![]() The two Canon printers were tied for the second-slowest first page out (FPO) times, and were slowest for the Word file both with and without the first page. The G2270 is the next step up in Canon's MegaTank line, adding a scanner for only a slightly higher price. ![]() On our performance tests, the G1230 was far slower on almost all tests than either the Epson XP-4100 or the Brother MFC-J4335DW, and essentially tied with the Canon Pixma G2270. Testing the Pixma G1230: Plodding Speed, Good-Enough Output Quality But it could easily wind up being cheaper overall, depending on how much you print, while offering more features, including copying, scanning, and faxing. The Brother MFC-J4335DW, for example, our Editors' Choice pick for a light-duty inkjet AIO for personal or micro office use, costs a little less than the G1230 and has a bit higher running cost. The number that matters for comparing printers is the total cost of ownership for each (as discussed in our guide to how to save money on your next printer) rather than either running cost or initial cost only. That said, keep in mind that whether you'll actually get any savings from the lower CPP will depend on how much you print. And the cost for additional ink beyond what the printer comes with works out to 0.3 cent per mono text page and 0.8 cent per color page. As a point of comparison, you'd have to spend well over $1,000 on ink cartridges to get the same number of pages from the Epson XP-4100-far more than the Epson printer would save you in initial price. First, the printer comes with enough ink in the box to print nearly 6,000 mono text pages and 7,700 standard color pages. Running cost is low enough to make it one of the best reasons to consider the G1230. However, the low paper capacity (with the need for frequent refills), and the need to reinsert paper for manual duplexing are two good arguments for keeping the printer in easy reach, even if you'd rather not have it on your desk. The good news is that the single tray at the rear and top is easy to reach for reinserting the stack-as well as for refills or swapping out paper types-so grabbing the paper from the output tray in front and feeding it back through isn't much of an issue. ![]() The driver takes care of printing the right pages on each side of each sheet, so they come out in the right order. The printer offers a 100-sheet tray for up to legal-size paper, plus manual duplexing, which requires printing one side of each page in a document, reinserting the pages following the instructions on your computer screen, and then printing the other side. The manual alignment is necessarily a little tedious compared with most AIOs, which let you print an alignment page and then scan it for automatic alignment, but without a scanner as part of the printer, there's no other choice. Instead, you have to know enough to go to the driver yourself, and look for the option on the Maintenance tab. The installation routine also mentions that you should align the printheads, but it doesn't take you though the process. It measures just 5.8 by 16.4 by 13 inches (HWD) with the trays closed, though the depth grows to 21.9 inches with the output tray extended. And that's where you'll probably need to put it, since it connects by USB cable only. The G1230 weighs just 10.1 pounds, and the chassis is small enough to easily share a desk with. If you don't need a built-in scanner and you expect to print enough pages over its lifetime, the low cost per page (CPP) can make it a superior budget choice in the long run.Īll That's Fit to Print (If It Fits on Your Desk) What makes the G1230 worth its $189.99 list price (high for an entry-level printer) is its running cost of less than a penny a page even for color pages. It's also significantly more expensive than any number of all-in-ones (AIOs) that offer similar paper handling plus an added scanner and faster speed on our tests-including the Epson Expression XP-4100. The Canon Pixma G1230 MegaTank Inkjet Printer represents a nearly extinct category of inkjet for home or home office use: a printer that does nothing but print.
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