MFPs Without Fax

An emphasis on photo output and/or value

Some multifunction printers (MFPs) leave out the fax machine, focusing instead on enhanced photo printing and scanning features. These may include larger preview screens, more ink cartridges, borderless printing and adapters for scanning slides and negatives. These multifunction printers are aimed at families and photographers as opposed to small offices. This type of MFP may be more expensive than a basic fax-equipped model.

Canon's Pixma MG8120 (*Est. $225) , for instance, features a six-ink system, which includes gray and two types of black. It can print on CDs and DVDs, scan and copy 35 mm film and slides and even print stills from digital movie files. The Pixma MG8120 earns high accolades from professionals and home users alike. PCMag.com's M. David Stone says its photo quality is "just a touch short of what I'd expect from a professional photo lab"; it also gets good results with graphics and reasonably good results with text. Its print speeds are pretty good, though not extraordinary; in texts conducted by PC World, it prints out text at around 8 pages per minute (ppm) and photos at 2 to 3 ppm. The reviewers, Jon L. Jacobi and Melissa Riofrio, are also impressed with the MG8120's sleek, glossy black design and touch-sensitive controls. Campbell Simpson of PC World Australia finds the touch controls unnecessary and finicky to handle, but he is impressed with the printer's features and excellent printing and scanning quality.

User reviews for the Pixma MG8120 printer are very strong. At Amazon.com, it earns an overall rating of 4.5 out of a possible 5 from more than 100 users. Owners enthuse about the multifunction printer's looks, print and scan quality and print speed. We did find some complaints that it guzzles ink, however, and several users report problems with the drivers or maintaining a network connection.

Canon also makes the Pixma MG6120 (*Est. $150) , which offers most of the same features as the MG8120 for about $75 less. It has the same touch-sensitive controls, six-tank ink system and variety of print options. Its LCD screen is a bit smaller (3 inches instead of 3.5), and it leaves out a couple of features such as film scanning and copying. Aside from that, however, its specifications are identical to its more expensive cousin's. However, the Pixma MG6120 does not perform quite as well as the MG8120 in professional tests; Melissa Riofrio of PC World says it finished "just behind" the MG8120 in her speed tests, and another independent test finds that the MG6120's text quality is inferior. Still, most reviewers find the MG6120's print and photo quality more than acceptable.

Users at Amazon.com are not quite as enthusiastic about the Pixma MG6120 as they are about the more expensive MG8120 printer. Though most give it high marks for its printing and scanning quality, we saw more complaints about image quality and reliability with the cheaper model. We also found the same remarks about high ink usage as with the more expensive version. Nonetheless, the printer earns a relatively high overall rating of 4 stars out of 5 from more than 150 users.

Budget MFPs without Fax

On the other side of the price spectrum, you can find inexpensive MFPs meant to do just the basics -- printing, scanning and copying, but not faxing. We found good reviews for the Canon Pixma MG5220 (*Est. $100) , a scaled-down version of the popular MG6120 printer. It doesn't have the touch controls found on the more expensive model, and it uses five ink cartridges rather than six. The Pixma MG5220 also has a lower scanning resolution, fewer print options and fewer connectivity options (no Ethernet connection, for example), and its LCD screen measures only 2.4 inches (compared to the MG6120 printer's 3-inch screen).

Despite these limitations, Jon L. Jacobi and Melissa Riofrio say in their Macworld review that the Canon Pixma MG5220 offers "exceptional text and image quality," coupled with fast speed. Campbell Simpson of PC World Australia agrees about its quality but disagrees about its speed, saying that at just over 10 ppm on standard quality, it "isn't a particularly fast printer." Nonetheless, he concludes that this bargain-priced printer offers "almost everything a home user could want." Users at Amazon.com concur, awarding the Pixma MG5220 printer an overall score of 4 stars in more than 375 reviews. Its styling, scan quality and value are all singled out for praise. The printer's weak point appears to be its heavy ink consumption; we read many complaints about how fast the MG5220 goes through ink, along with a few about paper jams and connection problems.

A slightly more expensive option is the HP Photosmart Premium e-All-in-One C310a (*Est. $125) . Like HP's other e-All-in-One models, this printer includes web connectivity (allowing you to print directly from the web without going through a computer) and ePrint (allowing you to send documents to your printer via email). It also offers touch-screen controls and memory card slots, though it is not PictBridge-compatible. It has only four ink colors, but the cartridges are separate, which helps control ink costs, since you can replace them one at a time.

As for its performance, in one independent test, the Photosmart C310a printer gets very good marks across the board for its printing, scanning and copying. Other publications say its photo quality could be better; PCMag.com describes it as "a bit below par," and Imaging-Resource.com says that it did very well printing from the computer, but not so well when printing directly from memory cards. Its print speeds are also fairly good: about 10 ppm for black-and-white printing and 6 ppm for color, according to Britain's PC Advisor. The reviewer, Cliff Smith, concludes that aside from its rather unhelpful user manual, it's "hard to find fault" with this MFP.

One other option in the budget category is the Epson Stylus NX625 (*Est. $130) . Epson calls this "the world's fastest all-in-one printer," with speeds of around 15 ppm for black-and-white text and 7 ppm for color. Tony Hoffman of PCMag.com agrees that this printer delivers "sizzling speed" for text printing, though its photo speed is only around average (58 seconds for a 4-by-6 print). Its output quality, according to Hoffman, is "solid" but not exceptional. He also notes that the Stylus NX625 printer includes handy features for business uses, such as automatic duplexing and a 150-sheet paper capacity. Users at Amazon.com love the Epson printer's speed and performance, and most also find it easy to set up and use. We saw the most complaints from iPhone users, who say it doesn't work with their phones (via mobile app) the way Epson says it should. Several users also report compatibility problems with Windows 7.