I bought this printer to perform the dual roles of home and home-office printing. I’m a graphic designer and often create and print my own artwork, photos etc as well as printing off everyday things like documents and letters so I wanted an all-round performer.
I’ve had many printers in the past and had been very unhappy with my last Epson purchase, so looked specifically at Canon and HP. My main criteria were;
- A4 and photo size printing - Good quality photo printing - Borderless printing - High quality colour photos with strong colour representation - Ability to print on a variety of paper medium - Ability to source cheaper non branded replacement cartridges
I’ve now had the printer for about 6 weeks and I am very pleased with it. The quality of printing is absolutely excellent and I would have happily paid a much higher price (it cost me just under £65) for the item it’s that good. Colour representation is strong and true and I have printed pictures that I also had printed at Asda a few months back, which look better than the Asda prints do.
The printer is very quick to print and is easy to operate. The software that comes with it is good and most importantly works! It literally took me under five minutes to set the printer up straight from the box - the software drivers all installed like a dream and it worked straight away. The only problem I had was trying to figure out where on earth to put small 6x4 photo paper...
Paper can be loaded from one of two separate areas, a paper tray that sits upright on top of the printer at the back and then a second paper cartridge hidden away underneath the printer. There are various sliders and rulers in this second paper tray but try as I might, I could not figure out where to put the 6x4’s. I turned to the quick start guide, then to the full manual but found no mention of it. I went online and used various searches to try and find out. I went to the Canon website and eventually, after about 20 minutes, finally found out exactly where to place the paper!
The printer makes use of Pict Bridge technology which both my digital camera and mobile phone/cam have, and I have used this a few times which works really well if you just have a couple of pictures you want printing quickly without the need of having your computer turned on.
Because I’ve not the item long I am still using the print cartridges that came with it. I have had a look and have found a couple of places on line that sell compatible non-branded ink. It is still fairly new though and I am confident that in the coming months there will be more and more places selling non-manufacturer replacement ink cartridges for it.
In my opinion, for the price and overall quality of the printer you’d be hard pressed to find anything better. Set up and installation went like a dream for me (Windows XP Professional) and it just works brilliant. An excellent product and a great price!!
Pictures of Canon PIXMA iP 4300
My PIXMA IP4300 in my office
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Apr 24th, 2007
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