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By Jim Forbes
Now that it no longer costs an arm and a leg to print in color, color ink jet printers are coming out in force. Canon's two new models, the BJC-4200 and the BJC-240, really drive this point home, though the former does it much better than the latter.
While both these color BubbleJet printers are improvements on previous Canon products, the Canon BJC-4200 is based on the award-winning BJC-4100. I can give it high marks for its crisp colors, faster-than-expected throughput and reliability. In other words, this is a printer that fits into any setting.
The BJC -240, on the other hand, seems designed for home use. Though offering some of the same features as the BJC-4200, it lacks its big sibling's speed and resolution.
Both models take advantage of economy of scale and won't swallow up much desk space. The BJC- 4200, at 7.7 pounds, measures 7.5 by 15.1 by 11.5 inches. The smaller BJC-240, at 6.8 by 14.2 by 8.5 inches, weighs a mere 5.5 pounds.
The paper bin holds up to 100 sheets of 20-pound bond paper or 50 transparency sheets. Both models draw paper from the back of the unit and deliver finished material into a tray at the front. Each machine accepts all the standard paper sizes, as well as transparencies and fabric sheets.
During my tests, I experienced only one misfeed with the BJC-240. When doing a mail merge, a simple lever adjustment allows up to 15 business-sized envelopes to be processed at a time.
Both printers handled envelopes without a problem (though loading and printing envelopes seemed easier on the Epson Stylus Color 500, currently on the Recommended List). When printing single sheets or heavier stock, you insert material from the front of the machine, using the left side of the feeder as a guide.
Canon's printing technology has changed on these two new machines, which means that they both use different cartridges. The BJC-4200 uses the BJC-21 Color cartridge and the BJC-21 Black cartridge. The color cartridge employs 24 nozzles to deliver each of the three primary print colors and 64 nozzles for black. The result is stunning color and crisp black output. With roughly 20 percent color coverage, you can expect approximately 100 pages of color output from each BJC-21 Color cartridge; fewer, if color coverage is more extensive.
The BJC-240 uses a smaller color cartridge, the BC-05 Color, and the BC-02 Black, a high-capacity black ink cartridge. The BC-05, with a rated output of approximately 100 pages of color printing in standard mode, uses only 16 nozzles for each of the three primary colors, but 64 for black ink. Fewer nozzles on the color cartridge did produce results with noticeably lower resolution. In my tests using complex bar charts and graphs, cartridges on both units ran out of color ink after about 80 pages.
Overall, I preferred the color documents produced by the BJC-4200 to those printed on the less-expensive BJC-240.
Installing the identical printer drivers under Windows 95 was a piece of cake. Driver support for Analysis and Advisor (features that distinguish Canon's printers from other color ink jets) help you produce truly spectacular color documents.
The only drawback with installation is that the drivers support only a maximum resolution of 720x360 dots per inch for black ink. Though this setting is recommended when you want to print photographic quality documents on Canon's special paper, it makes for some very slow printing. I spent almost 5.5 minutes watching it reproduce a simple 4-by-5-inch photo.
Of course, business users will still prefer the crisp, sharp lettering of a laser printer for pure text. While these printers (and the 4200 especially) are a great improvement over the the smeary, blurry type produced by early ink jet models, they still can't match a laser printer's ability to make clean, fine lines.
But Canon's color printers aren't strictly for business. Canon Creative, a CD-ROM application that ships with both printers, lets you design and print T-shirt transfers, create greeting cards, design quilting and cross stitch patterns, and add clip art to documents you are about to print. Because it runs from a CD-ROM, Canon Creative is slow, but it will help you squeeze even more functionality from your printer.Overall, I'll pass on the BJC-240, but I highly recommend the BJC-4200.
--Info File--
Canon BJC-240 Color BubbleJet Printer
Price: $179
Pros: Inexpensive; great drivers
Cons: Ink consumption; cost of cartridges
Platforms: 3x, 95
Canon Computer Systems
800-848-4123, 714-438-3000
WinMag Box Score 2.5
Canon BJC-4200 Color BubbleJet Printer
Price: $279
Pros: Output
Cons: Ink consumption; cost of cartridges
Platforms: 3x, 95
Canon Computer Systems
800-848-4123, 714-438-3000
WinMag Box Score 4.0
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