Canon Pixma iX7000 review

£296
Price when reviewed

Few printers capture the imagination in the PC Pro office like a large format inkjet. The possibilities – spectacular A3+ photos or big, bold business documents – are much greater than with a standard A4 printer.

Canon Pixma iX7000 review

The iX7000 is for offices, claims Canon, and its chief office credential is its price. At just shy of £260 exc VAT, it’s considerably cheaper than Canon’s top-end A3 photo inkjet, the Pixma Pro9000 Mark II.

It’s cheaper to refill the ink as well: the Pro9000 uses a ten-ink system, which offers incredible photo quality, but a new set of cartridges costs more than £90. The iX7000 has a CMYK, five-ink system, with an extra black for printing text, and costs £56 to refill.

The drawback for photographers is reduced image quality. In isolation our prints were fine, but compared to those from the Pro9000 Mark II the iX7000 produced less accurate colours – skintones appeared warmer and less natural. Our A-Listed A4 printer, Canon’s iP4700, also produced better test results. For unfussy customers it’s fine, though, and it’s quick: in best quality mode it finished an A3 photo in just four minutes.

But the iX7000 is aimed at offices, and it produced some superb documents. Blacks were dark and even, and solid blocks of colour – as you’re likely to find on business documents and charts – were nicely produced with no signs of banding. It turned out five A3 PDFs at a rate of one every 30 seconds, and finished a 20-page A4 printing job in just over two minutes, or 10ppm.

Media handling is the iX7000’s other chief draw. If you feed paper in manually, the printing path is flat, which allows you to use up to 300g/m2 card stock. You also get two paper trays. One is a cassette feeder capable of holding 250 sheets, and the other is a vertical paper tray that holds up to 20 sheets. It means you can stuff the cassette with everyday paper, and the vertical paper tray with specialist media.

Either tray can accommodate up to A3+. And, if you print from the lower cassette, you can use the iX7000’s automatic duplexer, which printed our five-page PDF in 3mins 30secs, double-sided. These options make the iX7000 excellent for small workgroups, and the Ethernet port on the back only adds to its appeal.

If you regularly print marketing materials or colour proofs, the iX7000 is ideal. You can expect to pay at least twice as much for an A3 laser printer, and you’ll lose the iX7000’s photo-printing capabilities. Add the advanced paper-handling and decent turn of speed, and you’re left with a printer any professional should consider.

Basic Specifications

Colour?yes
Resolution printer final4800 x 1200dpi
Ink-drop size2.0pl
Integrated TFT screen?no
Rated/quoted print speed10PPM
Maximum paper sizeA3+
Duplex functionyes

Running costs

Cost per A4 mono page1.6p
Cost per A4 colour page4.8p
Inkjet technologyThermal
Ink typePigment-based

Power and noise

Peak noise level36.0dB(A)
Dimensions647 x 530 x 260mm (WDH)
Peak power consumption22W

Performance tests

6x4in photo print time50s
A4 photo print time2min 28s
Mono print speed (measured)10ppm

Media Handling

Borderless printing?yes
CD/DVD printing?no
Input tray capacity250 sheets

Connectivity

USB connection?yes
Ethernet connection?yes
Bluetooth connection?no
WiFi connection?no
PictBridge port?no
Other connectionsNone

Flash media

SD card readerno
Compact Flash readerno
Memory Stick readerno
xD-card readerno
USB flash drive support?no
Other memory media supportNone

OS Support

Operating system Windows 7 supported?yes
Operating system Windows Vista supported?yes
Operating system Windows XP supported?yes
Operating system Windows 2000 supported?yes
Operating system Windows 98SE supported?no
Other operating system supportMac OS X 10.3.9 and above
Software suppliedEasy-PhotoPrint EX, Easy-PhotoPrint Pro, Easy-WebPrint EX

Disclaimer: Some pages on this site may include an affiliate link. This does not effect our editorial in any way.

Todays Highlights
How to See Google Search History
how to download photos from google photos