The Canon imageClass MF269dw ($279.99) is a compact entry-stage monochrome laser all-in-one (AIO) printer designed to be used in a small or home-primarily based totally workplace or as a non-public AIO. It presents a extensive variety of connectivity selections and is loaded with capabilities, which include an auto-duplexing computerized file feeder (ADF) for scanning and copying -sided pages routinely. It additionally prints nicely at aggressive speeds, and its strolling fees are reasonable. The Canon MF269dw presents the proper blend of capabilities, performance, and output best to vault it to our cutting-edge preferred enterprise-orientated AIO with mild monochrome print and duplicate volumes.
Small Workhorse
The MF269dw ($259.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a brand new window) is the cutting-edge in an extended line of entry-stage unmarried-characteristic and AIO monochrome laser printers Canon has presented for numerous years. While they have got advanced in phrases of capabilities and output best, their cube-formed flat-black chassis have not modified a great deal. The MF269dw, for example, measures 14.eight through 15.four through sixteen inches (HWD) and weighs 29.three kilos, that’s a touch larger and some kilos heavier than the its predecessor, the MF249dw, however now no longer sufficient to count number while scouting out a table or countertop to place it on.
The MF269dw is likewise near in length and girth to the Lexmark MB2236adw ($1,134.ninety five at Amazon)(Opens in a brand new window) and HP’s LaserJet Pro MFP M148fdw, in addition located monochrome AIOs. It’s notably smaller and lighter than Canon’s better-stop imageClass MF424dw. And it is smaller and lighter nevertheless than the better-quantity (and better-priced) Epson WorkForce Pro WF-M5799 inkjet alternative.
For copying, scanning, and faxing, you get a 50-sheet auto-duplexing ADF that routinely scans the second one aspect of -sided multipage files. The MF249dw ($1,113.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a brand new window) , MB2236adw, and the WF-M5799 additionally include 50-sheet auto-duplexing ADFs, however the smaller and decrease-rated M148fdw’s file feeder holds best 35 sheets, and it can not experiment -sided pages with out your assist to turn the stack of originals manually.
The manage panel includes a fashionable quantity pad and a handful of buttons (Home, Back, Start/Stop, Energy Saver, and Quiet Mode) anchored through a big six-line monochrome contact screen. This is a fashionable configuration for Canon’s entry-stage laser machines, and in spite of the capacity to navigate it with a finger, the old drill-down menus are a piece tedious.
You also can configure, display, generate reports, and do pretty much the entirety else you may do from the manage panel from the MF269dw’s integrated website, which Canon calls the Remote UI: Portal, proven here.
Accessible out of your browser, the net portal permits you to configure and display your printer from nearly any pc or cell device, which include over the net whilst you configure the printer properly.
As for paper handling, the MF269dw comes with a 250-sheet tray and a one-sheet override tray for printing one-off envelopes, labels, and different media. That’s the equal enter capability because the MF249dw and the MB2236adw, and 10 sheets fewer than the HP M148fdw . Meanwhile, the MF424dw holds as much as three hundred sheets, expandable to 900, and the WF-M5799 ($529.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a brand new window) holds three hundred sheets, expandable to 850.
Canon hasn’t posted a most quantity score for this AIO, that’s uncommon for a enterprise printer. Most of the company’s different entry-stage lasers are rated at 15,000 pages most. Canon does, however, offer a advocated month-to-month print quantity score of as much as 2,500 pages.
The M148fdw, the MB2236adw, and the WF-M5799 all have the equal advocated month-to-month print quantity because the MF269dw, and the MF424dw’s score is 1,500 pages better.
Connections Galore
While you would possibly anticipate a $three hundred entry-stage laser printer to help maximum connectivity alternatives, many don’t. The MF269dw, however, covers all bases, after which a few. Its fashionable interfaces encompass connecting to a unmarried PC through USB 2.0, Ethernet, Wi-Fi (802.eleven b/g/n), and Wi-Fi Direct. That remaining one, Wi-Fi Direct, is a peer-to-peer networking protocol for connecting cell gadgets to the printer with out both them or it being mounted to a neighborhood region community or router.
Other cell connectivity alternatives encompass Apple AirPrint, Canon Print Business (a cell app for each Android and iOS), Google Cloud Print, and Mopria. You do now no longer, however, get help for the contact-to-print protocol, near-area communication (NFC), neither is there a port for printing from and scanning to USB thumb drives. And finally, experiment-to record codecs encompass JPEG, TIF, and photo and searchable PDF.
Above-Average Entry-Level Speeds
Canon costs the MF269dw at 30 pages in keeping with minute for one-sided (simplex) pages. However, considering this AIO defaults to -sided (duplex) printing, we time and report each its simplex and duplex speeds. I positioned the MF269dw via its paces over an Ethernet connection from our fashionable testbed pc, an Intel Core i5 PC strolling Windows 10 Professional.
In our first spherical of tests, constructed from a double-spaced 12-web page Microsoft Word textual content file, I timed the MF269dw at 29.nine pages in keeping with minute (ppm) in simplex mode and 18.3ppm in duplex mode. Those speeds are 2.4ppm (simplex) and three.5ppm (duplex) quicker than the Canon MF249dw, however they’re 6.2ppm and 0.5ppm, respectively, slower than the Lexmark MB2236adw. The Canon MF424dw beat the MF236dw through extra than 10ppm in each modes. The HP M148fdw and the Epson WF-M5799 do now no longer default to -sided printing out of the box, so we failed to report their duplex speeds. With that said, the HP AIO fell in the back of our Canon check unit through nine.8ppm and the Epson inkjet AIO got here in five.5ppm slower than the MF269DW, as nicely.
For the following part of our tests, I revealed a group of complicated files containing embedded enterprise graphics, spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentation handouts. Then I blended the ones ratings with the effects from the preceding check and got here up with a rating of 18.4ppm in simplex mode.
These ratings are consistent with the opposite AIOs referred to here, with the Lexmark version besting the MF269dw through a trifling 1.1ppm in simplex mode. The MF424dw ($809.30 at Amazon)(Opens in a brand new window) grew to become withinside the excellent effects withinside the bunch, beating the MF269dw through approximately 3ppm. Perhaps maximum impressive, though, is the Epson WF-M5799’s rating of 17.2ppm, for the reason that it is rated at 6ppm slower than the MF269dw.
Great Grayscale
Seldom do I actually have any lawsuits approximately the output from a Canon printer, whether or not it is an under-$one hundred family-orientated inkjet, a $1,000 shadeation laser, or whatever in between. Granted, it is tough to get enthusiastic about monochrome output, however I’ve no lawsuits approximately the MF269dw’s prints and copies.
It revealed our fashionable serif and sans-serif font check pages with near-typesetter best, with nicely-formed characters in any respect sizes and appealing spacing and kerning. Our full-web page Excel and PowerPoint charts and graphs got here out quite specified, with handsome gradient backgrounds and fills, and best minimum banding in the ones big darkish regions in which many monochrome printers have hassle reproducing flawlessly.
The check pics I revealed appearance good, too; a great deal extra specified and with out the graininess that we frequently see in grayscale prints. The backside line is, the MF269dw’s output is appropriate for maximum enterprise packages in which monochrome output is acceptable.
Competitive Running Costs
When you purchase the highest-yield (four,one hundred pages) toner cartridge for the MF269dw at its listing charge of $115, every web page will value you approximately 2.eight cents, that’s a touch higher than common for an entry-stage monochrome laser printer on this charge variety. The MF269dw’s predecessor, the MF249dw, fees approximately 0.7 cents in keeping with web page extra to use, whilst Canon’s better-yield MF424dw’s strolling fees are round 0.five cents in keeping with web page decrease. Lexmark’s MB2236adw and HP’s M148fdw, at 0.eight cents extra in keeping with web page than the MF269dw, also are extra costly to use, while Epson’s WF-M5799, whilst you purchase its 40,000-web page substitute ink bags, fees much less than 1 cent in keeping with web page.
It’s additionally vital to observe that on the time of publication, the charge on Canon’s webweb page for the MF269dw’s highest-yield cartridge was $103.50, lowering the CPP to approximately 2.five cents in keeping with web page. With a few buying round, I discovered the cartridge on an workplace deliver store’s webweb page for $71.99, which gives you an excellent CPP of 1.eight cents, or 1 cent decrease than whilst you purchase the toner at Canon’s MSRP.
No-Nonsense Small-Office Printing and Copying
The best actual lacking characteristic at the MF269dw is its loss of a port for printing from and scanning to USB thumb drives, however given the whole variety of cell and wi-fi connectivity alternatives, this port in all likelihood may not be missed. If you want paper capability growth alternatives, better quantity, and the bottom feasible strolling fees, Epson’s WF-M5799 is a superb choice. And in case you want growth alternatives, low strolling fees and the output need to be toner-primarily based totally, in preference to ink, don’t forget Canon’s MF424dw. Otherwise, if all you want is to print and duplicate some hundred best monochrome pages every month at an inexpensive value in keeping with web page, the Canon imageClass MF269dw is our Editors’ Choice for entry-stage monochrome output in a small workplace, or as a non-public AIO.
