Fi community took us for much longer. The useful companion app permits you to kind your Wi-Fi password into your telephone reasonably than making an attempt to do it by way of the printer’s crude management panel, however for some purpose we made greater than ten makes an attempt earlier than the connection was made. If all else fails, there’s at the very least a USB port accessible in the back of the printer, however be aware {that a} information cable just isn’t included within the field.
In operation, the Canon PIXMA Cloud Print is sort of quiet and reasonably sluggish. Pages are printed at an affordable pace, however the processing and turning over of every web page is ponderous. The 2-line show is tough to learn and with out touchscreen management, it’s not the simplest multifunction printer to function. Fortunately it was additionally printed reliably during the check, so there was not a lot want to make use of the printer’s personal interface anyway.
Efficiency
The Canon PIXMA GM4050 carried out properly in most our checks, notably when it got here to pages of textual content. Kind appears to be like exceptionally crisp and daring due to using a pigment black ink. The Canon prints phrases with the consistency of a laser printer, however with bolder, darker kind. If solely it may obtain the pace of a laser printer this is able to be the most effective of all worlds. Sadly the print pace may be very sluggish even for an inkjet and the claimed 13ipm (imprints per minute) is optimistic.
Black and white pictures are dealt with fairly properly. They appear extra practical than many laser printers, however not as sharp as most inkjet printers. The Canon’s decision is definitely comparatively low for an inkjet at 600 x 1,200 dpi. That’s superb for printing textual content, however barely sufficient for pictures. Our check pictures additionally suffered from horizontal banding. You can not load photograph paper into this printer, so pictures which can be very darkish find yourself soaking your paper in black ink. Fortunately Canon’s bottled ink is comparatively low cost, but when this have been a cartridge-based inkjet, you’ll suppose twice about printing pictures in any respect.
Canon calls the PIXMA GM4050 as a mono printer and that’s what the M stands for in its mannequin identify, however with the non-obligatory color cartridge put in, we have been capable of print all of our standard full color check pages. It nonetheless received’t operate as a photograph printer, nevertheless, as a result of its not appropriate with photograph paper and it can’t do borderless printing both. What it could do is print first rate color paperwork on these events when you actually need color. The outcomes are reasonably good, contemplating that color was all the time an afterthought for this mannequin. The pallet is muted reasonably than daring, and there’s seen horizontal banding, nevertheless it’s superb for many functions. In case you intend on printing extra than simply the occasional color doc, nevertheless, we might level you in the direction of the costlier Canon Pixma G6050, which makes use of bottled color ink to nice impact.
As a photocopier, the Canon PIXMA GM4050 proved dependable, making trustworthy copies and providing helpful options like zooming and decreasing the picture. You may blow-up A5-sized paperwork onto A4 paper for example and you need to use the ADF to repeat a stack of pages. We skilled no smears, creased paper or jams throughout the check.
Last verdict
Mono inkjet printers are an unusual proposition and ones that may be upgraded to print in color are rarer nonetheless. It’s additionally uncommon to discover a printer that shuns AirPrint and Mac customers so fully. All of it provides as much as fairly a distinct segment product and but it should nonetheless make sense in some conditions. Pages of black textual content look nice and value simply 0.2p per facet and the power so as to add color from time to time might be helpful. Nonetheless, if you’re in search of a mono inkjet then we might urge you to additionally try the Epson EcoTank ET-M2140 (opens in new tab) which does almost all the things the Canon can, however so much sooner.
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