Absolute Gadget

Review: Canon Pixma MP630 All-In-One inkjet printer

Written by Rene Millman Friday, 06 March 2009 17:07

If anything can be said about the MP610, it would be that the printer was well-loved and well-received by all those who reviewed and owned it. But can the same be said about its replacement, the MP630.

The MP610 had a great set of features given the price and some would argue if it ain't broke don't fix it. Luckily, on first looks the MP630 doesn't stray too far from the script. It still has the same silver and black finish. The paper tray is on the bottom with a paper feed at the top as well - both holding 150 sheets each. While the bottom tray is meant for normal paper, the feeder can take photo paper as well.

Folding down the output tray, you can get to the machinery inside. The internal flip-down cover gives you access to the CD/DVD feed for printing labels. The disc carrier supplied can print labels for normal CDs as well as those annoying credit card types as well.

As you would expect from an all-in-one, the flatbed scanner can take single paper sheets as well as photos.

Set into the scanner cover is a fold-up LCD display, alongside the usual Canon control panel with its jogwheel. As with tests of previous Canon printer, this is a very easy part of the printer and the best we've seen as far as setting up a printer.
{mospagebreak}It also sports on the right of the printer a cover which reveals three memory card slots. Below this is a PictBridge socket and around the back is a USB 2.0 port for connecting to a PC. Bluetooth is available as an option.

It comes with the normal software bundle including scanning, printing and photo management applications, including an OCR engine. As we have tested other Canon printers before, we still had software on the Mac. Unfortunately, this software made it difficult for us to install the software on the Mac. Eventually, after trawling through the internet. We managed to remove the previous software on the Mac and install brand new software. It has to be said, the software on the disc provided works well but the software from Canon's website doesn't seem to work as well in as far as actually recognising the printer.

Print speeds are OK, but not quite as fast as what is claimed by the company. When printing, the printer seems to make a lot of noises before actually printing which can start to get annoying.

Print quality is great and what we have come to expect from Canon over the last few years. Scanned document quality (its high optical resolution of 4,800 x 9,600ppi) was also very serviceable.

Photo printing is superlative. Test prints look natural and professional with no dot patterns to spoil pictures.
{mospagebreak}This machine is a great family printer, but perhaps lives in the shadows of its predecessor. If the print speeds could be increased and perhaps the price of the print cartridges lowered, it could well end up a better machine than the MP610.

Rating: 7.5/10