Canon PIXMA iP100 Printer

Canon PIXMA iP100 Printer
While most of the Canon’s PIXMA inkjet printers are meant for desktop computers, fortunately those printers never proved to be back-breaking monsters with large sizes or weights. There’s a market that printer manufactures seem to be keen on exploring now though and that is the mobile segment. Whether for travelling (printing pictures as you take them) or people constantly on the go for meetings, seeing clients, and a variety of reasons, the concept of a portable printer has suddenly become a very appealing one. From Canon’s PIXMA series comes the iP100, a printer that offers both portability as well as quality prints.

There are a few factors that make a printer ‘portable’ such as the footprint of the product meaning the size and the weight. The PIXMA iP100 scores high on this by being relatively light and compact, making it easy to carry around with a bag. Another important factor would be whether it can be wireless or not. While being light and compact is one thing, if it is possible to eliminate the use of wires all together, will be much better. Though optional, it is possible to get a Bluetooth adapter for the PIXMA iP100 (which is quite pricey as far as we know), which will allow you to send print commands to your printer wirelessly through not only a computer, but also PDAs or mobile devices. Not only that, any compatible digital camera, mobile phone with camera, or DV camcorder can use the PIXMA iP100’s PictBridge technology to directly via USB to print photos without the need of a computer. Along with the rechargeable lithium ion battery included, it is possible to use the iP100 without any wires.

With a maximum of 9600 DPI, quality will not be found wanting from the PIXMA iP100. For printer cartridges, two are needed for the iP100: 1 black as well as another based on Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and a Photo Black color for better shades in photo prints. Text prints are decently fast at roughly 9.6 ppm though colored prints, especially prints with a lot of objects on it, are on the slower side at 5.1 ppm. However, considering its portability, being able to print at the best quality at that speed is decent; of course, draft prints would be a lot faster.

The Canon PIXMA iP100 comes at a premium price and if you add the optional Bluetooth adapter, it becomes even more expensive. Sources have also claim that cartridges for the iP100 don’t last long but are not cheap either. Whatever the case, products with great portability often command a premium price and in this case, it’ll likely be useful for many people.