Labs

Canon's PIXMA MP520 comes with a separate print head, which you must install before you can put in the ink cartridges. Fortunately, it's easy to fit, and the cartridges helpfully light up when you've slotted them in correctly. The MP520 uses a pigment black cartridge for mono text printing, and three dye-based colour cartridges. A colour screen and memory card slots are hidden under panels. There are front and rear paper trays, although the printer won't load photo-size paper from the front

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tray.

The MP520's draft print speeds were the slowest in the group, but the quality of its draft text was as good as many of the other MFPs' normal-quality prints. It was clear, legible and well formed, with no jagged edges.

Normal-quality text looked even better, and equalled the quality we've seen from many laser printers. Letters were exceptionally sharp, with no smudges on bold characters. Printing from idle was fast, with a single page appearing in 12 seconds. We were also pleased with the quality of colour document prints, although we noticed striping on large areas of dark colour, and print speeds were only average. Our test photos were sharp and clear, with excellent contrast and depth, although flesh tones and pale greys and browns had a faint yellow tint.

The scanner produced sharp, accurate images and reproduced skin tones faithfully. Although the scanner's theoretical maximum resolution is 2,400x4,800dpi, the highest resolution in the driver's menu is 1,200x 2,400dpi. You can type in higher resolutions up to the scanner's maximum, however.