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New Canon Pixma MX850

I've got the Canon Pixma MX 700, which looks pretty much like the 850 but without the duplexer and with only 1 type of black ink. The print speed and quality seems decent so far (although I haven't tried printing on photo paper yet).

The drivers for Leopard aren't perfect yet. If you put several photos on the scanner the software is supposed to be able to recognize this and scan them individually, but this doesn't work. I've been using the Image Capture software instead and the scanning quality is good.

One issue people mentioned with a similar model (MP 830) is that when duplex printing black and white, the printer uses the the non-pigment black ink instead of the cheaper pigment black ink which is normally used for black & white printing. You might want to try and find out if the MX 850 also has this problem.

I've never used the HP model you mentioned so I can't compare the printers, but I've found Canon's customer support to be far superior to HP's.
 
Appears not to have fax driver

It appears not to have a fax driver (I found one for windows). Am I the only one missing it?
 
PIXMA MX850 Canon MFC - really doesn't have a fax driver for MACOS

confirmed by canon support - what a shame! (treating MACOS like a second class environment)!
 
Just installed

I installed an MX850 at home for Macs and Vista PCs to use last night. I have it on Ethernet and got printing working with minor difficulties. Just a few glitches with idiosyncratic software and Jinglish documentation on both platforms. You have to connect via a USB cable (not supplied) to configure Ethernet connectivity.

There should be a scanning driver included. It's in the marketing collateral, the installation guide and the printer comes with a scanning utility. I'm thinking that the latest Mac OS rev has caused difficulties with the Canon printing subsystem on the Mac. No driver updates on our local Canon site, but that's not unusual.

It's probable that push-scanning to workstations from the MX850 isn't supported for Mac. The doc implies there's a virtual TWAIN interface over the network from the Mac to the MX850. That's a shame because it's a really nice feature on the device. You can select the PC you want the scanned document to go to and it is transferred to a folder on the workstation.

That said, the MX850 was the only product that fit my criteria especially for PC and Mac support, colour, duplex printing and ADF scanning (duplex functions are slow, but they work), CD/DVD printing, faxing, fax/tel line sharing, separate ink cartridges and so on. HP doesn't have anything similar right now.

After a few tests, the printing seems good from both systems. My only other complaint is the software installation is a branding exercise for Canon with too many applications and their aliases installed everywhere.

Dekka
 
Network scanning supported on Mac OS with Canon Pixma 850

Just a follow up on my previous post...

I installed the Canon software on a new MacBook running 10.5 and it confgured network scanning without difficulty. I had problems with an older iBook that had been upgraded to 10.5. There is an addendum included with the product that implies this might happen.

I was able to manually configure the scanner using the Canon Network Scanning Utility that's installed on the right hand side of the menu bar - once I saw it.

What you end up with is push-scanning from the MX850's console along with a virtual TWAIN connection that you can run standard scanning software with.

Still one problem to overcome... the Canon software causes the Finder to hang when Parental Controls are turned on. I've enabled all the Canon applications for that account to no avail. My daughter therefore has uncontrolled computer use for now!

Best regards,
Dekka
 
Dekka said:
Just a follow up on my previous post...

I installed the Canon software on a new MacBook running 10.5 and it confgured network scanning without difficulty. I had problems with an older iBook that had been upgraded to 10.5. There is an addendum included with the product that implies this might happen.

I was able to manually configure the scanner using the Canon Network Scanning Utility that's installed on the right hand side of the menu bar - once I saw it.

What you end up with is push-scanning from the MX850's console along with a virtual TWAIN connection that you can run standard scanning software with.

Still one problem to overcome... the Canon software causes the Finder to hang when Parental Controls are turned on. I've enabled all the Canon applications for that account to no avail. My daughter therefore has uncontrolled computer use for now!

Best regards,
Dekka
Click to expand...

Dekka,

I could use your help. I just bought a MX 850. I am running a Airpot Extreme for my base. I have the 850 plugged into an Airport Express via USB in another room. I can print but cannot scan. Can you provide some insight as to how you got your config to scan?

- Andrew
 
agilburne said:
Dekka,

I could use your help. I just bought a MX 850. I am running a Airpot Extreme for my base. I have the 850 plugged into an Airport Express via USB in another room. I can print but cannot scan. Can you provide some insight as to how you got your config to scan?

- Andrew
Click to expand...

That's a different configuration to mine. I have the printer on hardwire Ethernet with Mac connections via Airports. With an Airport connection, the scanner software will likely just be looking for what looks like a standard TWAIN port on the Mac OS. If you start OmniPage SE, choose Preferences, click Select to choose a scanner, then click on TWAIN, what do you see?

- Dekka
 
Looks like a nice step up from the MP830 which I have. Plusses being networking and bluetooth.

If anyone is wondering whether to get a Canon or HP or Epson. Go with the Canon. Best printer I've ever had.
 
agilburne said:
Dekka,

I could use your help. I just bought a MX 850. I am running a Airpot Extreme for my base. I have the 850 plugged into an Airport Express via USB in another room. I can print but cannot scan. Can you provide some insight as to how you got your config to scan?

- Andrew
Click to expand...

You should plug your MX 850 using an ethernet cable instead of a USB one.
Your printer will acquire an IP address on your network and it will make it available for both scanning and printing from all the computers logged on your network (if you installed the driver on it).

D.
 
Question - Duplex printing is not listed as an option

I just got the MX850 and when I select "Layout" the two-sided printing option cannot be selected. Did anyone have this problem and/or know how to fix it?
 
emilyba said:
I just got the MX850 and when I select "Layout" the two-sided printing option cannot be selected. Did anyone have this problem and/or know how to fix it?
Click to expand...

In Microsoft Word, I note this option is dimmed. However, there is an option for Duplex Printing and Margin where you can set double-sided printing options. Do you see that?
 
First of all I have it and its really ****ing big. I hate my apple store for having nothing else in stock around $100.

I haven't plugged it in yet.
 
Getting ready to set up

My MX850 arrived yesterday, and I'm getting ready to set it up. I had a number of questions (e.g. network scanning, attaching via ethernet, etc), but those have already been answered in this thread. Thanks!

It looks like a great machine, albeit a little on the large side. If you want more info, there are several reviews on Amazon. The only downside seems to be that it uses lower-quality scanning technology than the MX830.

Oh, by the way, Amazon is selling it for $199, including shipping.

Fingers crossed that it's as good as the reports.
 
how do I scan? I have such trouble with it! I feel like there should be a really easy solution, but when I try and use the controls on the printer, it doesn't do anything. Printing and copying work great, but how do I scan?
 
Catchbar, how do you have it set up?

I have mine plugged into the Ethernet port on my Time Capsule. When I press the "Scan" button on the printer, it walks me through the steps: choose which computer to send it to, choose whether to scan a document or picture, choose color or black & white. Then the scanned image shows up on my computer.

The original set up was some work: first I had to connect the device to my Mac via USB to get it configured. Then I had to install the software via CD onto my Mac. But once I did then, when I connected it to the network via Ethernet on my TC, it's just worked beautifully.
 
Does anyone know what is the difference between 2436B009 and 2436B010?
 
This is very strange. I see many pages where it says for a printer:

"Model: 2436B009AA - MPN: 2436B010AA"

But if one just looks for one or the other code, each seems to be largely associated with certain countries.

Now, the canon pages for some different countries lists the same LCD languages in the specs, which does not seem to correspond to this code divide.

There are countries where both codes are sold, even from the same store, and at different prices and availability.

Canon does not publish these codes in their websites.
 
Network Configuration Assistance

I had my Canon PIXMA MX850 setup on my LAN via an ethernet connection. I had 2 Windows XP Laptops and an XP desktop connected and printing/scanning fine. A few days ago I installed this printer on my Apple Macbook Pro. This was successful. The problem is after this installation all my Windows PC's cannot find this printer. I tried the old IP address (from my DHCP table), MAC address but no success. I can ping the old IP address assigned to the printer. Sounds like the Apple install did something to the printer configuration.

Can anyone help?

BTW
This Multifunction Printer (outside of this problem) has been great and I highly recommend it.
 
Re: Network Configuration Assistance

Re>... A few days ago I installed this printer on my Apple Macbook Pro. This was successful. The problem is after this installation all my Windows PC's cannot find this printer.

Do you mean that you physically connected the printer to the Mac or that you installed the drivers on the Mac so you could access it over the network?

Dekka
 
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