The Pixma MP830 retails for considerably less than its older brother the MP950. However, there are several very useful feature that surprisingly the MP830 has and the MP950 doesn’t. Because it was designed more for small-business and home office use, the MP830 comes with faxing capabilities as well as an automatic document feeder. Color inkjet printers weren’t the ideal candidates for offices since lasers were more cost efficient and generally faster.

Higher capacity of paper also recommended them. But something about the Canon Pixma MP830 might just make you change your mind on the whole laser vs. inkjet situation. It takes the name of all-in-one very seriously and provides high quality printing, copying, scanning and faxing. Due to the ADF all of the above are made even more easy and convenient and the user.

A built in duplexer insures that you save more paper and money while you’re printing on both sides of a sheet of paper. What you’ll not find so great is WiFi and Ethernet, or the complete lack thereof. While it may fit best in a small office, it will only work through the USB 2.0 interface. This obviously limits your options when it comes to holding up a workgroup.

One of the strong points of most Canon printers is the quality of photo printing. While it may target the business environment, the Pixma MP830 can print photos at a great quality. To make photo printing more convenient the printer also includes a 2.5 inch LCD screen for navigation and previewing and slots for memory cards with direct printing. Because it has two paper trays it’s also easy to shuffle between photo and regular printing paper.

One of the strong points of the Pixma is the printing speed. It will go up to 30 pages per minute for grayscale and 24 pages per minute for color printing. It can handle most types of media including labels, envelopes or transparencies. A 4 by 6 inch photo will print in just around 35 seconds and the quality will not disappoint the majority of users. Text printing is sharp even in draft mode.

If you’re looking for a printer to seriously get the job done as speed and quality, this is one device that you’ll most likely treasure. In addition to the pigment black ink cartridge the MP830 also features dye-based yellow, magenta, cyan and black. Each cartridge comes with it’s own personal LED that will begin to flash if the ink is running low.

The only bad point of this printer seems to be its larger size. It weighs around 32 pounds and has a footprint of 20 x 20 inches which makes it a little on the chubby side among color inkjet printers. The price of the Pixma could be interpreted as a little high by some users, but taking into account that it’s versatile, quality and fast, it might just be a worthwhile purchase.

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