Canon has refreshed its range of compact consumer PIXMA all-in-one printers. If you are in the market for an all-in-one it’s worth checking out these new models and their features to see if they appeal to you. If not, when these become widely available in September, you also may be able to pick up one of the previous generation even cheaper as stock is cleared.
The new models are called the MP230, MG2250, MG3250 and MG4250 (click links for PDF specification sheets) and their RRPs are £44, £49, £69 and £79 respectively. All the models share one headline feature relating to software; they all include, as standard, “My Image Garden”. This software is a home interface to the entire Canon imaging software on your computer so whatever you are going to do with your Canon all-in-one you will find the functionality in this “single, easy-to-use interface”. Whether My Image Garden is a selling point or not is debatable, it sounds like it’s just a solution to a software jumble of Canon’s own making!
One moderately useful sounding new piece of software is a social imaging application called “Print Your Days”. This app facilitates sending and printing Facebook photos, the app has a layout wizard to “create unique collage prints”.
Onto hardware innovation, and we have a new auto power on and auto power off feature “which makes printing from a powered-down state quick and convenient”. Auto power features also work via wireless which is a great enhancement to this convenient feature. (I had an Apple Stylewriter 1200 printer in 1995 which had an auto on/off feature, but of course no wireless. That printer used the Canon bubblejet print engine. )
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PIXMA MP230 – key features: £44 • All-In-One: Print, copy and scan • Simple setup and operation • Fast document & photo printing • Print more with optional high yield inks • Easy and efficient web printing • My Image Garden software • Print Your Days app for printing Facebook photos |
PIXMA MG2250 – key features: £49 • Compact All-In-One: Print, copy and scan • Fast document & photo printing • Easy and efficient web printing • Print more with optional XL inks • My Image Garden software • Print Your Days app for printing photos from Facebook • Auto power on and off settings |
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PIXMA MG3250 – key features: £69 • Wi-Fi All-In-One: Print, copy and scan • Mobile printing & Apple AirPrint support • Easy and efficient web printing • Print more with optional XL inks • Save paper with Auto Duplex print • Fast document & photo printing • My Image Garden software • Auto power on and off settings |
PIXMA MG4250 – key features: £79 • Advanced Wi-Fi All-In-One • Print, copy & scan functions • PIXMA Cloud Link with Google Cloud Print • Mobile printing & Apple AirPrint support • Print more with optional XL inks • Save paper with Auto Duplex • Fast document & photo printing • My Image Garden software |
The top of the range MG4250 sports a 6.2cm TFT display for previewing/printing without the need to turn on your PC, cheaper models just have a digital LCD display. The top two models can auto duplex, which is a useful paper saving function when you are printing out excerpts from those long PDF manuals the manufacturers don’t print out for you anymore.
Overall these updates sound promising for a line of well respected all-in-ones capable of printing, scanning and photocopying most of what a home user will need. I really like the auto on/off convenience and the My Image Garden software may indeed tidy up the Canon imaging software utilities offering.
