WHAT'S HOT: Canon's S750 cranks out text documents at 7.2 pages per minute--the fastest of any ink jet printer we've tested in a while--and its 1.2-ppm graphics printing speed ranks highly. We also like the S750's text quality, which looks solid black, has even weighting, and is legible even at very small fonts. Glossy photos were impressive with bright, saturated colors, excellent detail, and realistic shading. If Canon's ink yield specifications are accurate, the S750's inks are the cheapest per page of any printer we've tested (less than nine cents).

WHAT'S NOT: Color graphics on ordinary paper look moderately good, with slightly flat colors and some loss of detail. Gray-scale quality, however, was barely adequate: Printers that excel with glossy photos usually produce good-quality gray-scale images, but the S750 laces the output with narrow white stripes, and detail disappears behind overly dark tones. The output tray doesn't attach well--that's no problem if you never move the printer, but if you move it a lot, you may have to reattach the tray each time.

WHAT ELSE: Canon provides comprehensive documentation with the S750. The setup guide is a full-fledged manual, and the on-screen help files explain printer use in great detail. You can run the printer with a USB or parallel interface, and the driver has a setting to print snapshot-size photos right to the edge of the paper.

UPSHOT: Spend a little more, get a little more; this printer is a great choice for quick, good-looking text and photos.

SUMMARY

Canon S750 Color Bubble Jet Printer Rated 12.8-ppm monochrome/9-ppm color, 2400-by-1200-dpi maximum resolution, 100 sheets input, 50 output. $199 800/652-2666 consumer.usa.canon.com