Product Reviews

Portable printers are becoming increasingly common thanks to the current vogue for dedicated 6x4" photo devices, but Canon has been making A4 inkjet models for years. The PIXMA iP90 replaces the Bubble Jet i80, though the two models' specifications are largely the same.

The iP90 is about the size of a large box of chocolates. At 1.8kg it's light for a printer, but still feels solid and substantial. The paper tray doubles as a lid when it's not in use, which helps protect the printing mechanism from dust.

A few compromises are necessary to achieve the iP90's small size. The paper input is limited to just 30 pages and there's no output tray. More significantly, the ink cartridges have a tiny capacity and are more expensive than the supplies used by other PIXMAs.

This gives the iP90 the highest running costs we've seen. Printing each colour page costs 16.4p, which is twice as expensive as

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the iP1500 and four times as much as the iP3000 (see our Hotlist below). Each mono page is an exorbitant 18.7p, seven times the amount it would be on the iP3000.

The iP90 is highly portable, but without Canon's optional battery it's only really useful near a mains outlet. Mobile workers who print in the field will need to invest £70 in the lithium-ion power pack, which doesn't integrate into the printer's body. Canon says a fully charged battery will last for 450 pages of A4 printing. This is plenty, but that many mono pages would use at least five black ink cartridges at a cost of over £70.

The iP90's 30-sheet paper input ruled out our usual 50-page mono document tests, but it managed a solid 8.8 pages per minute (ppm) over the first 10 pages of our document test. Using Standard quality, it delivered 10 copies of our letter test at 6.7ppm. It printed all 24 pages of our mixed colour test in 17 minutes, which is a decent performance for an inkjet.

Plain paper print quality was fine, although colours weren't especially vibrant. Standard text was very good, but increasing the quality to High introduced some jaggedness to outlines and this wasn't fixed by realigning the print heads. Photo prints were too faint, particularly in dark areas.

The iP90 is a competent printer and it faces little competition. However, it is expensive to buy and, unless you resort to third-party inks, it is also frighteningly expensive to run. It's suitable only where portability is essential.