iP4500

Canon Pixma iP4500:

CI system now available. Pre-filled (45 Canon cartridges worth), auto resetting chips.

Excellent printer. Works fantastic with compatible inkjet cartridges, or OEM cartridges, and now even a CI system.  The tri-fecta of requirements we like to see in any printer we would recommend.  This is just a printer; there is no built in scanner for all-in-one features, however the dual paper sources are very nice to work with.  Plain paper in the rear, and photo paper in the removable paper tray (bottom of the printer).  Does not print to CDs, or DVDs,  however there are solutions available on eBay to add this feature. The overseas version of this printer has the print to CD/DVD feature enabled.

Cartridges used in this printer:

Canon has several printers that have a five cartridge configuration.  There are two black cartridges, and one each cyan, magenta, and yellow.  The larger black cartridge (PGI-5) contains pigment ink, and is the one primarily used the fastest.  The second, smaller black cartridge (dye based ink photo black) does not run out as quickly during office type use.

Canon does not employ the dual-cartridge marketing effort with this cartridge series, which is good for consumers as it makes selecting the best value cartridge easier.

• PGI-5Bk
• CLI-8Bk
• CLI-8C
• CLI-8M
• CLI-8Y

Page counts are almost impossible to estimate with this printer series.  A good rue of thumb is 400-500 pages on “full-cartridge” sets (which this is).  You may get more – you may get less, but that is a good average number.  As printers get older, the Canon brand cartridges get more expensive, and harder to find as Canon becomes the only source.  A CI system for this printer makes sense if you want to print a ream of paper per (500 pages) every 6-8 weeks or so.  The cost per page can be fractions of a cent when compared to OEM cartridges, and the initial purchase price for a system is about the same as a single set of replacement ink cartridges.  This printer could easily function as a color laser printer replacement as service life is expected to be 1-3 years.  One nice thing about Canon is you can purchase replacement print heads directly from them for about $50.00 – which is cheaper than buying a new printer.