Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Laser All-in-one - multifunction, canon
Overall, this is a good all-in-one laser printer for its price in consumer class printers. Here are some detailed comments.
1. The automatic paper feeder is well designed - the situation that multiple pages go-through at once never happens (in HP 3050, this happens a lot).
2. Canon provided a well designed user interface - functions are easy to follow and operate, including scan / printer / copy.
3. The automatic duplex print is excellent and make the printer worth what you paid for. But when using automatic double sided printing - the print speed turns to be less than a third (instead a half) because the mechanical parts need a lot of time to flip the paper.
4. As some of you may have concerned, the latest firmware (02/09/2009) makes scan function smooth on a Mac - all you need is to press the scan button. This is tested on a Leopard Mac Mini.
5. In case some of you want know the compatibility with printer servers, this printer is full compatible with Netgear PS121 printer server under windows vista (including automatic duplex) x86 and x64. It is NOT compatible with Netgear PS121 under Mac Leopard (no idea why - installation smooth and prints went through - nothing comes out of printer). This printer is NOT compatible with Maxtor Central Axis printer server function.
To summary, this is a good printer for its price. However, concerning its powerful function, you may want spend some extra money for the 4370n to enable every function on network - if you are working in a networked environment. Canon ImageCLASS MF4350d Laser All-in-One Printer
I purchased this machine on Amazon in November. Overall, I've been happy with it. Duplexing was an important feature to me, and Canon appears to offer that on less expensive printers than other companies.
I don't have a lot of experience to base my judgments on, but I think the print quality is very good, with a couple exceptions. First, the printing is sometimes crooked on the paper, especially on the back side when duplexing. However, the Canon rep I complained to said that a variance within 2mm is considered acceptable, so I measured and this printer is within that tolerance. It's visible, though, especially on forms, such as printer checks. (Actually, my cheapest of Dell inkjets printed straighter.)
The other problem also appears when duplexing: on the back side there's a strip of blurred printing from top to bottom where the toner didn't bond. This only appears on the first sheet after the printer has sat idle awhile. The Canon rep had no answer, had not heard of this before.
Yes, you can scan from the machine if you download the firmware update.
I think I'd buy it if I had it to do over. It's quick and has really crisp printing. If you want to compare, some similar Canons I looked at are the MF4150, MF4370dn and MF4270.
I am a bit disappointed after I've played with this copier ImageCLASS MF4350d. Note that Canon calls this a copier, not a printer. Thus, when you call Canon or search its site for help/technical support, make sure you select the "Copier" category.
This ImageCLASS MF4350d has been in the market for a while but no one reports this problem: up to this moment of writing this review, the machine cannot scan a document by using its own START button. Everything must be scanned via the software "Toolbox" from the computer.
I bought it a few days ago. I called Canon 1-800 for help but it was useless. Then I went back to the store and tried their demo machine; it has the same problem. Whenever I push the START button on the machine for scanning, there is always a beeping sound as a return but the LCD doesn't show any error - it always indicates "Scanning Mode." So I called Canon again to go over the story. Finally they admitted the problem and said that they are aware of this issue; their engineers are working on the new firmware to fix this. However it won't be soon. The new firmware may be possibly released next month but could be later. I also wrote an email to Canon support to confirm this information one more time, besides their verbal confirmation over the phone.
In addition, the scanning has no detection senor. Thus, the scanned document (scanned from the computer) will go as large as the paper size, which is usually the Letter/A4 size depending on your settings. The scanned document will NOT be resized automatically according to the actual object(s). It is different from its ink jet printers, which usually detect the size of the document or photo and then resize automatically.
If scanning a document directly from the machine's START button is important to you, you should wait to buy until the new firmware comes. If resizing the document or photo automatically is important to you, this copier or printer is not for you; you may consider others or Canon ink jet type printer. After all, this all-in-on laser printer is classified a copier internally by Canon. - All-in-one - Multifunction - Canon - Laser Printer'
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