CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 09/08/2004
As you might expect, the lower-end Canon Pixma iP2000 is slightly more compact and stripped down than the two higher-end printers in this line, the Pixma iP3000 and iP4000. But Canon retained their double input trays--there's one at the top of the printer and a shelf with a plastic cover on the bottom. Combined, they make multitasking easier since you don't have to swap out paper when you switch between text and photo printing. As with its big brothers, the iP2000 has a single button for toggling between the two trays. You can also print directly from any Canon or PictBridge-compatible camera.
As does its cheaper sibling, the Canon Pixma iP1500, the iP2000 uses two ink cartridges--one for black ink and one for cyan, magenta, and yellow--instead of separate tanks for each color. This is a common feature in sub-$100 inkjets, but it's wasteful as you have to discard the whole color cartridge when one color runs out, and it tends to make your savings on the purchase price seem like less of a bargain over time. Per-page costs costs run 13 cents for a standard (20 percent coverage) letter-size page and approximately 45 cents for an 8x10 photo. If you can afford to lay out the cash upfront, we recommend paying a little extra for a multicartridge model. You'll be much happier in the long run paying $12 for a cyan cartridge than paying $18.50 for a three-color version. On the plus side, the iP2000 is surprisingly fast for such an inexpensive printer. In our tests, it averaged 6.6 pages per minute for text and 2.8 minutes per page for 8x10 photos. Many budget models take twice as long to do the same job.
Even though it runs on just two cartridges, the iP2000 produced graphics documents that came out far better than what we saw from the step-up model in this line, the four-cartridge Pixma iP3000. The printer renders smooth gradients in monochrome and color--even under the close scrutiny of a loupe. Our test photos showed the right amount of contrast and a good level of detail, and the color matching is pretty solid. However, text output is not quite as impressive. We saw for a fair number of feathery edges, but it's probably not enough to put off the average consumer. Photo output isn't terrible considering the price of this printer, though close inspection reveals dithering that's visible to the naked eye.
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