Pixma MP530 Multifunction Inkjet Printer

If you have a home office and a limited budget, the Pixma MP530 is a good choice. It’s versatile, dependable, and offers a wide range of options that compete with pricier offerings. It’s not networkable so it has to be attached via a USB cable, but if that’s not an issue, you’ll find the Pixma worth the money.

The Pixma MP530 is a dependable workhorse that has a lot going for it. It’s not Canon’s top-of-the-line multifunction printer—it’s right in the middle, in fact—but it’s also more than $200 cheaper than the newest Pixma. For the price (under $170), it’s an excellent value, and since it works with Macs as well as Windows, there’s something for almost everybody.

Setting up the printer was easy to do. I loaded the drivers from the included CD onto my PC, connected the USB cable, and was ready to print, copy, and scan. There’s a phone jack on the back and the instruction book does a good job at illustrating how to hook up the printer to the phone, so getting the fax working was simple as well.

Despite the printer’s size (more than 18 inches wide and deep), Canon has done a good job at getting the document feeders and output trays into or onto the machine so there are no plastic parts jutting out when it’s not in use. The built-in cassette can hold 150 sheets of plain paper, and can handle a wide range of photo papers, stickers, and envelopes.

This Pixma doesn’t print photos very quickly, with a test photo on 8x10 paper taking about one minute to print. Print quality is excellent. Printing a monochrome 8x10 text document took only about 7 seconds.

The Pixma offers a lot of advanced copying options, including duplexing and exposure control, and the automatic document feeder can hold up to 30 pages. Scanning options are convenient and include saving to PDF or attaching the scanned image to an e-mail. At a normal quality setting, it took about 6 seconds to scan a colorful 4x6 photo.

The biggest disappointment for me is not being able to access the printer over my home wireless network. This model also lacks media slots, so if you want to print from your camera, you have to use PictBridge or connect through your PC.