Canon Imageclass 4570DN: good news and bad news

Rightardia had been using a Brother 7840W printer for about two years until the LED display became flaky. We were able to use the printer because it had a web interface that enabled us to print reports and change the printer's settings when the LED was off or garbelled, which was most of the time.

We were able to settle the Bother printer down with a firmware upgrade, but that did not resolve the LED display problem. We also called Brother who wondered if the printer was directly plugged int a power outlet or if it was plugged into a power bar or UPS.

We think this printer may have problems if the voltage or amperage on a line is too low. Eventually, we gave the printer away and the LED started working again at another location, but then flaked out.

So we did some research and purchased the Canon Imageclass 4570 DN which was a PC Magazine Best buy. PC Mag has been putting out a printer issue once a year for as long as we can remember, and its printer picks are objective in our opinion.

First, the good news: this is a fast multipurpose printer that can print, fax and scan. It costs under $200 on Amazon.com. Some of its features:

Laser printer category
Type All-In-One
Color or black and white black and white
Technology (laser-only category) Laser
Connection Type USB, Ethernet
Maximum standard legal size paper
Print directly from cameras do not
Nominal speed at standard resolution (mono) 26 ppm
Standalone Copier and Fax Copier, Fax
Printer Duplexing Automatic

wireless print server

We had a problem printing after removing it from the box and called Canon tech support who suspected we forget to remove a orange packing piece between the printer cartridge and the print drum. After we removed the packing piece, the printer worked beautifully. It is a lot faster than the Brother 7840W.

Unlike the Brother 7840W, this printer only requires a new Cartridge. The Brother requires both a cartridge and new drum.

The Canon tech also indicated the Imageclass had problems with some VOIP lines. Rightardia uses Bright House for it Internet and phone services and had had no problems with faxing with the new printer or the Brother.

Now for the bad news:. This printer does not support wireless technology so you would have to purchase a wireless print server if you needed this feature or purchase a different printer. Also, this printer has no Linux drivers which is a real bummer. There are Canon drivers for the corporate Imagerunner printers, but not for the SOHO Image class.

Rightrdia tried Postscript, HP Laserjet and Imagerunner drivers and was not successful in printing from a Linux PC. There is a way to print to a Windows PC by using Samba shares, but this is awkward and means the Windows PC must be on at all times  which means it functions as a print server. 

So if you are an organization that uses Linux, this is not the printer for you. Otherwise, we really liked this printer.

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