Canon's i-Sensys MF3010 is a multifunction black and white laser printer aimed at home users or small offices. It promises economic printing in a user-friendly and compact package. Promises kept? Answers below.
Design and Build
Canon describes the MF3010 as a "sleek and stylish" printer. It's basically an all-black cube that's small and quite plain. Measuring 37 x 27 x 25 cm and weighing 8 kg, this compact printer will fit neatly onto a desk. However, while this three-in-one device offers printing, copying and scanning, there aren't many extra functions. Note too that the drivers CD only caters for the 32-bit version of Windows—there's nothing for 64-bit systems. Otherwise, there's no double-sided printing, no memory card reader and no Internet connectivity via Wi-Fi or Ethernet. Similarly, there's no sign of PCL or Postscript print languages—just UFRII-LT, developed by Canon and used in its entire laser printer range. This language is designed to take full advantage of your computer's processing power so the printer won't need any extra memory to carry out high-speed processing tasks.
The paper feed tray can take up to 150 sheets. It supports different types of media (recycled paper, transparencies, labels, envelopes, etc.) and can be adapted to various formats (A4, B5, A5, envelopes, etc.).
Speed
Canon is announcing print speeds of 18 pages per minute (ppm) for the MF3010. However, we only measured 12 ppm. The MF3010 therefore gets four stars in this field, largely helped by the printer's responsiveness (see inset). This print speed is slower than other black and white multifunction laser printers we've tested lately—the Lexmark X464DE prints at 18 ppm, the Samsung SCX-3405W prints at 19 ppm, and the Brother MFC-7860DW manages 27 ppm.
Print quality
Print quality is decent enough. It's perfectly fine for printing text, in fact. However, for pictures and other graphics, this printer soon reaches its limits—lines lose some of their sharpness, affecting overall precision.
The printer's "Properties" menu offers a list of image-quality options for various print jobs (graphs, photos, etc.). However, we didn't notice any major difference between these options when we tested them.
Blacks are very deep but the overall result lacks subtlety in finer detail. Plus, the Delta E 94 (which measures colour fidelity) shows black and grey shades that could be more accurate.
Average Delta E 94 (colour fidelity—the lower, the better): 9.7
Scanner & Copier
The scanner's resolution is 600 x 600 dpi, which is quite low. You therefore can't expect exceptional results.
Photocopying a page takes 12 seconds in total, which is fast. However, we don't recommend you copy any pictures, graphs or photos. Apart from the fact that lines and other fine detail won't be reproduced amazingly, the Delta E of 10.7 means that the grey and black shades aren't reproduced particularly accurately.
Average Delta E 94 (colour fidelity—the lower, the better): 10.7
Power Use
Reaching 51 dB when printing, the MF3010 falls right on the boundary between what we consider quiet (under 50 dB) and what we consider noisy (over 50 dB).
Power use is among the lowest we've seen, at 1 W on standby and 370 W in use.
Cost Per Page
Under the hood, there's an all-in-one cartridge including the toner, drum and cleaning units. As is often the way with compact, desktop printers, only one standard-capacity cartridge type is available. Canon claims that it's not possible to make high-capacity cartridges for smaller printers. The cost of printing per page is higher than with the Brother MFC-7860DW and Lexmark X464DE, both of which offer high-capacity cartridges. Note that the starter cartridge only contains half the amount of ink found in a standard cartridge, so it prints 700 pages rather than 1,600 pages.
ISO Lifespan (text)
Design and Build
Canon describes the MF3010 as a "sleek and stylish" printer. It's basically an all-black cube that's small and quite plain. Measuring 37 x 27 x 25 cm and weighing 8 kg, this compact printer will fit neatly onto a desk. However, while this three-in-one device offers printing, copying and scanning, there aren't many extra functions. Note too that the drivers CD only caters for the 32-bit version of Windows—there's nothing for 64-bit systems. Otherwise, there's no double-sided printing, no memory card reader and no Internet connectivity via Wi-Fi or Ethernet. Similarly, there's no sign of PCL or Postscript print languages—just UFRII-LT, developed by Canon and used in its entire laser printer range. This language is designed to take full advantage of your computer's processing power so the printer won't need any extra memory to carry out high-speed processing tasks.
The front: pretty basic
There are six buttons on the front of the printer and a small screen (one-number LED). The printer comes loaded with a starter ink cartridge.The paper feed tray can take up to 150 sheets. It supports different types of media (recycled paper, transparencies, labels, envelopes, etc.) and can be adapted to various formats (A4, B5, A5, envelopes, etc.).
Speed
Canon is announcing print speeds of 18 pages per minute (ppm) for the MF3010. However, we only measured 12 ppm. The MF3010 therefore gets four stars in this field, largely helped by the printer's responsiveness (see inset). This print speed is slower than other black and white multifunction laser printers we've tested lately—the Lexmark X464DE prints at 18 ppm, the Samsung SCX-3405W prints at 19 ppm, and the Brother MFC-7860DW manages 27 ppm.
Print quality
Print quality is decent enough. It's perfectly fine for printing text, in fact. However, for pictures and other graphics, this printer soon reaches its limits—lines lose some of their sharpness, affecting overall precision.
The printer's "Properties" menu offers a list of image-quality options for various print jobs (graphs, photos, etc.). However, we didn't notice any major difference between these options when we tested them.
Blacks are very deep but the overall result lacks subtlety in finer detail. Plus, the Delta E 94 (which measures colour fidelity) shows black and grey shades that could be more accurate.
Average Delta E 94 (colour fidelity—the lower, the better): 9.7
Scanner & Copier
The scanner's resolution is 600 x 600 dpi, which is quite low. You therefore can't expect exceptional results.
Scanning speed
Photocopying a page takes 12 seconds in total, which is fast. However, we don't recommend you copy any pictures, graphs or photos. Apart from the fact that lines and other fine detail won't be reproduced amazingly, the Delta E of 10.7 means that the grey and black shades aren't reproduced particularly accurately.
Average Delta E 94 (colour fidelity—the lower, the better): 10.7
Power Use
Reaching 51 dB when printing, the MF3010 falls right on the boundary between what we consider quiet (under 50 dB) and what we consider noisy (over 50 dB).
Power use is among the lowest we've seen, at 1 W on standby and 370 W in use.
Cost Per Page
Under the hood, there's an all-in-one cartridge including the toner, drum and cleaning units. As is often the way with compact, desktop printers, only one standard-capacity cartridge type is available. Canon claims that it's not possible to make high-capacity cartridges for smaller printers. The cost of printing per page is higher than with the Brother MFC-7860DW and Lexmark X464DE, both of which offer high-capacity cartridges. Note that the starter cartridge only contains half the amount of ink found in a standard cartridge, so it prints 700 pages rather than 1,600 pages.
ISO Lifespan (text)
| Cartridge | Price (from) | ISO Lifespan | Cost per page |
| CRG-725 (black) | £46 | 1,600 pages | 2.9 p |
Pros
- Low power use
- Responsiveness
- Compact and light
- Compatible with Mac, Windows, Linux
Cons
- No double-sided printing
- No Wi-Fi or Ethernet
- Starter cartridge only prints 700 pages (instead of 1,600)
- CD has drivers for 32-bit Windows but not for 64-bit Windows
Conclusion
Canon keeps its promises on power consumption and ease of use with the MF3010 laser printer. However, the MF3010 offers the bare minimum. It's therefore mainly suitable for occasional use.
OUR SCORE
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