Canon MG2150

The Canon Pixma MG2150 is the entry level model from the new wave of Canon multifunction printers. It prints, scans and copies and has been designed for individual users looking for a machine to print text and photos.

Hardware

 

Canon has set its store by the compact elegance of this model. It’ll certainly appeal to lovers of glossy black who don’t mind the finger marks on the hood. At 44.9 x 30.4 x 15.2 cm for 5 kg, it’s certainly compact. This model has been designed for those looking to put their printer on a shelf. You feed the paper in at the front as well as accessing the cartridges from there thanks to the FastFront system.


This is of course an entry level printer and therefore has limited hardware. There’s no wi-fi, no Ethernet, no duplex, no fax and no card reader. Nor is there a touchscreen control panel or screen

 

Load and receive paper from the front

Change cartridges from the front

When the ink runs out, it is nevertheless possible to force it to print by pressing the 'Stop/Restart' button for a few seconds. This is only a fallback solution however as it alters the print quality.

Speed

As expected, the print speeds don’t beat any records. They are however comparable to those on other entry level models. 8 pages per minute (ppm) colour and 6 ppm black & white, compares to the Epson Stylus SX420W with 4 ppm colour and 8 ppm black & white. With Canon drying times are always longer.



Photo speeds are much faster than those for the Epson Stylus SX420W. To print an A4 photo the Canon takes 2 minutes 44 seconds, compared to 4 minutes for the Stylus. In 10 x 15 cm format, Canon retains the advantage with 1 minute 5 seconds against 1 minute 24 seconds for the Epson.

Quality

The MG2150 does very well with text prints. The main fault when it comes to graphics, as the image below shows, is the size of droplets that are visible in the shaded colour areas. It looks pretty poor overall, though the letters are visible and the shading respected. The characters in the yellow area at the bottom are smudged and give a rather messy look to the graph.

Average deltaE 94 (colour difference): 5.1

Scanner and copier

Copies can be printed using a button on the hood of the printer (white button for black & white and a green one for colour). It takes 20 seconds to print a black & white copy and 47 seconds to print a colour, which is twice as long as a printer that has been designed for pro use. Once again however, the MG2150 isn’t competing alongside such machines. Copy quality will be okay for text but not much else.

Average deltaE 94 (colour difference): 7.7

Energy consumption & Noise levels

The printer consumes less than 1 Watt in standby and 13 Watts when printing. This is among the lowest we’ve seen on any printer. It’s also quiet, never exceeding 48 dB(A).

Cost per page: 8.5 pence

There are just two cartridges: one black and the other a mono-cartridge for colour. There are two cartridge formats (standard and high capacity). As always, the cost per page for XLs is lower over time: 8.5 pence per page here. What’s more, large format cartridges require less maintenance.


ISO lifespan for text XL Cartridges