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It is 44x37x16cm; add another 10cm to the middle figure when the paper input tray is lowered.

Setup is straightforward but can take up to around 20 minutes and uses close to 800MB of hard disc space if everything is installed.

There are just eleven buttons on the front edge and the ubiquitous five position joystick control. The controls are around the 5x3.7cm display.

See also: Multifunction printers

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The display is bright and easy to read and while not touch screen the three buttons underneath it control the actions on it.

The home screen simply has three choices on it, copy, scan and cloud.

Printing is sent from the PC and the display changes automatically to Printing while it processes a job and returns to the home screen once completed.

This is a five ink offering meaning there are three colours as well as two different blacks.

Print speeds of inkjet printers used to be something that can from a fiction book but now all the manufacturers have to use the same basic documents the speeds are what is claimed. This stated the way speeds are calculated means that anyone printing a single document will never get close to the claimed speed.

First the method used selects ‘fast’ as printing method and while Canons fast mode is still crisp and sharp it is a somewhat noisier print method rather than the slower normal selection. Second the testing discounts both the first and last pages. The major delay is always before the first page and this can be around 15 seconds while processing takes place. For some reason the unit normally pauses before the last page prints also.

Apart from that the claimed 12PPM for black and close to 9PPM for colour are achievable.

The quoted speed for photo printing is for 15x10cm images this is stated as 44seconds. I tend to print A4 images and with photo paper being more expensive I always print in best mode I found this completed the task in around three minutes.

Copying is instigated from the unit with the choices available on the front screen being image size, % (down to 25% and up to 400%) and number of copies. You can copy in monochrome or colour and of course this task can be completed without the PC being involved or even turned on.

Scanning can be instigated from either the unit or from the PC and the supplied software on the PC allows you to scan as a PDF, JPG or even to OCR text. The resolution can also be set.

In my tests I found it easier to start this action from the PC but it is possible from the unit but be sure the two are talking to each other.

This unit is stated to have remote printing ability but lack of review time meant I was unable to test this feature.

For anyone wanting to do a little of everything this is a good buy and having separate ink cartridges means printing costs are a little less.

The Canon Pixma MG5500 is available from the first link below for £79 with free delivery.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00EQBXTMA?ie=UTF8&tag=gadge0a-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634

I have also given the link to the Canon site that has all the units specifcations.

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Printers/Inkjet/PIXMA_MG5550