Canon i-Sensys MF4270 Review June 27, 2011 10:53 by Matt Bird

Overview

Most monochrome laser printers are straightforward, simply printing black & white sheets, but the Canon MF2470 is capable of faxing, scanning, and copying too, making it ideal for offices without pre-existing facilities for these functions.

Ratings

Canon i-Sensys MF4270

Main Review

The MF4270 is a rather standard laser printer, with average print speed (an advertised twenty pages per minute) and printing costs (approximately 1.72p per A4 page when using remanufactured cartridges), and a slightly larger than normal paper capacity. Throw in an acceptable 10,000 pages per month duty cycle, and this Canon could probably handle most medium sized offices’ printing needs. The benefits of this machine are hinted at with its name, specifically the ‘MF’ bit, which stands for multifunction. Unlike the other black and white laser printers in this category, the Canon i-Sensys MF4270 has several of the features more commonly associated with a Home or SOHO printer, such as a flatbed scanner, copier, and fax machine. Though these are of limited use on a machine of this size, which in larger offices would likely have a ‘real’ photocopier and fax machine, they are undoubtedly of great use in smaller enterprises. Duplex printing is also quite manageable in this machine, improving upon its consumable economy and general use. In addition to the flatbed scanner/copier in this Canon, it mounts a rather steeply-angled ADF tray on the top, making it useful for those needing to process multiple-page documents (which, when I used to work in admin, was an invaluable feature in a machine). The ADF doesn’t look particularly sturdy, in all honesty, so perhaps is not ideal for larger documents (without having to manually feed it), but the fact that this machine has one, which few of the others in this category can boast, is a great benefit. The main drawback of this machine is the slightly higher than ideal start up fee, with the hardware costing in the region of three hundred pounds. This is presumably so much higher than a more standard machine because of the aforementioned extra functions, but a worthwhile cost for an office without a pre-existing photocopier or fax machine.