Pixma MX300
The Canon Pixma MX300 colour inkjet multifunction printer offers students and home-office users basic functionality for a low initial price.
Pros
- Cheap, crisp text
Cons
- Expensive inks
Bottom Line
The Canon Pixma MX330 gives entry-level users a decent multifunction device to work with, but high-volume users would do well to choose a model with less-expensive consumables.
-
Price
$ 109.00 (AUD)
If you print a lot, however, look elsewhere, because the Canon Pixma MX300's inks can be expensive.
As is typical of inkjet MFPs priced in this bracket, the Canon Pixma MX300 has a feature set suitable for low-volume use. It comes with a rear, vertical 150-sheet input tray and a front, flip-out 50-sheet output tray.
A 30-page automatic document feeder unfolds from the top. The ADF can handle legal-size media (five sheets at a time), but the scanner platen fits letter-size sheets only. The scanner's lid telescopes to accommodate thicker media.
Duplexing is a manual operation, and the Canon Pixma MX300 offers helpful onscreen prompts to step you through the process. Connectivity is limited: a front port lets you print photos directly from a PictBridge-compliant device or save scanned files to a USB key drive; Canon sells a Bluetooth adaptor.
The Canon Pixma MX300's control panel is fairly well designed. All of the buttons have coherent word labels, but the 1.8in colour LCD for viewing menu options is small and would be easier to use if its navigation cues were clearer.
Sometimes you need to push the up/down arrows and other times the Settings button to move through the menus. The included documentation covers the nuances well, but it didn't make intuitive sense to us when using the machine.
As you'd expect of a printer this inexpensive, speed isn't a selling point. At least Canon is honest about it, claiming a top text speed of 7.5 pages per minute, and a top graphics speed of 4.5ppm. In our tests, the Canon Pixma MX300's text speed actually exceeded expectations slightly, reaching 7.7ppm, while our graphics samples topped out at 2.2ppm.
Plain text pages looked pretty crisp. Graphics and photos varied more. On plain paper, images appeared grainy and a bit off-colour, with orangey flesh tones or purplish monochrome images, for example. On Canon's own paper, photos looked pale and sometimes streaky, even after repeated maintenance routines.
The ink costs for the Canon Pixma MX300 can build up in a hurry. The machine ships with a 220-page black cartridge and a 244-page tricolour cartridge consisting of cyan, magenta, and yellow compartments.
Brand Post
Most Popular Reviews
- 1 Dell U3223QE review: A winning debut for an IPS Black monitor
- 2 HP Spectre x360 16 review: The right 2-in-1 at the wrong time
- 3 Acer K242HYL review: An affordable monitor for any occasion
- 4 GeForce Now review: You bring the games, Nvidia streams the hardware
- 5 Asus ProArt PA279CV monitor review: The go-to for content creators on a budget
Latest News Articles
- Want to go watch the WWDC keynote at Apple Park? Here’s how to apply
- Apple to support ‘passwordless’ iPhone logins on Android phones and PCs
- If you downloaded iOS 9 on an iPhone 4s, you may be entitled to a refund check
- Best wireless headphones
- An intrepid YouTuber made his own 5K Studio Display for just US$600
Resources
Macworld
What's new, plus best mac-related tips
and tricks
Business Centre
The latest business news, reviews, features and whitepapers
Videos
Watch our video news and reviews from around the world
Guides
Comprehensive buying guides, features, and step-by-step articles
PCW Evaluation Team
Pedro Peixoto
Aruba Instant On AP11D
Set up is effortless.
Cate Bacon
Aruba Instant On AP11D
The strength of the Aruba Instant On AP11D is that the design and feature set support the modern, flexible, and mobile way of working.
Dr Prabigya Shiwakoti
Aruba Instant On AP11D
Aruba backs the AP11D up with a two-year warranty and 24/7 phone support.
Tom Pope
Dynabook Portégé X30L-G
Ultimately this laptop has achieved everything I would hope for in a laptop for work, while fitting that into a form factor and weight that is remarkable.
Tom Sellers
MSI P65
This smart laptop was enjoyable to use and great to work on – creating content was super simple.
Lolita Wang
MSI GT76
It really doesn’t get more “gaming laptop” than this.
Featured Content
- Which Lenovo Laptop Should I Buy?
- Every TV in Samsung's 2022 line-up: OLED, Neo QLED and more!
- Top 10 best Android and Apple phones for under $600
- Everything you need to know about Smart TVs
- What's the difference between an Intel Core i3, i5 and i7?
- Laser vs. inkjet printers: which is better?