A Canon and Two HPs
If your taste runs toward an all-in-one multifunction printer, consider the Canon Pxma MP470 or the HP Photosmart C5280. If regular 4-by-6 photo prints and 4-by-12 panorama shots are your special interest, try the HP Photosmart A526 photo printer.
Canon Pixma MP470
- PCW Rating: 80 Very Good
- Rank: #2 on PC World's Top 10 Inkjet Multifunction Printers (September 2007)
- Recent low price online: $69
What you get for the money: The Canon Pixma MP470 multifunction printer includes an 8.5-by-11.7-inch scanner and offers a maximum print size of 8.5 by 17 inches. And as an MFP, it can also make copies.
Printer controls for the Pixma MP470 take the form of a 1.8-inch LCD display and a handful of well-marked buttons. You also get various photo-editing and scanning tools. Photos and other graphics look okay on plain paper, but bright and crisp on more-expensive Canon paper.
Drawbacks: The Pixma MP470 has an inconsistent feel: The cabinet looks elegant, but the input and output trays rattle a lot and bend easily. The MFP's poorly designed cartridge bays make replacing ink needlessly difficult. And the navigation controls are hard to use, with buttons that don't depress easily.
*See the full test and specs report for the Canon Pixma MP470.
HP Photosmart A526
- PCW Rating: 84 Very Good
- Rank: #2 on PC World's Top 5 Snapshot Printers (October 2007)
- Recent low price online: $79
What you get for the money: The HP Photosmart A526 prints both 4-by-6 inch photos and 4-by-12-inch panorama shots. Designed with portability in mind, this compact photo printer has a built-in handle for transporting it between PCs or taking it on the road. The Photosmart A526 comes with media slots for most major formats; a Bluetooth adapter is optional.
The 2.4-inch, permanently angled LCD on the Photosmart A526 lets you automatically fix photos and remove red eye before printing. More printing options are available if you install HP's Photosmart Essentials software on your PC. Print quality is good, with (mostly) natural colors, and the consumables cost is a tolerable 29 cents per page.
Drawbacks: Though the Photosmart A526 produces colors that, in the main, look natural, skin tones have a noticeable orange bias. Worse, you could grow old waiting for this photo printer to churn out pictures; its print speed for photos is considerably slower than a page per minute.
*See the full test and specs report for the HP Photosmart A526.
HP Photosmart C5280
- PCW Rating: 80 Very Good
- Rank: #3 on PC World's Top 10 Inkjet Multifunction Printers (September 2007)
- Recent low price online: $129
What you get for the money: The HP Photosmart C5280 multifunction printer scans and copies at sizes up to 8.5 by 11.7 inches, and it prints on pages of up to legal-size (8.5-by-14-inch) stock. It can also print directly onto specially coated CS and DVD discs.
The sublimely engineered control panel sports a tiltable, 2.4-inch LCD with clearly marked controls and a smart wizard that helps you print photos by choosing layout and editing options. Print speeds for the Photosmart C5280 are in the middle of the pack for an MFP, and consumables cost is just 24 cents per page.
Drawbacks: The Photosmart C5280 has media slots to handle most major formats, but digital photographers might miss the lack of a PictBridge connector for printing photos directly from a camera. When used for printing nonphotographic content, plain paper produces slightly fuzzy output.
*See the full test and specs report for the HP Photosmart C5280.
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