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"The Canon S450 Series Color Bubble Jet Printer represents a new era in technological innovation and remarkable value. It offers exceptional speed, superior quality, significant performance enhancements and efficient features to help save time and money. This printer makes high-quality color output a pleasure to achieve. Print incredible-looking letters, reports and flyers in crisp black at up to 10 ppm. Output spectacular 1440 x 720 dpi graphics, charts, Web sites and special projects in brilliant color at up to 7 ppm. Canon's built-in Drop Modulation Technology(tm) enables you to print with less graininess, smoother color gradations and increased speed. And the S450 Series printer's sleek, new design and innovative mechanics mean you can do it all with less noise and less space-wherever you work." That's what Canon says...What does Idea Cafe think? Our Out-of-Box-Experience The Canon S450 bubble-jet printer is a simple-looking, quite sturdy machine. When you've got it out and sitting on your desk or printer table, its just a matter of installing your ink cartridges (don't squeeze 'em or you'll spill 'em), attaching its cable and power cord, and installing the printer drivers onto your PC or Mac computer. Installation software comes along on a CD-ROM, just pop it in and follow instructions. In the case of Windows 2000 users, your computer will prompt you through the install once you have the printer cables attached to your computer. Idea Cafe's Use and Abuse Test Buying a cheap printer used to mean getting substandard quality printing, unbearably slow speeds and a huge bill when buying replacement ink. While that hasn't changed entirely, today's budget models offer quality well above acceptable levels. The Canon S450 color bubble jet is an inexpensive printer that is not only better than acceptable, you might even confuse it with a more expensive model! Considering that it's one of the cheapest models Canon produces, the output of 10 pages per minute (ppm) in black, and seven ppm in color is more than adequate. Most of your documents will look great at its highest resolution of 1400 x 720 dots per inch (dpi). It can't compete with laser printers in quality or speed but you won't find a color laser printer that can compete with the price of $139 US. Black text comes out sharp. Color prints are respectable, although not extraordinary. Simple graphics turn out well but photo prints aren't as sharp. Using glossy photo paper along with the printer's highest quality settings helps produce much better results. You can also buy special ink for better output when printing photos. It's not as good as a photo printer but it'll do in a pinch. Perhaps the biggest annoyance with printers is the inevitable moment when you desperately need to print but find you are out of ink. Another major irritation is that the three ink colors needed to print in color don't deplete evenly. There may be plenty of magenta and cyan but yellow is completely gone, effectively reducing the quality of the remaining ink. Any color that needs a bit of yellow to be created cannot be reproduced properly and so print quality is sacrificed until a new cartridge is purchased. The Canon Think Tank System ends that problem. Its three-compartment color system packages the three colors of ink in their own container, allowing you to cut down on the expensive waste. When you're out of yellow, you just get a new yellow cartridge. There's no need to buy all three colors at once, unless you need all three. Black is stored in its own, larger cartridge. Another optional, innovative feature you can add to the S450 is a scanner. For $69 US, you can add the IS-32 Color Image Scanner Cartridge that turns your printer into a scanner. This is very useful if you don't have enough desk space for another peripheral. Another plus is that you can connect the printer via a universal serial bus (USB) port or a parallel port. Your computer may not be equipped with USB ports or your parallel port may be used by another device, so the choice adds valuable flexibility. Were We Impressed? Overall, the Canon S450 is a good buy for what you get. What you get is sharp text documents, adequate color prints and a speed that is swift enough to spit out a stack of letters without waiting all day. It will work with both PCs and Macs. Any Bad Tastes? If your small office needs a powerhouse printer that can spit out documents lightning fast in large quantities, you'll probably want to invest a little more. But the Canon S450 is a capable printer that can handle a daily flow of documents and the odd color job without many hassles. Specifications • Print speed: 10 ppm black, 7 ppm color Warranty and Tech Support The Canon S450 printer has a one-year limited warranty. Telephone technical support under warranty is free, but not a toll-free call. Canon's $50 extended service plan provides three years of service and support with toll-free telephone technical support. If your warranty has run out, you'll pay $9.99 per call, plus long distance charges. Alternatively, and probably more convenient, Canon's online technical support includes a Quick Start guide, free e-mail support and a large online knowledge base of helpful information. Suggested Retail Price for S450 Bubble Jet Printer: $139
For Further Information and Ordering Contact Canon Copyright Cyberwalker Media Inc. 2000 DISCLAIMER: We hope whatever you find on this site is helpful, but be cautioned that it may not apply to your own situation, or be totally current at any given time. DevStart Inc. and all of its current and past experts, sponsors, advertisers, agents, contractors and advisors disclaim all warranties with regard to anything found anywhere on this family of websites, quoted from, or sent from DevStart, Inc. and its related sites, publications and companies. We also take no responsibility for comments published by others on these pages. TRADEMARKS: The following are Registered Trademarks or Servicemarks of DevStart, Inc.: Idea Cafe®, Online Coffee Break®, The Small Business Gathering Place®, Take out Info®, Biz Bar & Grill®, Complaint-O-Meter®, A Fun Approach to Serious Business™, CyberSchmooz™, and BizCafe™. |
S450 Bubble Jet Printer
