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Canon PIXMA MG5450
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With a plinth-like top, which houses the A4 flatbed scanner module, mounted on top of the box-shaped ink-jet printer unit, this product has dimensions of 455 x 369 x 148mm (W x D x H). The MG5450’s outer coating of lacquered black seems to want to tempt you to reach out to touch and feel its smooth lines – especially if you share my hang-up about finger smears that tend to congregate on this type of surface. Fortunately, however, this lacquered coating does not hang on to any of these unsightly marks that you may impart on its surface.
This was not the only surprise I encountered as I ran the rule over this PIXMA device. The logo embellished front of the PIXMA MG-5450 is a cover that conceals the paper output tray. You can either flip down this cover manually or let it happen automatically when the printer receives a command from a computer or other source to burst into operation. In either case, as the cover drops down so a support arm is automatically extended to support any printed output. When the cover is closed, this support arm slides back into its slot for safe-keeping.
Arranged on the sloping surface just above this cover is the unit’s control panel. Along with various navigation and selection buttons, this panel features a 7.5cm colour screen that generally gives you a choice of three options. Positioned along the bottom of this screen are three touch button allowing you to select the appropriate option. You also get power and black/colour print buttons plus a WiFi indicator light.
This panel serves a second purpose. It can be raised up to reveal the container for the five ink cartridges that this printer uses. In normal circumstances you will be supplied with Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Pigment Black cartridges to insert your self. However these were already in place with my review model and so I can not comment on how easy this procedure will be but I do not foresee any problems.
A software CD is provided for setting up this AIO device with your Windows or Mac computer. When set up on my Windows system, I was able to cherry-pick from items made up of MP Drivers, On-screen Manual, My Printer, My Image Garden, Quick Menu, Adobe RGB and Easy-Web Print Ex. Following the installation of the software, a restart will be required and if included, the Quick Menu feature will be included in the start up. This Quick Menu displays a reversed L-shaped arrangement of various options such as scan, print, download premium content, view the on-screen manual and check out the ink model numbers used by your printer. You also get a small image display window running a slideshow of selected images.
The PIXMA MG5450 provides you with two, some might say three, paper input options. You have the main paper tray located at the base of the unit. This can hold up to 125 sheets of plain copy paper (considerable less if using photo paper) up to A4 size. Located just above this tray is a second smaller unit that can hold up to 20 sheets of photo paper. As this tray limits you to 5 x 7-inch and smaller paper, you will need to use the lower tray when the need to print A4 photos arises. By turning this second tray upside down, it is converted into a tray for holding printable CD/DVDs. Both trays felt a little flimsy but caused no problems.
The unit’s A4 flatbed scanner has an optical resolution of up to 2400 x 4800 dpi. It can be set to scan to a linked computer or the printer when producing photocopies. A full-colour A4 photocopy was produced in 35 seconds. The scanner can also send data to memory cards, emails. The Cloud and deliver content in various formats including password-protected PDF with options to zoom and shrink while producing up to 99 copies.
The Canon print driver offers Fast, Standard and High print quality with an eco mode and automatic Duplex printing. Running my usual 102-word document test in monochrome and colour with the latter having an additional colour image, I recorded the page rates seen in the table below. A 10-page document, using the automatic Duplex feature, required 142 seconds to complete its task.
| Quality | Monochrome | Colour |
|---|---|---|
| Fast | 25 | 15 |
| Standard | 24 | 13 |
| Best | 9 | 3 |
I timed how long the printer took to produce 10 x 15cm and A4 photo prints using content stored on a computer and an SD memory card. The memory card slot is next to the paper output tray while the software used for printing the photos from the computer was Canon’s Image Garden program.
| Size | Memory Card | Computer |
|---|---|---|
| 10 x 15cm | 18 seconds | 48 seconds |
| A4 | 26 seconds | 52 seconds |
The PIXMA MG5450 supports various remote printing options. With PIXMA Cloud Link you can print direct from the Internet. You can select and print images stored on the Canon iMAGE GATEWAY and Google’s Picasa. There is also support for Apple AirPrint.
This is a good-looking well specified AIO unit. At the time of writing Amazon was offering this unit for £89. Replacement cartridges should be available for £9.91 Black and £10.87 for the individual colours with Pigment Black priced at £12.26. High yield cartridges are also available but at a higher price point.
http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Multifunctionals/Inkjet/PIXMA_MG5450/
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