Canon MF4690 Toner
imageCLASS MF4690 Toner Cartridges

Canon MF4690 Printer Review

The Canon MF4690 is a multifunction monochrome laser printer designed for the small office. It features great printing and scanning quality and a slew of extra convenience features. Speeds are a little behind the competition. If faster speeds are needed, consider the imageCLASS MF5770 toner printer.

The MF4690 can print, scan, copy, and fax, and it does all of these tasks quite well. Its real standout functions are printing and scanning. The scanning engine in the MF4690 is top-notch, and lives up to Canon's reputation for excellent scanners. Users can send scans to email, a file on the computer, or even a USB flash drive. This is a very convenient feature as it eliminates the need for a network connection and allows simple storing of scanned images. This feature is limited to drives 8 GB and below. Scanning to a PC tends to be a bit problematic, as it requires you to press the Scan button on the unit each time. This is a poor design decision, as most users in a networked environment will not be near the printer.

Speaking of networking, the Canon MF4690 includes an ethernet port for connecting to a network, allowing it to easily be shared among multiple computers. Users in a network environment will likely appreciate its security features, which require users to enter an ID before they can use the machine, which can also track usage. The MF4690 also includes built-in duplexing (double-sided printing), which not only opens up more options for printing, but can also save on paper costs by printing on both sides by default. Duplexing is also available when printing faxes or copying.

Print quality is excellent, and one of the MF4690's most impressive features. Text is very sharp and defined. Graphics quality is a little better than average for a laser printer. Print speed, on the other hand, is a bit on the slow side, at 14 pages per minute. This is not annoyingly slow, but competing units offer faster speeds, though most don't include features like duplexing.

The Canon MF4690 toner cartridge, which is the same as the Canon MF4150 toner, yields a moderate 2,000 pages. While this seems like a small amount, the Canon MF4690 is perfect for a small business or home setting.

Overall, the Canon MF4690 is an impressive machine, with excellent printing and scanning quality and features. If the slower speeds don't bother you, you can benefit from extra features like duplexing and ethernet.