I just bought a new Printer last night.

I have been using 2 HP printers all this time but I found them to be not so user-friendly. Moreover, each time I updated the driver and/or its associated programs, some other programs on my PC will act funny. It’s that sensitive and finicky. So when both of them finally broke down, I  went shopping for a new printer. I used the HP printers at home, but my experience with the Canon printer at my Office was a pleasant one….easy to use and no fuss at all. So I pretty much knew what I wanted.

At the Canon outlet, I was debating between the MG510 which boasts economical volume prints (not to mention it’s cheap) and the MG3170 which has AirPrint/WiFi print capability. However, one very crucial feature surfaced: both the 510 and the 3170 both use the tri-colour (3-in-1) ink cartridge + 1 black cartridge. Now this is critical but it’s so obvious that I hesitated writing about this. However, if this can help a newbie to avoid a mistake, why not? Here’s the point: if you have ever printed lots of colour images, you will quickly learn that the Cyan, Magenta and Yellow (need not mention Black) do not finish at the same rate. So if you have a 3-in-1 C-M-Y ink cartridge, chances are your heart will bleed (as well as your purse/wallet) when you have to throw away the cartridge when 1 colour has finished even if the other 2 are still quite full. In the long run, you will spend more money on the replacement 3-in-1 ink compared to replacing individual ink colour cartridges. I ended up buying the MG5370 instead, which uses separate individual C, M, Y and Black cartridges. By the way the 5370 uses 2 different black cartridges, a pigment and a dye. Plus, the 5370 has AirPrint/WiFi capability.

One more thing….how often do you need to send a fax from your printer? If you don’t need the fax capability, then you save up to about 50% of your printer price by deciding on the non-fax version. But if you need to Fax occasionally, then look out for my future article on this topic.

For comparison: MG510 (approx. USD90.00), MG3170 (approx. USD100), MG5370 (approx. USD130.00). The cheapest Canon printer with fax function starts from about USD190.00 up.

Disclaimer: I am not associated with Canon in any way other than as a normal customer.