Canon Pixma MG7550 review

Canon’s Pixma MG6650 impressed us so much that it secured itself our A-List seal of approval when we reviewed it recently, so the pricier Pixma MG7550 has a tough act to follow.

What’s the difference between them? Physically, not a lot. The MG7550 shares its stablemate’s no-frills design and chunky, black plastic chassis. Indeed, it’s almost identical to the MG6650 save for a few tasteful touches, including a slightly more compact chassis and the use of glossy plastics rather than a matte finish.

The MG7550 also has a slightly larger and more responsive touchscreen than its cheaper peer, making navigating the options and establishing Wi-Fi connections very easy.

Take a quick glance at the specifications and you’d be forgiven for not seeing anything of note. Look closer, however, and you’ll see that the main difference is the MG7750’s more refined, six-tank ink engine, which adds grey to the five-ink roster of the MG6650.

The top resolution is higher, too, at 9,600 x 2,400dpi compared with 4,800 x 1,200dpi, and you also get a higher-spec scanner, with a maximum optical scanning resolution of 2,400 x 4,800ppi versus the MG6650’s 1,200 x 2,400ppi.

Canon makes a lot of noise about the MG7550’s photo-printing capabilities and, upon printing a 6×4 inch photo and A4-sized colour image, it’s clear those boasts aren’t without basis. The MG6650 is an excellent photo printer, producing warm colours and natural skin tones, but the MG7550 beats it soundly.

Rich, saturated colours and sharp details abound here, but we were really taken with the startling lack of graininess. In blocks of colour, such as skin and blue skies, the MG7550’s extra resolution really pays dividends. And despite the extra quality, there’s little difference in speed, with the MG7550 delivering 6 x 4in prints at best quality in 50 seconds each, and the MG6650 jetting out the same file in 52 seconds.

The MG7550’s scanning and copying speeds were good, too. It processed our 6 x 4in 600ppi photo in 16 seconds and copied the same image in 53 seconds, while copies of our A4 mono and colour ISO documents were delivered in 16 and 25 seconds respectively. As expected, the quality of the photo suffered a little in the copy, the print exhibiting some grain and colours appearing slightly washed out, but image quality was sharper than we were anticipating, and we didn’t notice any of the smeariness we’re used to seeing on copied photo prints.

Standard document printing saw the MG7550 perform at an almost-identical clip to the MG6650: mono and colour documents output at a rate of 13.9ppm and 10.1ppm respectively, with the MG6650 printing at 13.3ppm and 9.3ppm.

Running costs are also similar for documents, but a touch more expensive for photo printing, thanks to the extra grey ink. To keep running costs as low as possible, we’d recommend investing in XL ink tanks, rather than the superficially cheaper standard tanks, since you’ll make more of a saving in the long run. We calculated the running costs at 2.4p for mono prints and 8.1p for colour; using standard tanks would almost double the price at 4p and 17p.

In terms of the physical connections, the printers are once again very similar: the MG7550 shares the MG6650’s USB 2, 802.11n Wi-Fi and card reader, as well as the Pixma Printing Solutions app, which allows for wireless printing from an Android or iOS device. Unlike the MG6650, however, the also MG7550 has a 10/100 Ethernet port for wired networking.

In all, the Canon Pixma MG7550 is a fantastic printer for those with a serious recreational interest in photography. It delivers superb-quality photo prints at a reasonable cost, and it’s pretty quick too. However, it’s much more expensive than the MG6650, so if you’re not bothered by what is, at the end of the day, a very small difference in quality, you’d be better served by the MG6650.