Photo Printer: Canon i950

Estimated Cost Per Page: Office Printing

The i950 is an excellent photo printer; its texts equal those of the best four-color printers and, more good news, it is economical to run.

Europe wins for once here. Americans pay more for their cartridges. A full set (black and color) costs 69 euros including tax, versus $72 before tax in the States. Canon US: it's time to lower your prices.

Note that in text mode, the i950 does not use the light cyan and light magenta cartridges.

Estimated Cost Per Page: Photos

The savings in ink also apply to photo mode, though the cost does vary depending on the type of paper used. In Europe, the GP-301 costs 8.99 euros including tax for 20 sheets; and in the States, $9.95 (pre-tax).

Dearer and better, but also less resistant, the top-range Canon photo paper, PR-101, costs 19.90 euros in Europe, and $13.95 in the States.

Counting ink and paper (a sheet of A4 cut in 4), we found the following costs for photos:

The long-term cost, calculated by adding up the price of the printer and the price for printing 1500 monochrome pages and 1500 color pages (filled at 5%), is: