SmallBizResource Blog -- Hardware

New Printer Options In Play

Posted by Judy Mottl Friday, Aug 31, 2007, 10:42 AM ET

On the heels of Cora Nucci's post about how the fax is obsolute and we should all be using the technology housed right within our desktop, and my lament about my own faxing woes, comes news that Canon's putting two new printer options on the market.

Given the price tags they're definitely worth putting on the review list if you're considering updating or upgrading print/scan/fax/copy technology.

The first (about $300) is the imageCLASS MF4270 and boasts two-sided printing, a built-in fax that can print at speeds of up to 21 pages per minute for letter-sized output (resolution up to 1200 x 600 dots per inch). It can scan documents in 24-bit color and connects to the PC either through USB 2.0 or a built-in 10/100baseT Ethernet networking.

If you're a SMB aiming to become a bit bigger, you might want to check out Canon's imageCLASS MF4690, though it's about $100 bucks more.

One nice feature is that documents can be scanned and e-mailed and/or faxed directly from the device, without any PC. Yet a scan-to-USB memory feature lets users scan documents directly to a drive in the user's choice of file formats.

Then there's also two-sided printing, copying, and faxing. It prints and copies at speeds up to 21 pages-per-minute for letter-sized output.

If printing/multi-function upgrades are on your to-do list I'd love to hear what features and options are most important and how you're approaching the product review process.

Hardware