With
each generation, Canon's Bubble Jet family of
inkjet photo printers just gets better. Last year,
we praised the
S800
Bubble Jet for its sharpness, detail, resolving
power, unusual speed and convenience, and the
dramatic improvement in the archival characteristics
of its six-ink system, which claims a 25-year
print display life.
Apparently, the S800 was just a warm-up. Canon's
newest Bubble Jet Photo Printer, the S900 ($400,
street price), may cost a bit more, but it outperforms
the S800 on many fronts.
The S900 seems about average size for an inkjet
printer designed to produce (primarily) letter-sized
and smaller output. (Maximum printable size
is 8 ½ x 10 inches.) It's Mac and Windows
(98, 2000, NT, XP) compatible with a rapid USB
connections for both, and a 17 3/8-inch-wide
by 12 5/8 inch deep footprint—par for the
course.
A quick inspection of its sleek gray and black
surface reveals one of the printer's true strengths:
simplicity. There are only two control buttons
that are easy to see atop the machine, with
each about a ½ -inch-wide. All they do
is turn the machine on and off, and resume or
cancel printing. Between the buttons is a single
½ -inch-wide LED that indicates the printer
is ready (solid green), is printing (blinking
green), or needs assistance (solid orange).
Installing S900 drivers to our Windows 2000
system took about 20 minutes. We were slowed
down a bit when "Auto Setup" couldn't
locate the Windows 2000 drivers, so we had to
search for them directly on the installation
CD.
Earth-friendly ink
system
As with Canon's S800, each of the six ThinkTank
ink cartridges slipped easily into their clearly-marked
print heads. We like their transparent cases
that show at a glance how much ink remains.
We also like the ability to individually replace
each of the six colors as they run dry. While
it may not translate into big savings over the
life of the machine, Canon's ThinkTank system
deserves respect; it wastes little or no ink—an
environmentally sound practice. Finally, while
we can't recommend the practice because third-party
inks may not be consistent from batch to batch,
nor stable over time, the ThinkTank cartridges
are said to be easy to reuse by photographers
who want to refill with cheaper, non-Canon inks.
If you do that, however, all bets are off regarding
print longevity—and, possibly, the unit's
warranty.
The S900 paper feed system is our favorite
type. It follows a straight path from back to
front, not the error-prone curved path found
on printers that input and output from the front.
The S900's feeder can also handle a generous
100 sheets of plain paper, up to 20 glossy photo
cards, and as many as 10 envelopes. A switch
located inside the printer adapts it to thick
or thin media.
