Labs

Canon's i-SENSYS LBP5100 is the cheapest printer here to include a duplexer as standard. It's a four-pass printer, but its colour print speed of 8.8ppm is among the fastest. Mono prints are rather slow at 10.2ppm. It supports only USB Hi-Speed as standard, but an optional 10/100 Ethernet interface is available.

The cartridges come packed inside the machine and contain a full load of toner. Installing them is a simple matter of removing their packaging and clicking them into place. It's recommended that you calibrate the printer when you first set it up, and while the process isn't immediately obvious, the manual contains a step-by-step guide to accessing the calibration options through the printer's menu. Once initiated, the process is automatic.

The

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pin-sharp print quality of mono text documents was excellent even by the high standards of the printers in this group, and duplex printing was quick and flawless. Colour prints were smooth, vivid and accurate, with remarkable image quality, rich colours and precise detail. Both high- and low-contrast pictures were reproduced faithfully, and flesh tones were true to life. Subtle gradients of greyscale shading were particularly accurate. Like Epson's AcuLaser, the LBP5100's driver has a number of modes designed to render specific types of document at the highest possible quality. Options include modes for printing illustrated presentations or fine line documents such as plans or technical diagrams.

Print costs are reasonable, if not as economical as those for printers that accept higher-yield cartridges. The photoconductor unit is integrated with the toner cartridges, which are the printer's only consumable, and long-term running costs are average for the group. Although slow by the group's standards, the Canon's mono text print speed is fast enough to deal with most document printing tasks. Where this device really shines is in its ability to print fast, accurate presentation-quality colour. It's an excellent printer, and only misses winning our Best Buy award due to its relatively high print and ownership costs.