Canon i-sensys MF744CDW

A right touch

Versatile printer sets the right toner

We’re used to seeing apps on our phones, but apps on our printers is still a novelty. This colour laser printer puts its generous 5in touchscreen to great use here, with a library of apps that provide customisable tools that are easily accessible.

The apps include options for one-touch scanning to particular destinations (such as your email or computers on your home network), and there are templates you can use if you often print the same thing, such as blank to-do lists or standard forms. The one thing it lacks is direct printing from online storage services such as Google Drive or Dropbox.

SPECIFICATIONS

1200x1200dpi maximum print resolution • 600x600dpi optical scanner resolution • 27ppm print speed • Wi-fi 4 • Gigabit Ethernet • USB 2.0 • 460x471x469mm (HXWXD) • 26.7kg • One-year warranty www.snipca.com/39187

The scanner has a 50-page duplex sheet feeder, so you can copy and scan two-sided documents automatically. At the bottom, there’s a 250-sheet paper tray for holding all the plain paper you’ll need.

A full set of toner cartridges is included, with enough toner to print 2,300 pages of black and 2,100 pages each of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. This makes the relatively high price a little easier to swallow. Once its toner runs out, replacing it with Canon’s high-yield cartridges will work out to around 2p per page for mono prints and 11p per colour page. This is slightly cheaper than average for a laser printer, so could save you money in the long run.

The printer is also reasonably fast, churning out text pages at its quoted speed of 27 pages per minute (ppm) or 21ppm when printing on both sides of a sheet. Mixed documents with text and graphics printed at 23.6ppm. There are other printers that are faster, but this model’s easy-to-use apps could still save you plenty of time.

VERDICT A speedy, easy-to-use multifunction printer that’s ideal for anyone who has to print in bulk, either for work or for a club or society ★★★★ ★

ALTERNATIVE Xerox Versalink C400dn £320 If you don’t need the scanner, the

Xerox Versalink C400dn is an even faster (33ppm) colour laser printer