Canon Pixma MX330 - DigitalVersus

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Canon Pixma MX330


Printware	99.36
Amazon Marketplace UK	108.89




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Resolution	4800 x 1200 ppp
Speed B&W / color	7,5 / 4,5 ppm
Ink drop size	2 picolitres
Number of cartridges	2
Number of base colors	4
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Scanner / Copier / Fax	oui / oui / oui
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Nilofar Hadjanadjiboudine
Test date: April 14, 2009

Canon Pixma MX330

The scanner is quite fast (6 seconds for preview, 12 seconds for digitalisation of a 10x15 300 dpi photo), but it will be better for office use than for photos. It tends to accentuate contours and push colours towards excessive saturation. And it reinforces contrast. This is fine for office docs when you put the accent on legibility of documents, but a problem for photos (degrading).

Speeds are also good on the copier: 15 seconds for a monochrome print and a little under 28 seconds for colour.

The Pixma MX330 is a compact professional printer with a fax and document loader, far smaller than, say, the bulky HP OfficeJet 6500. The MX330 is a machine for personal use… for those who don’t use much ink and limited usage. The two mono-cartridges are rather costly, more so than the average, and the command panel could be easier to use. The screen is really too small.

Higher speeds than those announced in the spec

Officially Canon says you get 7.5 pages per minute black and white and 4.5 colour for office docs. On our test docs, less-demanding ink-wise than the ISO reference docs that are used for official speeds, you get a good deal better. This is rare: 10.2 ppm monochrome and 6.8 ppm standard mode. The draft mode gives 12.6 ppm. These speeds are well above average for multifunction printers, though “pro” models such as the Epson SX600FW give as high as 17 ppm in standard monochrome.

For photos, speeds are no more than acceptable: a little under a minute for a 10x15 colour print (without margin) and almost a minute and a half for an A4 colour print (as of print validation).

Good office doc quality but photos disappoint

Office document prints really are good. Text in standard mode gives nice deep blacks without any visible drops. Draft mode obviously isn’t as good but fine for your own prints. Graphs give nice homogeneity in single tones and characters remain precise and legible.

Those of you also looking for a machine to handle your photo prints will probably be disappointed. There are visible drops and a strong red tinge to colours.

Cost per page is really too high

The MX330 is one of the successors to the MX310, however the cartridges are different. For the MX330 you’ll need PG510 cartridges for black and CL511 (mono-cartridge).

Cartridge		Lifespan (pages) ISO
PG-510 (black)		220
CL-511 (monobloc)		244

Colour print costs are well above average. Go for monochrome whenever you can!

Good speeds for most functions

Good output for scans and office docs

Good ergonomics

Poor colour rendering for photos, visible drops

High cost per page

The Pixma MX330 is a printer that will more than satisfy those looking for a machine for the office: good speeds, good quality… However this is limited to scanning and printing of office docs and cost per page is rather prohibitive.