What They're Saying About: The Canon Pixma MP500

Sitting square in the center of Canon's Pixma line, the Canon Pixma MP500 offers top-notch image printing, a variety of features for the home photographer, plus copying and scanning. If you need fax support, then go elsewhere; also if you want film scanning. In other words, this is a reasonably priced all-in-one for the family who wants a solid, hard-working multifunctional photo printer.

Price: $199.99
Type: Color inkjet photo printer
Max. Print Speed: Black: 29ppm. Color: 19ppm.
Max. Print Resolution: 9600 x 2400 (interpolated)
Special Features: 2.5-inch LCD, memory card slot, duplex printing

PC Magazine Review

Rating: 4 out of 5

Liked: Printer, scanner, and standalone copier. Scans to e-mail program. Fast performance, particularly for business applications. Excellent paper handling with dual paper feed and duplexing.

Disliked:No automatic document feeder. No fax support.

In Short: The Canon Pixma MP500 is strong on performance, particularly for business applications, and it offers surprisingly capable paper handling, with two 150-sheet paper trays and duplexing capability. Lack of a document feeder and fax support limits you to printing, scanning, and copying, though.

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PC World Review

Rating: 86

Liked: The media slots hide behind a small door and can read most digital camera memory card formats. We saw dark text with crisp edges. We also noted excellent contrast and surprisingly sharp details in photos printed on plain paper. On photo paper we saw beautifully sharp images with bold colors. It printed our test photo on letter-size photo paper in a commendable 57 seconds. Its 4.3-ppm copy speed is also one of the fastest.

Disliked: Serious photographers may bemoan the lack of a film-scanning capability, while home-office workers may miss a built-in fax and an automatic document feeder. Unlike several of its rivals and many photo printers, the MP500 doesn't let you read images from a USB flash drive attached to its direct-print port. Many of the MP500's rivals outstrip its print speed of 6.4 pages-per-minute for text.

In Short: The MP500 may lack some frills, but it delivers a great combination of performance, quality, and paper handling at a fair price.