19 out of 19 people found this review helpful.
Much Ado About Printing
Date of Review: Mar 17, 2006
The Bottom Line: I would recommend the printer to whoever needs a low-cost, effective printer, but don't be surprised if it starts malfunctioning after a year or so.
The Meat and Potatoes:
This page gives us the specs for the Canon Pixma iP1500 http://www.canon-europe.com/For_Home/Product_Finder/Printers/Bubble_Jet/PIXMA_iP1500
Why it's under Bubble Jet printers, I have no idea, but the photo looks exactly like my Canon Pixma iP1500, which is supposedly, and according to ePinions, an "ink jet" printer. Not that I actually know the difference, but "bubble jet"sounds so Stone Age next to "ink jet" and "laser jet".
I'm assuming 18ppm mono means that the printer can process 18 B&W pages per minute, and 13 ppm colour means 13 coloured pages per minute. I don't know how accurate that is because I haven't reached that level of geekiness whereby I crouch beside my printer with a stopwatch and if it prints less than 18ppm mono I immediately call Canon for a refund but "stylish, compact and affordable" does ring somewhat true. Somewhat. If I were to rate all three to = 100%, however, my rating would be:
Stylish 15%
Compact 10%
Affordable 75%
I seriously don't see what's so "compact" about this printer. Our very first B&W Apple Mac printer was smaller than this. I do see that it can be seen as "compact"........if it were placed right next to a fax/scanner/copier/printer.
"Fabulous photo quality prints"
While I would not exactly use the term "fabulous" to describe the quality of the prints because I don't work for Canon, I wouldn't go so far as to say that that is pure hype either. In terms of output, I simply have nothing to complain about. As with the Sony-DSCP1, I'd say that the Canon Pixma iP1500 also "performs as much as it costs".
Everything else seems to have been added just for the sake of having something to add: "Rapid borderless photo printing" "Easy-Photoprint" "Easy-Webprint". To me that's along the lines of advertising a brand of orange juice that has calcium and saying "our brand of orange juice has UCC!" and then we eventually find out that UCC simply means Ultra Cool Calcium. Though it may be crucial to, even for just a second, be distracted into thinking that that is not the same as plain ole "calcium" with a lowercase "c".
"Exceptional ease of use"
Using this printer is really easy. It's so easy it's most probably as easy as using any other printer in the market! A cartridge for this printer, where I'm from (S.E. Asia), costs around $4, half the price for third-party ink. I'm not sure how many pages it can hold, but it never seemed to like holding many sheets of paper. Sometimes it would take in two sheets at a time. I am fine with manual feeding, as every other printer I've owned seem to work this way.
Installation
I don't remember installing the software (and/or drivers) that came with this printer, but I feel that mostly it's Windows XP that I should thank for making it easier for me to install the printer. Everything is so much easier with Windows XP! =D Thanks, Mr. Gates!
And now my "beef" with this printer:
I don't know how to feel about my current dilemma, exactly: I know I've printed a lot of stuff on my Canon Pixma 1500printer (used it for about 1 1/2 years), and I know this is a basic printer and only cost like, $100 or something and on that note, I'm not sure if I should actually be expecting it to work properly after 1 1/2 years, or if I should have expected it to crash and stop working at this point. I can hear a voice in my head saying, "That's what you get for buying a $100 printer!! No dinner for you!!!"
Anyway.
This printer served me well, until today. The Canon Pixma ip1500 is a decent, basic printer. It prints nice colored and/or B&W stuff, but it may be too much to expect it to print magazine-quality prints. Prior to buying this Canon printer, I had an Epson one. Its ink cost around thrice as much as the ink for this Canon one, so I gave it to my sister and bought this one.
Lately, I've been using this printer to print more or less 2 documents daily. I noticed that lately the roller area--or some other part inside the printer--I don't know what, has been making a lot of noise. I also noticed that lately, I have had the strangest feeling. With no vivid reason here to find. Sorry, couldn't resist =D
Lately, when it processes paper, it does so *lopsidedly* and with much ado. In doing so, it ends up crumpling the paper, then it notifies me about a paper jam. So I opened the front area and tried to see if something's actually stuck there. I found a small piece of paper and took it out.
You know how sometimes you think you've found what's causing a problem and solved it and then you find out that you haven't? Basically, I'm at that point. Also, remember how in my Nokia 8310 review I got so frustrated with the cellphone that I threw it against a wall, then my dashboard, and finally, against the floor? I'm *this close* to that
point. I am utterly frustrated with this printer.
IT STILL WON'T WORK.
The problem may have started when I tried to print on Photo Paper, which seems to be about three times thicker than regular A4 paper. In any case, I don't believe that ANY printer that's been put out to the market for the past 10 or so years has ANY right to not acknowledge photo paper. Hel-lo???
Yes. This printer acts up when I try to print on thick paper.
The printer may have gone completely mental. Prior to this whole shebang, on several occasions, even if paper fails to go through, the printer still prints--on *itself*.
I have tried all possible means to solve this problem. I've unplugged the printer from the computer and wall socket and sat it down and tried to have a woman to printer talk with it. Like I'm Robin Williams and the printer is Matt Damon in Goodwill Hunting during the first half of the movie. The blasted thing is unyielding.
I've tried to find any other stuck lizard, cockroach, or cat from all possible angles that I can see the inside of the printer, but I don't see anything and it's still making "that noise". What does it sound like? It sounds like it needs lubrication somewhere. I don't know how to fix it though. I don't know much about printers. I don't even know what printer toners are for.
The first few times that I used the printer, it made a fairly moderate amount of noise. These days it seems to have transmogrified into Courtney Love.
What I do know is that in the span of time that I've owned and used this printer, I've treated it with care and decency. It's not even anywhere in the list of household appliances that I abuse.
I've also tried using its maintenance feature--"Roller Cleaning", which, I thought would solve the problem. It has proven to be quite useless. I've also tried Bottom Plate Cleaning, etc. and even Turn Printer Off. These seem to be nothing but purportedly fancy features that pretend to know how to solve a problem.
So, what to do? I have no choice but to take it to a Canon Repair Center tomorrow to have it checked. I hope repairing it won't cost more than buying a new printer. 'Cause either I'm absolutely paranoid or they really do make things that way. Sometimes.
Update:
I took the printer to a Canon Service Center, which turned out to be closed on Saturdays. So I drove around with the printer on the passenger seat and when I got home, I plugged it back into the computer. Guess what? It repaired itself =D I love you, Philippine potholes.
More recent update:
Now it hates ultra thin office paper! =D My Canon Pixma 1500 is soooo full of personality.
Most 'recentest' update:
My Canon Pixma iP1500 has been good to me lately. It's been performing very well and today I did some CMYK printing on matte photo paper and it printed such cool, high-quality photos! I'm so in love with this printer that I treated it to some refill ink today!!!!11! (huh?!) lol.
