Canon announced a whole bunch of new products last week, and in addition to the two PIXMA Pro models we wrote about they also introduced two all-in-one PIXMAs, the MP800R Photo and the MP830 Office. Both models are geared towards those with home offices and tout the benefits of having the functions of multiple machines in one. The two machines are slightly different, as the MP800R is wireless, and as its name suggests, more of a photo printer, while the MP830’s features suggest it is for more official business use.

PIXMA MP830 Office All-in-One - uses a five-color system to print up to 30ppm black and 24ppm color at a resolution of 9600 x 2400. It can copy both sides of a document without the user having to turn the page over. For those of you who like to receive works of literature by fax, this machine is perfect as it can receive up to 250 incoming pages. According to Canon, this machine is designed “with business in mind” and based on the description, it looks to be for users who regularly use the scanning and copying features. This is good because some machines are marketed as all-in-ones but can skimp on performance of the copying and scanning features because they think most people probably won’t mind or even notice how their printer performs in that area.

PIXMA MP800R Photo All-in-One - also uses a five-color system and prints at 9600 x 2400 dpi, but does not print quite as fast as the MP830 (Canon does not even list the pages per minute, so we can guess that it’s slower). This model is wireless and includes features which allow you to easily scan and edit your photos. Some of the editing features of this model can be automatic, but it’s likely that serious users who edit their photos use software on their computer to do it.

As with most all-in-ones, you have to ask yourself which features you are really looking for. For instance, are you buying a printer that can copy, scan and fax because you really use those features or because you just thinking it’s neat and you might use them? All-in-one machines will always be convenient just based on the fact that they take up less space than multiple machines, but sometimes it is better to just pick a machine that excels in the one are that you are interested in. Take the MP800R; it will have a price of $399.99 when it comes out, which makes it one of the most expensive non-laser all-in-one machines on the market. Now unless you really use the copier and scanner, you might just be better off buying a nice photo printer. The performance of that machine isn’t anything groundbreaking either, as the PIXMA MP800 prints at the same resolution, takes the same amout of time to print a 4×6 and costs $100 less - the only difference that it is not wireless. The MP830 will start at $299.99, which puts it around the range of most other Canon all-in-one machines.

Both machines should hit stores in a couple of weeks.

Canon Debuts Two New PIXMA ‘All-in-One’ Printers [Press Release]
Canon Unveils 22 New Products [Forbes]