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Canon PIXMA MP560 Review
Reviewer: Tim
Benson
Printer Type:
All-in-One - Wireless/Inkjet
Overall
Rating:
The Canon PIXMA MP560 Wireless
Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer is a more affordable alternative to some of the higher-end all-in-ones such as
Canon’s MP990, and the drop in quality with the MP560 is noticeable. It’s not a terrible printer by any
means, and there are worse values on the market, but the MP560 has too many weak points to be considered a
particularly good buy at anywhere near its retail price point.
Click Here to Purchase New Cheap Canon MP560
Printer
As is to be expected from a Canon,
the MP560 benefits from solid design and a generous helping of ease of use. It’s easy enough to set up
and install that even a relative newcomer should be able to get printing in less than 20 minutes. The
MP560’s LCD screen is located under a fold-away compartment on the right-hand side of the printer, which is a
nice touch and adds some extra space, which could be all-important for some users.
The MP560’s features aside from
basic printing all work fairly well, and it should meet your everyday copying, faxing, and scanning
needs. It also has a built-in duplexing feature, printing on both sides of the paper if you so desire
without requiring you to stand by your printer and frantically re-insert pieces of paper. This is a
great, economical feature, and it really should be standard for this type of all-in-one printer from this point
on. The built-in wireless networking capability is also handy, as is the memory card reading
facility. Overall, the MP560 prints black and white text well, with good quality and speed in this
respect. Its photo print quality is also decent.
The MP560 does have a number of
problems, though. Its low paper capacity is something that will come back to haunt a lot of users over
the long term. The duplexing function does mitigate this problem somewhat, but if you’re printing a large
volume of paper, you’re going to have to supervise your printer to a certain extent. Also, if you do
overfill the tray, which is quite likely considering the low capacity, you’re probably going to experience some
jamming, which can be very irritating to fix with this model.
The graphics print quality produced
by the MP560 is very disappointing, with frequent instances of color bleeding. Whether you’re printing
from a computer or directly through the card reader, the MP560’s print speeds across the board are also
generally significantly lower than advertised, and not really adequate in comparison to other printers in its
price range. You’ll only get about eight pages per minute for the most part, and it’s even slower when
duplexing.
The cost advantage that the MP560
may have over some alternatives is likely to be eroded over the long term by its low capacity cartridges.
This unit is definitely not ideal for regular, high-volume printing. That being said, the MP560 certainly
isn’t the only printer to suffer from this problem.
The MP560’s price is a decent point
in its favor, but in general, this model has a lot of flaws and doesn’t meet with Canon’s usual high
standards. It might be a decent choice for people who expect to print photos infrequently, as it’s fine
in this capacity. For most other common purposes, though, and especially for business users or other
users who expect to be printing a lot, there are better options, such as Canon’s MP990. Unless you’re
getting a fantastic deal, give the MP560 a pass.
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