Canon PIXMA MG6150 review

The beautifully designed MG6150 looks wonderfully sleek with an almost complete absence of buttons. Instead, the top cover also acts as a neat touch panel and icons become illuminated only when they're active, which also makes the printer very intuitive in stand-alone use. The feast of all-in-one extras here includes direct photo printing and photocopying, along with USB, Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity.

We liked

Print speeds are really impressive and much quicker than Canon's slightly downmarket MG5150. While the printer offers superb document quality, it really comes into its own with photo printing. Colour is just as sumptuous as Canon's MG5150 and iP4850 printers, and the black-and-white photo output is the best we've seen from any A4 printer.

Build-wise, the new touch-panel controls add elegance and simplicity to the MG6150. What's more, the wide-ranging media card slots include compatibility with CompactFlash cards. This is often omitted in the latest all-in-one printers, but it's still a necessity for many D-SLR camera users.

We disliked

There's almost nothing to dislike about the MG6150. Sure, it doesn't have stand-alone fax facilities built in, but this isn't a printer geared towards small business use. It's a little on the chunky side too, measuring 470 x 368 x 173mm (W x D x H), but this isn't above average for an all-in-one printer.

Verdict

Barely any more expensive than the outgoing Canon MP640, the MG6150 crams in an extra grey cartridge for fabulous fidelity in monochrome photo printing and a much more elegant touch panel interface, but still offers auto duplex double-sided printing, direct printing onto discs and wide-ranging connectivity options. It's a cracker.

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