The days when you would own a separate device for printing, scanning and copying are pretty much gone. When looking for a printer now, the consumer requires all of those features in one device. Requirements don’t end here though. Depending on the needs of each user, the all-in-one printer should also be pretty small, easy to use, at an affordable price or with plenty of extra features. Since multifunction printers have become a reasonably common thing, they now obviously come in a variety of shapes, sizes and most of all prices. Some offer wireless connectivity, others boast bigger and brighter LCD screens. Most manufacturers have noticed this trend, so most of them now have a whole series of devices, for all budgets and demands.

Cannon’s Pixma MP490 photo all-in-one inkjet color printer is towards the more affordable, and simple to use end of the scale. When buying a lower end device, you generally expect to get a lot less features than if you were buying a high end printer. But realistically speaking, the main features (like printing, scanning and copying which is what the consumer is interested in, in the first place) are pretty much the same, regardless of the price of the device.

In the case of the MP490 what you get is a compact, stylish printer that gets the job done. On the bright side, the MP490 is rather inexpensive (under 100$), simple to use as well as to set up, and has a pretty intuitive control panel. It’s also small and lightweight, measuring 450 x 335 x 155mm and weighing just 5.5kg, so it won’t take up all of your desk space. The print resolution is pretty high, at 4800 x 1200 and the printer incorporates Canons’ patented FINE technology.

To the right of the scanner lid, you can find a smaller top lid that uncovers a 1.8 inch LCD screen serving as a control panel. While it is mainly used for navigation and to display the menu, it also works pretty well for previewing photo thumbnails. On the front right side of the printer you can also find a memory card slot. The MP490 supports a pretty wide variety of media-cards including SD, MemoryStick R, Memory Stick Pro and Memory Stick Duo. Design-wise, the only thing the customer can complain about would be the slightly flimsy plastic paper tray. Other features include : Auto Photo Fix II (software that automatically corrects your images), Borderless Printing, Document Printing, Photo Printing, Photo Index Sheet, Template Print.

So far Canon Pixma MP490 photo all-in-one inkjet color printer sounds like an amazing device for 100$, but like many other printers in that price range, it obviously has some bad points as well. In the case of this printer, what you don’t get is an automatic document feeder and wireless support.  Disadvantages also include its rather slow printing speed as well as the high cost for replacing the black ink cartridge. In other words, what you save when you buy the device, you might just end up paying for actually using it frequently and having to replace the ink.

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