The Canon BJC5000 has to be one of the ugliest printers this side of the entire HP range. A big grey wall of plastic at the front, and rounded at the back, it at least looks solid, and heavy use proves this to be the case. Fortunately, the models Canon have brought out to replace it are much better looking, but if you can pick up a 5000 cheaper, there's still a case to be made for going for it.
The printer has the standadrd dual cartridge system meaning that you can have a colour cartridge and a black one in at the same time. Indeed, you can have two black cartridges in at the same time; the whopping BC23, a snip at £28.99 but which does last for ages, and the slightly more compact BCI21, a mere £5.28 (if you know where to look). Colour carts are more expensive, about £14.99; but it is worth bearing in mind that you can get the cheaper Dataline alternatives. Some places such as Office World are selling these very cheaply - you can pick up a pack of three black for £4.99, for example. The photo option is obviously more pricey.
Print quality is superb, as you would expect from a 720x1440 dpi printer. Black text is crisp, and even without the photo cart, the pictures are well-defined and vibrant, no matter what the media used; and the 5000 can take up to A3 paper. However, I have, as yet, found no way to get it to admit that I use A4 paper most often - the default is letter size and I can't figure out a way of altering this.
As you would expect with Canon, the manuals are comprehensive, and the driver software excellent. I'd definitely recommend buying this printer if you can find one - and there is still stock lurking out there - but make sure you get the right price, as later Canons of similar quality have additional advantages such as seperate cartridges for each colour.
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Jul 12th, 2000
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