BIOS: Technology Means Business

The LaserBase MF5650 is Canon's first attempt at a laser-based all-in-one printer for business environments. Similar to the LaserBase MF5630 (£579 ex. VAT), but with added fax functionality, the LaserBase MF5650 offers a monochrome A4 laser printer, monochrome copier, colour flatbed scanner and Auto Document Feeder (ADF). While its good looks will appeal to many organisations, disappointing print and scan quality and impractical paper handling options will prove frustrating in busy environments. The unit was also prone to paper jams in our tests, further suggesting that Canon needs to put a little more thought into this business offering.

Pros: Colour scanner; built-in fax and ADF; fast printer
Cons: Poor scan and print quality; weak paper handling; no duplex

Things don't really start well for the LaserBase MF5650 - its paper-input cassette (two-part device) is cumbersome and often refuses to load into the bottom of the printer, and the toner cartridge needs a firm push in order to be loaded properly. In addition, it's not obvious that the toner cartridge tab has to be removed, unless of course you read the Set-Up Sheet first or attempt to print with the tab still attached. Once physically setup, you then have to set the device's on-screen controls, such as language and date/time, as well install the driver software on your computer. Canon also supplies a USB cable, so you're ready to use the device straight out of the box.

The LaserBase MF5650's print process is based on monochrome laser technology that can output up to an optimal resolution of 1200x600dpi using either PCL6 or BR-Script3 (PostScript 3) print emulations. Automatic duplex printing isn't support however, so you can't print on both sides of A4 paper without manual interference. Its paper-input tray capacity of just 250 A4 sheets and output tray capacity of 150 sheets are far from accommodating for high-throughput environments, and in testing the printer frequently jammed and printed material spilled over the output tray. Unfortunately, there's no optional input or output trays, which further limits its appeal to busy office environments.

Thanks to the over-aggressive print mechanism, prints also tended to come out crumpled towards the edges - especially when we printed on the reverse side of used paper. Removing paper after a jam is no easy task either and requires you to remove both the paper input tray and the toner cartridge before you can attempt to wrestle the sheet from the print mechanism.

Paper types supported are typical and include plain paper, recycled paper, transparencies and envelopes (manual feed included). Paper sizes supported are also relatively practical, including A4, letter, legal, B5 (ISO), B5 (JIS), executive, A5 and envelopes. Unfortunately, the printer's main paper tray can only handle paper weights of 64-128gsm, which rules out card stock and thicker paper types. If you intend to use thicker media, you'll have to manually input the substrate into the slot-loading feed/multi-purpose tray at the bottom of the device. Thicker materials, such as envelopes and transparencies, are output face-up at the rear of the printer (delivered straight through the printer) to help prevent curl.

As well as poor handling, the LaserBase MF5650's other main failing is its print quality. Even with the ability to alter image settings, such as image quality (up to 1200x600dpi) and exposure (toner density), prints suffered from banding and washed-out blacks. Greyscale performance was also poor and the LaserBase MF5650 struggled with high-quality business graphics and photographs. It's very quick though, and we managed to print an A4 photograph in just 25 seconds - 12 seconds quicker than Brother's MFC-8840DN. Larger documents printed quickly too, and our 12-page PDF file took just 50 seconds to print, while a 20-page presentation finished in 2m 09s.

Making copies is straightforward. You simply place the source document on the scanner platen or load it into the ADF, press the Copy button on the control panel, set the number of copies (up to 99), and then adjust any necessary settings for you document. For instance, you can specify the size and type of paper, image quality, exposure or enlarge/reduce (50-200%) the copy ratio. Once you're happy with the settings, you then press the Copy button again and your copy is printed. Copy quality, like print quality, was poor and suffered from severe banding and washed-out blacks. The reproduction was also clearly distinguishable from the source. Text reproduction was adequate, although characters were faded compared to the source.

You can either scan from within an application using the device's TWAIN or WIA drivers, or by pressing the Scan button on the control panel. If you opt for the latter method, Canon's MF Toolbox software is invoked on your computer for fine-tuning scan settings. Documents, cards, photos and books up to A4 in size can all be scanned on the flatbed platen glass up to an optical resolution of 1200x2400ppi. Loose-leaf documents can be set in the automatic document feeder for high-speed scanning. A 'Scan to PDF' function provides single-step scanning to PDF file format, saving both time and the need to invest in PDF file creation software. Scan quality was reasonable and should serve general business use adequately, although photographers will be better served elsewhere.

Consistent with Canon's environmental policy of ensuring that all its products have a low impact on the environment, the LaserBase MF5650 is Energy Star Compliant and the toner cartridge is completely recyclable at any of Canon's worldwide cartridge recycling plants. Canon claims the print engine also has a very low operating noise level, although we found it similar in volume to other devices of this type.

Links:
LaserBase MF5650 Web site

About our tests:
BIOS uses a range of popular office-type documents to test the image quality and speed of printers and all-in-one devices. Our test suite comprises an A4 photograph (34MB, PSD format), 6x4in. photograph (5MB, PSD format), 12-page text file (90KB, RTF format), 12-page PDF (1.2MB) and 20-page presentation (2.5MB, PRZ format). For our throughput test we print a single dot onto multiple A4 pages. Unless otherwise indicated, printers are tested using default print settings. In all but the throughput test, the higher the number, the slower the printer. Print quality is subjectively analysed by the reviewer, based on experience and comparisons to printers we've previously tested.