CANON PIXMA IP4600

Canon's Latest Pixma Retreats on Speed



Single-function, basic inkjet printers suitable for the home or home office haven't quite gone the way of
the dinosaur, but they're becoming an endangered species. As time goes on, these printers are being replaced with all-in-ones (AI0s) and photocentric models.

The Pixma i P4600 is one of the few new low-cost mkjets coming out, and it does have some photo-friendly touches, such as a PictBridge connector. The iP4600's price has come down from that of the iP4500, but its speed has also dropped, leaving it just short of earning an Editors' Choice. Like earlier models, the 6-by-11.7-by-17-inch (11WD) iP4600 offers excellent paper handling, with two paper trays and an automatic duplexer.

As mentioned, this printer fell behind its predecessor in speed, producing 26 pages per minute for monochrome and 21 ppm for color, compared with the iP4500's 31 ppm and 24 ppm, respectively. The
iP4600's output quality was a touch below par for text, a bit above par for photos, and typical for graphics. More than half of the fonts on our text tests were easily readable and well formed at 8 points.

Graphics were good enough for any internal business use, and all photo prints easily qualified as true photo quality (better than you would expect from a typical drugstore, but not as good as a pro photo lab).


The iP4600 even did a reasonable job on monochrome photos, which are a problem for many printers. Although the step down in speed is a bit of a disappointment, the iP4600 offers a more-than-adequate balance of output quality, paper handling, and price.—M. David Stone.

PC Magazine February 2009