|
Tour
The Canon MX850 is, in short, a space taker. It's large, bulky size easily overpowers any standard size desk and shames the thought of being propped up on a hutch or shelf. However, the printer does embody a unique shape as an all-in-one printer. Where many other multifunction printers come in the shape of monotone boxes, the MX850 manages to put an interesting twist on its over-sized shape with its sleek design and color combination.
Front
At first sight, the printer looks like a silver and black, downward sloping hill. The left side of the printer is curvedly taller than the right side. It slips into a clean slope at just about the middle of the printer. The printer is all black with white accents and bordering in a shade of dark silver. The control panel extends out of the printer, almost as if it were able to, it could slide back in.
Front/Control Panel
Most predominantly on the control panel is the adjustable TFT LCD screen. It sits directly in the middle and comes out as far as 45 degrees. But because there’s a downward-sloping slant to the control panel, the LCD screen tilts slightly towards the floor, appearing to be at more of a 60 degree angle.
The control panel consists of black buttons and white writing and/or pictographs, except for two buttons that have red and green illustrations.
The first button on the far left is the "On/Off" power button written in white. To the right of the power button are four larger buttons: "Copy", "Fax", "Scan" and "Memory Card". Each button has an associating illustrated pictograph on it relating to the button-function.
Below these buttons are eight tiny buttons that are numbered from "01" to "08" that are speed dial storage buttons. These are associated with the faxing task and can't be programmed to contain the numbers you'd like you keep most handy.
The 2.5 inch LCD screen has a wide gap above it, allowing fingers to slip in and pull up the screen. However this gap isn't very well designed, as you really can't get a snug fit and your fingers tend to hit the wall of the printer.
To the right of the LCD screen is a raised circle of arrow buttons, four total, pointing up, down, right and left. The middle is an "OK" button. This circle of buttons is cornered with four buttons. At the top left corner is the "Menu" button, at the top right is the "Settings" button, at the bottom left is "Back" and the bottom right is "Trimming".
Front/Bottom Half
One of the two main paper trays sits underneath the control panel and can be opened manually by pressing the wide, oval button to the left of it. The convenient thing about this tray is that it can be kept closed; it will open automatically on its own when a print is requested.
Underneath this tray is a slim slide-out cassette tray that goes reasonably unnoticed. It's a convenient tray but takes a bit of a jerk to get it open and, if given too much of a tug, may fall out completely.
To the right of the tray is a door where the handle is a tiny half circle, just big enough to squeeze half of a finger or nail in to unlatch the door. Inside holds two slots: the bigger left slot is designated for the Compact Flash, and the smaller right slot is for SD, MMC and MS cards.
Right Side
The right wall of the MX850 has a 2"x 2" square of air holes. Besides that, the side panel is clear of ports, plugs and buttons, but the separation of the cover is more prominent from the side view than the frontal view.
Left Side
The left wall of the printer is clear of everything as well and does not have the air holes.
Top
The top lid opens up to reveal the scanner. The cover is slighty heavy and a more forceful push is required after about an inch-and-half to snap it open. After that it stays firmly open on its own. The top closes easier than it opens but be aware because if pushed down more firmly than needed, it will slam against the printer.
The top also has the document tray where you can feed in your documents facing up for scanning. You'll have to lift the cover and feed the documents one sheet at a time. Beneath it is the document output slot. Documents that are placed in the document tray and scanned are returned in the document output slot.
Back
The back end of the printer holds the rear tray and a few ports. The tray has an extra slide-out tray that can be extended by tugging at the indent to further help support paper placed in the rear document tray. The extension is slightly rigid when pulling it out and even more so when pushing it back in. You really have to make sure it’s aligned properly with the document try itself to have it roll back into place easily. It’s definitely not easily placed back in using one hand – if you do, you run the risk of getting a finger snapped in.
Behind the rear document tray, on the back wall of the printer, is the rear cover which can be opened to deal with paper jams. Upon opening the rear cover, you’ll find the ink tank lamp and the print head holder. The rear cover is lightweight and opens and closes with ease; however it’s so lightweight that it feels like it can easily be broken off.
Directly to the left of the rear door are two phone jack and an external devise jack. At the far left, there are two more slots, the top for an internet cable cord and the bottom for a USB cable. The printer cable power slot is the only slot on the right of the rear door.
Bottom
The bottom of the printer has a door that can be opened to deal with scanning jams.
Interior
Being that the printer exterior is mainly black, the interior follows the same color scheme by also being mostly black.
The control panel serves a second purpose: to use as leverage to lift the top half of the printer and reveal the ink cartridges. The lid is opened and closed with air cushions, so for the most part lifting and closing is smooth.
With this lid open, it provides a full clear view of the ink cartridges. If placed properly, all cartridges will be lit with a bright red light.
If the cartridges are not properly installed, the lights will not turn on.
Components
Display (6.5)
The 2.5-inch LCD is a decent size, and the colors are resonable accurate. However, the background isn’t a bright white but a dull white. It’s slightly grayed almost as if to overcorrect for an overly bright screen. The dullness does translate into the photograph displays, as it doesn't relay the photographs very sharply.
Paper Trays (8)
There are five paper trays in the Canon MX850: two are output trays and three are input trays. The three input trays are on the front-bottom, top and rear These are adjustable to hold anywhere between 4x6 photo paper to letter size and A4 sized paper.The two output trays on the front and top. The front paper tray opens with the push of a button, located to its left, while the tray beneath, the top tray and the back tray open manually.
The front tray does a good job of opening on its own, as it doesn’t suddenly fly open and slam, but simply unlocks itself and slowly folds out from the printer. This front tray also has a mini fold-out tray right in the center that can be pulled out to tilt the ejected pages upwards – so as to prevent them from falling to the surface beneath. According to Canon, this tray holds approximately 150 sheets.
The slide out cassette beneath it isn't as graceful as the tray above it. In fact, compared to the top tray, the bottom slide-out tray needs a pressured push to get it open. It slides out well but there’s excess space for wobbling.
This tray, perhaps to alarm of the user, slides out and removes itself from the printer completely. The ability to take out the tray entirely does make it easy to insert the longer 8.5 by 14 inch papers, but if the user’s tries to pull it out too quickly or forcefully, without the intention of pulling it out completely, it may be irritating when it does fall out. According to Canon, this cassette tray also holds 150 pages.
The top tray is an ADF, or Automatic Document Feeder, and sits behind a grayed, plastic see-through lid. According to Canon, it holds up to 35 pages and transforms into two positions. With the first, the lid can be unfolded, allowing the user to insert paper for scanning and copying.
For the second, the tray can be pushed up in a vertical position. Although the lid does not stand upright with the tray, it rests lightly on the printer-top. If the user attempts to keep it upright, it will fall over and slam. With the tray lifted this way, it provides more viewing room for the delivery tray right below.
Power Supply
Canon provides a cord as the power supply for this printer, no external AC adapter is required.
Internal Memory (7)
As far as internal memory goes, it’s all dedicated to the fax function. According to Canon, the MX850’s memory capacity is approximately 250 pages.
Multitasking (2.5)
Print jobs can be queued and other requests like coping and scanning can be made, but each will perform separately in order of request.
Hard Drive (0)
There is no hard drive on the MX850, and you can't add one as an option.
CD Burner (0)There is no CD burner on the MX 850, , and you can't add one as an option.
Accessories (2.5)
Canon doesn't provide any exorbitant amount accessories for this printer, in fact, it doesn't offer anything outside of ink and paper. The MX850 isn't even offered a option to purchase a multipack of ink, as the Canon MP600 is.
As for ink, the MX850 options are PGI-5 (black) and CLI-8 (black, cyan, magenta and yellow).
|
