Canon Pixma iP100 review: Canon Pixma iP100

Canon continues its lineage of successful Pixma portable inkjet printers with the iP100, an upgrade from last year's iP90v. This time around, Canon increased the number of ink nozzles and doubled the maximum resolution to 4,800x1,200 dpi color. As a result, we've seen significant improvements in both print speed and quality that make the portable iP100 competitive with even some full-size printers. For $250, you don't get some of the bells and whistles of Hewlett-Packard's mobile companion such as a multimedia card reader or optional Wi-Fi connectivity. Even still, we much prefer this Canon for its lower profile, its quick print speeds, an upgraded cartridge set, and its overall versatility.

We like the design continuity in the Pixma mobile line and the simple aesthetic it provides. The iP100 looks almost identical to its predecessor, the iP90v. The body has a matte-silver finish with glossy black side panels and paper handling trays that extend out of the device. Thankfully, the input tray holds 50 sheets of paper, a 20-page jump from the iP90v. The right side of the printer houses an infrared port for connecting to IrMC 1.1-compatible cell phones, a USB 2.0 port, and a PictBridge port for direct printing from compatible digicams. For an extra $50, Canon will throw in the BU-30, a Bluetooth adapter that plugs into the USB port, allowing you to print wirelessly from a laptop or mobile device. Unfortunately, the iP100 lacks the built-in card reader that's included in the HP H470; users are forced to print via USB or through the PictBridge port. There's also no Wi-Fi adapter currently available for the iP100, so if these two features are absolute must-haves, the HP Deskjet 460c might be a better choice.

At 2.4 inches tall, 12.7 inches wide, and 7.2 inches deep, the iP100 is actually slightly larger and heavier than last year's model, but it still retains a smaller profile than its direct competitor, the HP Officejet H470. From a portability standpoint, the iP100 is easily transportable, but it would have been great if Canon had included a carrying case to protect the unit in transit.

While the iP100 keeps the same physical profile as its predecessor, the internal cartridge system has been completely revamped. First, the iP100 bumps up the number of total nozzles from 1,088 to 1,856. Compare that to the 1,072 nozzles inside the H470 and you'll see why Canon is more than one full model ahead of HP in this competitive space. The iP100 uses Canon's newest ChromoLife color inks; each cartridge costs approximately $17 and reportedly yields 249 pages. Like the iP90v and the iP90 before it, economic users can stretch out their cartridges' lifecycles using two options built into the driver: Save Black Ink or Use Composite mode. Save Black Ink reduces the amount of black ink used in text and grayscale graphics, while the Use Composite mode produces a pseudo-black out of the remaining color spectrum once the black ink is depleted.

Speed test comparison (in pages per minute)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Photo (PPM)(10 copies)

Presentation (PPM)

Text (PPM)

HP H470

0.73 

2.04 

5.51 

Canon Pixma iP100

1.09 

2.25 

7.12 

Canon Pixma iP90V

0.71 

1.77 

6.23 

The engineers over at Canon successfully increased print speed from previous models by 1 page per minute in all three of our format tests. The iP100 printed text at an impressive 7.12 pages per minute, which not only stands head and shoulders above the HP H470, but also bests the print speeds of several full-size all-in-ones and single-function photo printers available at retail stores right now. On the average, the iP100 printed photos at 1.09 sheets per minute, which is acceptable but not spectacular. However, you can increase print times in photo- and graphics-heavy documents by manually changing the amount of time the printer waits for the previous page to dry.

Looking at the picture from a qualitative standpoint, the iP100's print samples appear to be on a par with, if not slightly better than the iP90v's. We hardly detected any graininess at all in both portrait and landscape photos--the prints themselves are very natural with accurate and vivid color palettes. Our text documents came out free of jagged edges in both 20-pound generic copy paper and high-quality glossy sheets. The current model also resolves the slight blue cast in the grayscale portion of our test subjects that we reported with its predecessor. However, there were some negatives. Some of the photos we printed on Canon's own Photo Paper Plus Glossy II produced a slightly overcast hue that was definitely noticeable; the effect was not necessarily displeasing, just slightly colder than what we've seen from other printers. We could also see blocky transitions in our color gradients. But as a whole, we were very happy with this device's output quality as a versatile printer designed for quick photo, document, and presentation prints on the go.

The company offers a handful of accessories sold separately, including the aforementioned Bluetooth key, a $90 car charger, and an external battery pack that'll reportedly snag you an additional 290 pages for $100.

Canon gives a standard one-year warranty with the iP100, with additional troubleshooting via toll-free phone support. The Canon Web site also provides e-mail support as well as a comprehensive list of FAQs and driver update downloads.

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