This machine is ideal for anyone needing a printer/scanner combination to keep their home ticking over, and don't need to print large amounts. Canon promotes the use of high capacity cartridges with the claim you can save up to 30%, however there's no escaping from the fact that this printer isn't cheap to run and is definitely aimed at people who will print fairly infrequently.

Compatibles represent the best value, costing just 4.7p per page. While high capacity originals cost a little more they work out considerably cheaper when it comes to printing at ~5.8p per page. Standard capacity original inks are the most expensive way to print using this printer at ~8p per page. Only taking 2 inks does mean the TR4550 Canon printer is more expensive to run though, as when one of the colours runs out the whole tri-colour cartridge needs to be replaced. These cartridges have the printheads built into them, which is why they're expensive to buy, but it means that if you print very rarely, or go periods you don't print at all, if the ink dries up you only have to replace the cartridge and won't do damage to your printer. The Canon TR4550 uses PG-545 and CL-546 FINE printer cartridges. If you'll be printing mainly images you shouldn't be looking at this printer anyway, as it's more of an all-round workhorse than image printer, and for the standard home user the quality is more than good enough. Print quality is 'reliable', with clean and crisp document printing backed up by respectable photo printing. A borderless 6x4' print takes about 65 seconds. Speeds are on par with any other low cost home machine, with up to 9ppm for black printing and up to 4ppm for colour.

The Canon Pixma TR4550 is fairly standard for home printer performance, with the exact print quality and speed you'd expect for a machine aimed at a home user.

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