Archive art
As well as conventional printing, scanning and copying, the Pixma MG-5250 can print colour labels onto Direct Disc CD/DVD media. This is the kind of feature that is a massive waste of time in the office, but surprisingly silly fun at home. Canon wants you to have silly fun!
NSFW? Rather than an office job, disc printing is best suited to domestic decadence
Verdict
Discounted by up to £40 in some places, this is a cracking family all-in-one for the price, and the ink cartridges are affordable at under £25 for a complete set of five. However, you’ll empty several sets of ink cartridges long before the dispatch of festive snaps is over. ®
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Canon Pixma MG-5250
COMMENTS
Psst ... Want a Fax/Copier/Printer - no Fax/Copy function. Going cheap!
I have this combo unit in my junk cupboard. Everything was great until the scanner went bad - now it's only a printer.
Never again!
Buy a laser instead
I can't comment about the pros and cons of this particular printer as opposed to any other inkjet but my general advice is... don't buy an inkjet, buy a colour laser instead! Unless you do a lot of printing, a laser printer is much, MUCH cheaper!!
I probably print no more than about 20 pages a month at home at most. I used to have inkjet printers of various brands but was forever buying new cartridges because they'd dry out, produce stripey printouts, clog up, spurt out tons of ink in pointless "cleaning" cycles, etc.
The typical lifecycle of an inkjet printer was: buy printer (£150), buy new set of cartridges every six months (£50 for a full set), after 2 years throw printer away because it was crap and still produced crap printouts despite brand new full set of cartridges. Repeat. Total cost: £300 every 2 years, and lots of frustration.
Then, 2 years ago I bought a colour laser printer (£250). Still using the original toner cartridges and barely made a dent in the supply levels. I fully expect to still be using that printer in 2 or 3 years time.
Unless you print a lot of full page glossy colour photos or can guarantee to use it regularly enough that you never dry out the ink jets, a laser printer is better in every respect: cheaper, faster, better quality, and the ink doesn't smudge if it gets wet.
How many multi-function machines have you encountered where a function has failed?
My experience is that, like Jack of all trades, multi-functions are as never as accomplished as dedicated, single function, machines. There are always compromises in some function.
PS.
Oh, and the real clincher was how hard the manager at Staples or Office World, don't remember which, tried to convince me that an inkjet printer was what I really wanted. You can tell where they make their money!
Maximun width of output
The printer appears to be 297 mm wide, perhaps just 11.5 ins . I think we should be told.
