The popularity of All-in-One printers is rapidly growing amongst home printer users. As more households are buying printers, or replacing old printers, printer users are more often than not turning to All-in-One, or multifunction printers. Why?

Put simply, because of their versatility and space saving features. All-in-One printers allow you to print, copy, scan, and fax all from the same machine. Way back when (a few years ago), if you wanted to do all of these things you needed 4 different machines - now you only need one!

According to Consumer Reports, All-in-One printers are actually getting more affordable, more versatile, and being given more features with each new release. Examples include network capabilities, memory card readers, and LCD screens. Many of the features being added actually allow the All-in-One to be used as a photo printer.

A group of 28 All-in-One printers was tested by Consumer Reports. They found that all 28 cost less than All-in-Ones manufactured two years ago. Six of the 28 cost $100 or less. The Canon PIXMA C5180 (cost $140) was deemed a Consumer Reports Best Buy.

When tested against traditional inkjet printers, Consumer Reports found that the All-in-One inkjets printed with the same quality, cost about the same, and printed with the same speed.

Based on their research, Consumer Reports suggests the following All-in-One printers:

Best Print Speed: Canon Pixma MP610 ($170)
Best for Printing Photos: HP PhotoSmart C7280 ($250)
Best for Home Network: HP PhotoSmart C8180 ($350), HP PhotoSmart D7460 ($140)

Consumer Reports recommended the following questions if you are considering purchasing an All-in-One printer:

1. Will it be used only for printing photos? If so, consider a photo printer. Most print directly from memory cards or the camera.

2. Can you get by just printing in black and white? If so, get a laser printer. For text, they have the lowest cost per copy (which reflects long-term printing costs) and the fastest speed. But unlike inkjets, they don’t print in color.

3. What other features are important? Some printers include an extra paper tray for 4-by-6 prints. Others print directly from Bluetooth devices, such as cellphones. If faxing is important, Consumer Reports recommends getting an all-in-one with that capability.

4. What will printer ink and paper cost? Over a printer’s life, ink costs can exceed the printer’s purchase price.

If you have an All-in-One printer, take a minute and let Pacific Ink know what you think about it.

With the gift giving season getting close to full swing, let’s take a look at CNET’s Top 5 most popular inkjet printers.

#5 - Canon Pixma MX700
Priced between $144 and $225, the Canon Pixma MX700 offers fast print and copy speeds; great print and scan quality; ADF; two paper sources; a preview LCD screen; memory card slots and a PictBridge port. The bottom line, according to CNET: “The Canon Pixma MX700 is a great choice for small offices with a wide variety of print tasks. This inkjet multifunction beats out the competition with a winning combination of features and performance.” (Find out more)

This printer uses the CLI-8 series of black and color cartridges.

#4 - HP Officejet Pro L7680 All-in-One
Priced between $313 and $405, this HP OfficeJet printer offers digital filing; a built-in ADF, a duplexer, and media card slots; excellent print quality; fast-enough print speeds for small workgroups; low print costs. The bottom line: “With its wealth of office-oriented features, fast prints, and great print quality, the HP Officejet Pro L7680 is a very compelling all-in-one for small businesses or work groups. We wholeheartedly recommend it.” (Find out more)

This printer uses the HP 88 black and color cartridges.

#3 - Canon Pixma MP830
Priced between $170 and $340, the second Canon printer on the list is inexpensive for multifunction printer standards and includes a fax machine, an ADF, a duplexer, and a media card reader. CNET’s bottom line: “The Canon Pixma MP830 is a good option for a single home or office user who doesn’t need high-quality graphics prints. If you need better graphics handling or networking, check out the HP OfficeJet 7410.” (Find out more)

This printer uses the CLI-8 series of black and color cartridges.

#2 - Canon Pixma MP530
Priced between $149 and $218, The MP530 offers excellent print quality and affordable ink cartridges. But, be warned it is not network ready and does not have any media card slots. CNET’s final verdict on this printer: ” The Canon Pixma MP530 is a nearly ideal all-in-one for a small office. It just lacks networking and media card slots.” (Find out more)

This printer uses the CLI-8 series of black and color cartridges.

#1 - HP Photosmart A826
The Photosmart A826 is the “fun printer” of the season. It has a very unique design and is a little more expensive that one might think for a photo printer. It is priced between $186 and $2559. It quickly produces high-quality photos; offers lots of fun (there’s that word again) features such as clip art and captions; per-print costs are in line with other snapshot printers’ costs; touch screen is easy to use and great for displaying slide shows; menus are logically organized. What is CNET’s bottom line on this printer? ” The HP Photosmart A826 snapshot printer offers an attractive design, is easy and fun to use, and works better without a PC than any other snapshot printer we’ve reviewed thanks to its huge touch screen, but we wonder who will spend $250 for a dedicated photo printer.”(Find out more)

This printer uses the HP 110 (Q8700AN) 120 sheet photo value pack. It contains one tri-color (cyan, magenta, yellow) ink cartridge and 120 sheets of 4″x6″ photo paper.

We’ve decided to take page from the music and movie (DVD) industry and call Tuesdays, “New Cartridge Tuesday”. Each Tuesday, we’ll take the time to let you know about our latest cartridge release and give you some information on that new cartridge. So as you rush out to buy your copies of Norbit, The Messengers, and Seinfeld - Season 8 make sure you pick up the following printer cartridges.

This week we are proud to announce the release of the compatible version of the Canon CLI-8 series of black and color ink cartridges. So far the CLI-8 cartridges have been used exclusively in Canon’s PIXMA and PIXUS inkjet printers. We’ve had a great response from customers purchasing the Canon brand of these cartridges. Once added to our website the series quickly became one our top selling cartridge sets. We expect that this popularity will shift over to the compatible CLI-8 series (CLI-8BK, CLI-8C, CLI-8M, CLI-8Y) because of their high quality and lower cost. You can purchase these cartridges individually, or as a set of four with our compatible CLI-8 4 pack color ink tank set.

While the Canon manufactured cartridges are priced at $14.99 each, the compatible versions of these cartridges are priced at $9.99 each. When you buy three or more of each individual cartridge you only pay $8.99 each. You will also pay $8.99 each when you purchase the 4 pack color ink tank set.

So far we have been calling them compatible, which they are, but they also have an element of being remanufactured to them. Canon manufacturers these cartridges with a chip on them. The printer communicates through the chip so the correct amounts of ink are dispersed on the page. Chips from the Canon manufactured cartridge are collected and then used on these remanufactured/compatible cartridges. Bottom line is that you are receiving a cartridge that is made of completely new plastic and other components. They only piece that is not completely new is the chip. By reusing the manufacturer brand chip we can provide a higher quality product and prevent the silicon and other components that make up the chip from being thrown away (recycling!).

Pacific Ink’s preliminary test release provided great reviews of the product. If you have already used this cartridge, let us know what you think.

Our compatible version promises to print with the same quality you have experienced when using the Canon manufactured cartridge. Just as we do with every other cartridge we guarantee the compatible CLI-8 cartridges to your satisfaction. Give us a call if you are not happy with the cartridge.

The Canon PIXMA iP6700D is a very good printer for those wanting to print photographs. But those thinking they will be getting a machine that they can use to print their text based documents as well might be disappointed. Its text printing prowess is mediocre at best.

Canon designed the machine as one to print photos with, but strangely enough put in a duplexing feature. I haven’t heard of to many people printing two sided photos! The 3.5 inch LCD screen allows you to view and edit photos directly from your memory card (the printer comes with a built in memory card reader). Its photo print quality is quite impressive and the machine is Bluetooth capable.

Here is what Canon’s description of this photo printer:

This versatile machine is a photo-printing powerhouse. Its patented print head technology and six ink tanks produce beautiful, long-lasting prints with startling color and detail. The extra-large 3.5 inch color LCD viewer lets you enhance images before printing and advanced paper handling increases your productivity. Plus, you can print from your computer, compatible memory cards, cameras, Bluetooth devices and even camera phones. Snap and print, wirelessly - Print wirelessly right from your infrared-enabled mobile camera phone Print wirelessly - Print from a compatible Bluetooth device in another room, using our optional USB Bluetooth adapter Print 2 sided and save paper Life-like colors - Two high-intensity photo inks plus four conventional inks equals precise, life-like color values Faster data - The USB 2.0 interface enables the fastest possible image transfers Print Speed - Up to 4×6 borderless photo as fast as 47 seconds, 8×10 photo as fast as 76 seconds Nozzle Text - 512 x 6 colors (C, M, Y, BK, PC, PM), 3072 Total Print Resolution - Up to 9600 x 2400 dpi Black, Up to 9600 x 2400 dpi Color OS Compatibility - Windows XP, 2000, Me, 98 and Mac OS X v.10.2.8 to 10.4.x8 Standard Interface - USB 2.0 Hi-Speed, Direct Print Port (cables not included), IrDA version 1.2 (JPEG only), Bluetooth version 1.2 Buffer/Ram - 42KB Paper Sizes - Credit Card (2.13 x 3.39), 4×6, 4×8, 5×7, 8×10, Letter, Legal, U.S. #10 Envelopes Direct Printing supported card formats - CF, SD, MMC, SmartMedia, Microdrive, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro

The iP6700D is definitely a machine designed for printing image heavy documents (pictures, graphics, image heavy web pages).

This printer utilizes the CLI-8 (CLI-8BK, CLI-8C, CLI-8M, CLI-8Y, CLI-8PC, CLI-8PM) series of cartridges. The series is made up of individual ink tank cartridges (one cartridge for each color), so you simply have to replace the color you run out of, rather than the entire set. At this time only Canon brand cartridges are available, but we expect the 100% compatible versions to be available in early June.

If you own this printer, let Pacific Ink know what you think.

The Canon PIXMA Pro9000 photo inkjet printer provides photo lab quality prints up to 11″ x 14″ and is priced at $830.00 (although better prices can be found by shopping around online).

Canon describes this photo inkjet printer in the following way:

With the PIXMA Pro9000, you’ll discover just how good a photographer you really are. The 8-color ink system opens up your color palette, and advanced software fine-tunes your output. Move up to 13×19 print on fine art papers. The PIXMA Pro9000’s ChromaLife100 system combines the benefits of dye-based ink, Canon photo paper and FINE print head technology to produce long-lasting, beautiful prints. With an 8-color dye ink system, the Pro9000 produces a wide color gamut to achieve vivid coloration and high glossiness. Black and Color Print Resolution - Up to 4800 x 2400 dpi Maximum 4800 x 2400 dpi FINE print head technology High-Speed USB 2.0 Ink Droplet Size - 2 picoliters Buffer/Ram - 42KB Paper Sizes - Letter, Legal, 4x 6, 4x 8, 5x 7, 8×10, 13×19, U.S. #10 Envelopes Paper Handling - Top Feeding (ASF); Front Feeding (Single sheet up to 1.2mm paper thickness) Noise Level (Approx.) - 37 dB(A) in the best quality mode Power Source - 120V AC, 60Hz Professional printer features using Easy-PhotoPrint Pro (Plug-in software for Adobe Photoshop CS/CS2) New printer driver with advanced color controls OS Compatibility - Windows XP, 2000, ME, 98 and Mac OS X v.10.2.8 or higher Dimensions - Width 26.0 x Height 7.6 x Depth 14.0 inches Weight - 30.8 pounds

Here’s what the users of this printer are saying:

• It has greatly exceeded my expectations and has far outperformed other printers I have owned over the past 15 years.
• It is a huge printer, but I absolutely love it.
• The color from this printer just blew me away.
• This is not a printer for the casual PC user. It was clearly designed for art studios and pro photo labs.
• It does not have in internal paper cartridge. To print you must open the front tray and rear trays.
• Very fast. Very quiet.

If you own this printer, let Pacific Ink know what you think.

The Canon PIXMA iP4300 Photo Printer has been receiving great reviews at Amazon.com (4.75 starts out of 5). CNET gives it their Very Good rating (7.6 out of 10), and one single Yahoo! user has rated the printer 5 starts (out of 5).

Here is the Canon’s description of the iP4300:

PIXMA iP4300 is one fast, versatile photo printer. Thanks to its patented print head and 5-color ink system, you can quickly produce spectacular, long-lasting photos with borderless edges - from credit-card size up to 8.5″ x 11″ - along with bold, laser-quality text. The two paper trays let you hold both plain and photo paper, so you’re always ready to print text or photos. And for convenience, you can print 2 sided without manually flipping over the page!

Features include:

• Exceptional Resolution: 3,584 precision nozzles create exceptional resolution—up to 9600 x 2400 color dpi (More nozzles = higher quality).
• Exceptional detail: Microscopic 1-picoliter sized ink droplets produce exceptionally detailed photos.
• Click-Connect-Print: Just capture an image with a PictBridge-ready digital camera/DV camcorder, then connect and print.
• Print 2 sided: Print 2 sided–and save paper.
• Long-lasting photos: Using select genuine Canon inks and photo papers, you can create beautiful photos that last up to 100 years.2
• Vivid color, bold text: Four dye-based inks plus a pigment-based black ink deliver superb photos and laser-quality text.
• Enhance Your Digital Photos: Easy-PhotoPrint 3.5 software makes it simple to enhance and print amazing-looking digital photos through your computer.
• Smart software, better results: Easy-WebPrint software gives Windows users the tools to properly print Web Pages in full color and without trimming off the right-hand margin.

So, what are the iP4300 users saying?

• Print head and 5 ink tanks installed very easily.
• Setup was easy enough, but the quick setup photos on the instructions took an extra look or two to figure out what they were showing.
• I printed out and 8×10 photo on Canon’s Photo Paper Plus Glossy and it looked perfect! No banding, incorrect colors or any flaws whatsoever.
• I would recommend it to anyone looking for a cheap printer which gives great results.
• The instructions for installation were clear and precise.
• My printer gives me top quality color photos as well as crisp black and white copy, and the speed of the printer is commensurate with my needs.
• The HP 8250xi has truer colors.
• The photo printing program is dedicated to a Canon printer ONLY. Once the choices have been made for which photos are to be printed, THATS IT. You cannot choose any other printer but the Canon.
• The duplex printing feature is worth the price of the printer.
• When the printer is used often (daily at least) the prints are very good. If the printer is left off for even a couple of days, what should be a red color begins as sort of a rust color.

Overall, it sounds as though Canon has produced another low priced, great printing printer. Users are happy with its price and performance.

Let us know what you think.

We found a story that has taken the printer industry to a whole new level — PRINTING FOOD!

In the past we have talked about being able to print organs, the use of Epson printers at the Oscars, and even computers being used to make life and death decisions. Now we can add restaurant quality food to the list. Organ printing is still #1 in my book, but this is pretty cool, and probably a very close second.

Chicago’s Moto Restaurant prints meals on edible paper, freezes them in liquid nitrogen, and then bakes them in polymer ovens. The restaurant and chef, Homaro Cantu, used to use a Canon ip560 inkjet printer to print their edible menus and edible pictures of sushi (pictures of sushi on starch paper). The Canon printer has since been replaced by Cantu’s self built food transmogrifier, which utilizes the edible paper and organic, edible ink.

No word on the taste of such food, but we read that customers are willing to pay $165 (including wine) for the paper meal.

Users of the Canon PIXMA iP5000 call it an “excellent” printer with “wonderful” options. Pretty positive statements for a member of Canon’s relatively new line of PIXMA inkjet printers. CNET rated this printer as very good (7.8 out of 10). They liked the autoduplex printing, that it was easy to operate, that it was both Mac and Windows compatible, and that it provided excellent text and graphics quality (there’s that word excellent again!).

What didn’t they like? Only one thing, that there was not built in networking (Wow! I guess excellent does describe it). And of course, the ever popular CNET BOTTOM LINE was: “A relatively fast, versatile printer with excellent text and graphics quality.” You can read more of this review online at CNET.com. This printer is priced at about $170.00.

Here are the printer vitals:

The Canon PIXMA iP5000 produces one picoliter size ink droplets to give you the best possible prints. Did you know that one picoliter size droplets are the smallest size droplets printer manufacturers have ever produced? These are delivered through the Canon FINE print head micro-nozzles. The printer also employs Canon’s ContrastPLUS five-color ink system which consists of 4 dye based inks and a single dye based pigment based black ink. The combination of these two systems allow for true contrast and depth in all your prints.

The PIXMA iP5000 provides automatic duplex printing, to help cut your paper consumption in half (now you can automatically use the back side of the paper!) and has two paper trays. One for photo paper and one for letter sized paper. A great convenience.

This printer utilizes ink tank technology, and the ink tanks are transparent, allowing you to get a better visual on just how much ink is left inside each individual cartridge. Individual ink tank technology is wonderful as it allows you to only replace the cartridge that is empty.

What are the users of this printer saying?

Pros: Fast, Very quiet, Nice color photo output, Two trays to store paper in, Good looking printer, Great print resolution

Cons: No viewer, A little big/bulky, Expensive and hard to find

Amazon.com is offering an instant $30 savings on selected Canon PIXMA printers. Pacific Ink customers have been raving about the quality of the PIXMA line of printers since its debut. If you don’t have one already and are in need of a printer, now is a good time to pick one up and take advantage of the $30 savings. Also remember, Amazon offers free shipping (on qualified orders) and no sales tax (again, on qualified orders).

Amazon did not leave any details as to when this offer would end.

Buy a Canon PIXMA Printer at Amazon.com

Search for and buy cartridges for Canon PIXMA printers