May 26 - June 2

Canon BJC-2100 by Alessandro Cancian Are you looking for a convenient printer to complement your home computer? The new Canon BJC-2100 could be what youre looking for. Destined to the SOHO (small office/home office) market, BJC-2100 represents the ideal solution, especially thanks to its good cost/benefit ratio. Available both for PC and Mac, the new Canon printer comes equipped with a parallel as well as a USB port; the latter is perfect for last-generation computers such as the iMac. Designed to be compact, BJC-2100 can be used in reduced spaces and easily transported. Driver installation is definitely simple and, in case it is carried out on a small local network, offers an option to share the printer among several computers. Even though network performance wasnt exceptional, it is nice to know that this option exists. Print quality, tested on different types of paper, is satisfactory, and ideally suited for home use. Probably the Achilles heel of the machine is its speed; in fact, in spite of Canons assertion that the BJC-2100 can print up to 5 b/w pages per minute, actually things are quite different. During my tests, and regardless of my willingness to try different solutions, results were pretty consistent, around 1.5 minutes per page. Selling on the Canadian market for $129, the BJC-2100 is a convenient and acceptably good (for home use) product. It does, however, lack a couple of features: a connection cable, which is not present in the box; and the possibility to check the ink level in the cartridge via software. By purchasing a special cartridge, for about $190, BJC-2100 can become a scanner. The option is interesting but probably too expensive. In any case, if youre looking for a convenient printer, the next time you visit a store have a look at the BJC-2100. For further information visit www.canon.ca.

 

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