Think Digit - your technology navigator

Yay! For Features, Nay! For Performance



The PIXMA MX318 is the latest All-in-one (AIO) from Canon. It is a lustrous grey with a gloss finish, along with black; this MFD does not have the best build quality—particularly questionable are the trays.

The input tray can accommodate 100 sheets of paper—just enough for a SoHo setup. Print resolutions up to 4800 x 1200 dpi are supported, and the optical scanner resolution is 1200 x 2400 dpi—promising remarkably good print and scan quality. Sheet-fed as well as flatbed scanner options are available. A 30-sheet document feeder lies hidden until you flip it open.

The control panel is fairly simple to use, with buttons dedicated for each of the multiple functions. A single line mono LCD displays all the necessary status and settings information. It features PictBridge port, but the absence of memory card slots was conspicuous. It connects to the PC via a USB port, but there is no network port. It supports high-speed Super G3 fax, with 20-destination auto-dialling; the fax memory of 50 pages is ample for most needs.

Print speed is very slow: it takes over half a minute to print black text at the best quality, while printing the combi-document takes over a minute at normal quality and well over hundred seconds at best quality. It is relatively faster at printing photos, taking just under four minutes for an A4 photo, and it does a good job at it with brilliant colours and good definition. The black text does not have clear edges, though it is not smudged. Combo documents are printed relatively better, the colour part in particular. It even manages to print yellow text against a black background well. Black-and-white copying takes 28 seconds per page, while colour copying takes 41. It does a rather bad job at this, and the copies appear washed out.

Canon bundles along the Scansoft PaperPort application that lets you scan as well as manage documents. It even has OCR capability, thus saving you the cost of buying OCR software. Control Center 3 brings all the features of the MFD at your fingertips.

The Canon PIXMA MX318 has the features, but doesn’t have the performance to back them up, and the considerably high price tag of Rs 10,995 does nothing to help things in its favour.

Specifications
Printer : Resolution: 4800 x 1200 dpi (effective); Input tray: 100 sheets
Scanner : Type: Flatbed and Sheet-fed; Resolution: 1200 x 2400 dpi (optical); Media size: A4; ADF: 30 sheets
Fax : Speed : 33.6 Kbps; Memory: 50 pages; Speed dialling: up to 20 numbers
General specifications: Dimensions: 46.5 (W) x 44 (D) x 23 (H) mm; Weight: 8.6 kg; Power consumption: Standby: 1.8 W; Off: 1.8 W; Max: 16 W

Contact : Canon India Pvt. Ltd. 
Phone : 1800-345-33-66
E-mail : info@canon.co.in
Web site : www.canon.co.in
Price : Rs 10,995