Reviews
Canon i9100
We’ve never seen such speed and beauty
C
onventional wisdom would have us believe that it’s impossible to
get brilliant, accurate photo prints from an inkjet printer at anything
approaching a brisk pace. Well, Canon’s i9100 is now proving that notion
wrong. We were able to output a 13x19 photo-quality print in less time than it
took our beloved Epson 1280 to output the same photo-quality print at 8x10!
The Canon also boasts a higher top resolution than its natural competi-
tor (4800x1200 to Epson’s 2880x720), and the advantage was apparent in
the prints. Fine detail content was clearly sharper in the Canon prints. The
i9100’s color output was beautiful, but our editors were split on the flesh-
tone comparisons. Some of us preferred the slightly warmer Epson output;
others liked Canon’s more neutral approach. The i9100 improves on Canon’s
cheaper S9000 photo printer by offering borderless prints at sizes up to
13x19 (the S9000’s maximum borderless is 4x6). The Epson 1280 can print
borderless at up to 13x19 inches, but of course its maximum resolution can’t
begin to match Canon’s.
Sheer speed is where the i9100 really shines. Canon says its printer can
produce an 8x10 in one minute at high quality, but we found the print time to
be closer to two minutes with our images. Times will always vary depending
on your content, but even two minutes is much better than the 23 minutes
the Epson 1280 required to print the same 8x10 image at its high-quality
setting. Amazingly, the big Canon can spit out a 13x19 print in less than 7
minutes, and that’s while printing borderless and at the printer’s maximum
resolution. Simply stupendous! Canon says its speed secret lies in the sheer
number of print nozzles the printer employs. Canon specs in 3,072 nozzles,
whereas the Epson 1280 boasts just 240 nozzles.
Our only gripe with the i9100 is that it doesn’t come with a handy 4x6
paper cartridge, which makes shoving in a stack of paper more manage-
able. Canon also joins all the other companies conspiring to deny new
printer owners of bundled-in USB cables. Getting a USB cable from these
guys is like trying to score
free floor mats from the car
dealer—it just won’t happen,
even if you’re buying a top-of-
the-marquee product.
But, hey, whatever. It’s
impossible to dislike a printer
that spits out gorgeous prints
in a fraction of the time it
takes the competition.
— GORDON MAH UNGThe Epson 1280 better watch its back now that the Canon
i9100 is in town.Gorgeous prints in a flash.WRITERS WHO SUBMIT +/- HEADINGSGORDON MAH UNG
No 4x6 cartridge. Prepare to surrender a lot of
desk space to this big bertha.
$500, http://www.canon.comMAXIMUMPC VERDICT 9