Photo Printers

Best Wireless Printers For Mac Computers
Best Wireless Printers For Home Use
Best Wireless Printers For Mac

There is no such thing as a 'best wireless printer for MacBook Air.' If you prefer HP then look over reviews of the various Wi-Fi HP printers that are supported in Lion. You can find a list of all the HP printers supported in Lion in Apple's Printer and scanner software for Snow Leopard & Lion. Besides wireless printing, this printer's best feature is that it's an all-in-one model, so it has a built-in copier and scanner. Granted, you could use your smartphone and a scanner app to.

Editor Rating: Excellent (4.0)

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$300.00

Pros
Budget-priced printer for moderately serious photo enthusiasts. Prints at up to 13 by 19 inches. Can print on printable optical discs. Wi-Fi. Wireless PictBridge.
Cons
Single paper tray with only 150-sheet capacity. PictBridge over a USB cable not supported.
Bottom Line
Aimed at the moderately serious photo enthusiast, the Canon Pixma iP8720 Wireless Inkjet Photo Printer offers a low initial price and the ability to print at up to 13 by 19 inches.

Similar in many ways to the Canon Pixma iX6820 Wireless Inkjet Printer, the Canon Pixma iP8720 Wireless Inkjet Photo Printer ($299.99) includes one key addition that makes it a very different beast. The Canon iX6820's five-color ink system (with cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and photo black) does a good job with photos, but it's still aimed primarily at business use. The iP8720 adds gray ink, which lets it print far better looking black-and-white photos. It also turns the iP8720 into a near-dedicated photo printer, and our Editors' Choice for consumer-level photo enthusiasts.

To be clear, the iP8720 isn't in direct competition with more expensive near-dedicated photo printers, like the Epson Stylus Photo R2000 or the still more expensive Epson Stylus Photo R3000. Both printers are Editors' Choices as well, but they're aimed at prosumers and professional photographers. The iP8720 is much more of a high-end consumer printer.

Probably the best way to think of the iP8720 is that it's for people who can't justify paying for a printer in the Epson R2000's or R3000's class, but are serious enough that they want to print photos as large as 13 by 19 inches, need to print photos in black and white, or both. If that's what you need, it offers a lot for the price.

Basics

Despite the iP8720's focus on photo printing, it shares most of its design with the Canon iX6820. In particular, Canon says its ink system is essentially identical, other than the additional ink color and extra nozzles to go with it. It also shares the same paper handling capability, with a single tray that can hold up to 150 sheets of plain paper or a minimum of 20 sheets of photo paper, depending on which photo paper you're using. The maximum paper size is 13 by 19 inches.

The ink system and paper handling give the iP8720 the same capabilities as the Canon iX6820 for text, graphics, and photos on plain paper, which means that you can use it for everyday printing. However, having only one paper tray makes it best suited as a second printer for photos only, which is part of what defines it as a near-dedicated photo printer. Note, too, that unlike the Canon iX6820, the iP8720 can print on printable optical discs.

For mobile printing, the iP8720 offers printing through the cloud and printing over Wi-Fi with AirPrint or with Canon's free apps for Android and iOS phones and tablets. For any of these features to work, you need an access point on your network with the printer connected to the access point by Wi-Fi. The printer does not offer an Ethernet port.

A related feature is support for Wireless PictBridge, but not PictBridge with a USB cable connection. At this writing, however, Wireless PictBridge is of limited usefulness, since it's available only with select models of Canon cameras.

Setup, Speed, and Output Quality

At 6.3 by 23.3 by 13.1 inches (HWD), the iP8720 is bigger than most standard inkjets, but small for a near-dedicated photo printer. For my tests, I connected it by USB cable to a PC running Windows Vista.

Setup is standard when it works as designed. However, I ran into a minor issue with a security feature in Windows Vista stopping the setup program from running. At this writing, Canon is still investigating the issue, but the company was able to give me an easy alternative for installing the driver. If you run into the same installation problem, you should be able to get the workaround by calling Canon's tech support number.

We don't usually run our business applications suite with this category of printer, but because you might reasonably want to use the iP8720 for standard printing, as well as for photos, I ran the test in this case. I clocked the printer (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing) at 2.7 pages per minute (ppm). Not surprisingly, considering the similarities between the two, that makes the iP8720 tied with the Canon iX6820. The two also matched on photo speed, averaging 59 seconds for a 4-by-6 print. That's just a little slower than the Epson R2000 and R3000, which both came in at 53 seconds.

Output quality was uneven, with the iP8720 handing in slightly subpar text and graphics, but significantly better photos than most inkjets can manage. To the extent that it matters, most people would consider the text in the printer's default mode suitable for most business needs, as long as you don't need to use small fonts. Similarly, the graphics output in the default mode is easily good enough for any internal business use.

Considering that the iP8720 focuses on photos, what matters most is the photo quality, which is precisely what the printer does well. Although its color photos aren't a match for output from top-tier printers, like the Epson R3000, they are a clear step above typical drugstore prints. And unlike the the Canon iX6820, the iP8720 also prints black-and-white photos at the same high level, with no obvious tint and with appropriately subtle shading.

If you want the best possible output and are willing to pay for it, you'll want one of the more expensive Editors' Choices, like the Epson R2000 or Epson R3000. And if you never print black-and-white photos, you can save a little by getting the Canon iX6820, which offers a close match for color photo quality. That said, if you want a printer that can handle all your photos well, and you can't justify the cost of a printer meant for prosumers and professionals, the Canon Pixma iP8720 Wireless Inkjet Photo Printer is the obvious choice, and it offers more than enough to make it our Editors' Choice for consumer-level, near-dedicated photo printers.

Printer Ratings

Consumer Reports makes it easy to find the best printer for your needs. Read our buying guide to learn more before you shop. CR Digital members can access ratings and reviews on hundreds of inkjets and laser printers. Printers are tested on text quality, how much ink they use (and waste), speed, and more.

All-in-One Printers (139)

If there is a chance you might want to copy or scan, it's worth investigating an all-in-one printer. Although most models are bigger than the typical new stand-alone printer, they take up less space and cost less than a separate printer, scanner, and copier. Having to hook up only one device to your computer simplifies setup as well. An all-in-one's scanning function should be fine for print originals. The copying function is fine for casual use. Some all-in-ones add a fax function.
As the ratings show, paying more for a printer doesn't necessarily mean you'll get better photos. And don't consider only the purchase price of the printer itself. Ink and maintenance costs can make a cheaper model more expensive in the long run than a higher-priced printer with lower ink costs. The two-year cost-of-ownership estimate is shown in the ratings.

All-in-One Printers Ratings

Regular Printers (52)

Many of the regular inkjets available are bare-bones, low-cost models. Still, for the money, standard inkjets are solid all-purpose printers for most consumers who want to print both text and color photos. Most can print almost anything, including photos up to 8.5x11 inches or larger, text, and graphics such as greeting cards. You ca

Photo Printers

Pros

Cons

Bottom Line

Basics

Setup, Speed, and Output Quality

Printer Ratings

All-in-One Printers (139)

Regular Printers (52)

Best Wireless Printers For Mac 2014