Canon Pixma MG5450 review

We’ve become accustomed to Canon’s all-in-ones taking up residence on PC Pro’s A-List, and in 2013 it’s the turn of the affordable Canon Pixma MG5450 to keep standards up.

It makes a good start, with a smart chassis and plenty of connectivity options: you can hook up to the MG5450 via 802.11n wireless or USB 2; there’s a card reader that supports SD, MS and MMC formats; and, just like several of HP’s models, the Pixma MG5450 permits printing from a range of devices. Google Cloud Print and Apple AirPrint are supported, and Canon’s Easy-PhotoPrint app prints files from Android and iOS devices across a Wi-Fi network.

There’s no ADF (automatic document feeder), but the MG5450 can print on CD and DVDs, and there’s automatic duplex printing, too. The 7.5cm colour display isn’t a touchscreen, but the menus are easy to navigate.

The Pixma MG5450 uses a five-ink print engine: the standard CMYK tanks are supplemented with a Pigment Black tank for printing text. We had some bizarre results in our speed tests, with draft-quality prints appearing more slowly than standard-quality ones, but it isn’t worth worrying about. Even at standard quality, mono A4 prints jet out at 14.3ppm, and text is bold and crisp enough that it could almost pass for the output of a laser printer.

Colour A4 prints slow the Pixma’s output to a more modest 5.2ppm, but quality remains excellent. Up the ante with photo prints, and the Pixma is in its element: A4 prints appear in a speedy 2mins 31 secs, and the combination of bold, rich colours and oodles of grain-free detail set the Canon apart.

Scans and copies are just as good. Our 6 x 4in photo took 38 seconds to scan at 600dpi, and the results were unerringly faithful.

The one weakness is that the MG5450 isn’t the cheapest printer to run. Its A4 prints cost 2.8p per mono page and 8.9p per colour page, while 6 x 4in prints are 17.8p. Given the quality, however, this doesn’t seem unreasonable.

It all adds up to a nigh-on perfect package. The Canon MG5450 is fast, well featured and delivers print quality that eclipses most of its inkjet rivals, almost matching mono lasers for text quality. At £90, it’s a bit of a steal.