Canon PIXMA iP4850 review

Released: August 2010
Print Resolution: 9600x2400dpi
Engine: Inkjet five-ink with minimum 1pl droplet
Ink refill cost: £48
Paper Cost: £10
Interface: USB 2.0, PictBridge
Build Quality Contemporary home style with a black, high-gloss plastic finish and silver trim. Boasting the smallest footprint on test, the iP4850 has compact proportions, but if you plan to use the dual paper trays, the bottom tray expands to hold A4 paper, so allow some extra space for that. Overall build quality is very reasonable and, despite being mainly plastic, the moving parts feel robust.

Ease of Use Set-up took about 30 minutes in total and was easy enough, involving installing the print head, ink cartridges, aligning the print head using the supplied paper and installing the software from the CD. Once you are up and running, operating the iP4850 is pretty simple. Controls on the printer itself are limited so access to functions such as making a calendar or printing on a CD/DVD is controlled through the Canon Solution EX menu, which boasts an intuitive graphical interface. If you’re printing images from software like Photoshop however, the print driver is also easy to use and includes 
a handy ‘Quick set-up’ tab or, for advanced control, in the Main tab you can adjust colour, brightness, intensity or the contrast of your prints, using either the presets or sliders.

Features The iP4850 features five individual inks tanks including both Photo black and Matte black, so it’s possible to make prints on both matt and glossy photo papers without having to change inks. There are also three colour inks, magenta, cyan and yellow, so only the ink tank that’s run out needs replacing. The PictBridge port means you can print directly from your camera, too. There’s also an Auto Duplexer, for double-sided printing, and the ability to easily make a print from a movie using Canon’s Full HD Movie Print software.

Print Speed & Quality We clocked the print speed for a borderless A4 high quality photo at a respectable 2 minutes and 32 seconds, one of the fastest on test. Print quality is very good too, thanks to the 1pl droplet size on the print head, which means the iP4850 can print very small dots for really sharp images. The colours are pretty well controlled with good levels of saturation, although images do have a slightly warm feel, so expect a magenta cast on black & white prints and skin tones that are slightly pink.

Verdict:
For under £100 the iP4850 is very good value. It's easy to use and produces great prints. If you don’t need the added extras of a multifunction printer then this is a great A4 printer to go for.
Build quality: 4/5      
Ease of use: 4/5      
Features: 4/5    
Print speed & quality: 4/5    
Overall: 4/5