Canon PIXMA MX532 Review (Testing + Comparison)

The Canon Pixma MX532 Wireless Office All-In-One Printer is either a significantly improved version of the Canon Pixma MX472 Wireless Office All-In-One Printer or a modified version of the Canon Pixma MX522 Wireless Office All-In-One Printer that it is now replacing. In either case, it works as a personal multifunction printer (MFP) in any workplace or as a printer for the home and small office.

The Pixma MX532’s MFP features include the capacity to print, fax, and scan from a PC and function as a standalone copier and fax machine. A 30-page automatic document feeder (ADF), which complements the letter-size flatbed and can take legal-size documents, is the primary office-centric function in addition to faxing.

Canon PIXMA MX532 Review

We recommend the Canon MX532 to anyone looking for a cheap, compact printer. Light printing needs in the office or at home should be OK with this. It can handle simple to average printing needs. It’s not terrible, but it can’t compare to the printers we’ve already discussed. That means you’ll have to give up some fancy extras and lightning-fast performance in exchange for a print of exceptional quality.

You can print, copy, and scan on envelopes as large as #10 with the Canon MX532. Even though the printer can handle paper invitations and envelopes, it may have difficulties with thicker cardstock.

With air print, you may connect it wirelessly to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch for printing. In addition, you get double-sided printing, so you don’t have to flip the pages manually. It features a 30-sheet main paper feeder and an 18-envelope capacity to alleviate the hassle of constantly reloading paper.

Google cloud printing is an extra feature. This paves the way for routine printing from any location through the app. It is acceptable to allow anyone to use your home or office printer. This printer has done me well for the past eight years. The paper feeder worked reliably right up until the point where it stopped feeding paper.

The device’s numerous features make routine office tasks like filing and editing images a breeze. The low price is another significant advantage. The Canon MX532 is a cheap envelope printer that prints in acceptable quality and speed. It is best if you’re looking for cloud printing.

WiFi and Mobile Printing

With Wi-Fi available, the Pixma MX532 can connect to a network and be shared for usage in the home and the home office. However, due to the little 100-sheet paper capacity, you’ll be less likely to want to share it in an office.

Using the printer’s support for Google Cloud Print and Canon’s cloud-based online services, which enable printing from a range of websites, including Picasa Web Albums and Facebook, is another reason to connect through Wi-Fi to an access point on a network. Direct communication between the printer and a network connected to the Internet is necessary for both features.

Support for AirPrint (for printing over a Wi-Fi connection from an Apple mobile device) and Canon’s free iOS and Android applications, which let you print to and scan from the printer, are additional mobile printing options.

In addition, Canon’s Access Point mode, which operates the same way as Wi-Fi Direct, lets you immediately connect your phone or tablet to the printer even if you’ve attached the printer to your PC by USB connection.

Setup, Speed, and Output Quality

The printer performed far better output quality than speed, which is good news. Text is acceptable for most business applications because it is at the bottom end of a narrow range where most inkjet MFPs fall. The graphics output is quickly excellent enough for any corporate purpose, including PowerPoint handouts. The photo quality is comparable to what you might find in a pharmacy.

The printer’s limited paper capacity and poor speed are its most significant flaws. Other office-oriented MFP features, such as the ADF, standalone duplexer, PC-based faxing, and ability to scan to a USB key, help make up for the limitations with its output quality.

The mobile printing options might also be helpful for individuals requiring them. If you require more incredible speed or the ease of NFC (near-field connection) for printing from mobile devices, the Editors’ Choice, Brother MFC-J870DW, is probably the better option. But there’s no denying that the Canon Pixma MX522 Wireless Office All-In-One Printer is a good option.

Editors Rating

4.2 out of 5 Stars

Comparison

The Pixma MX532 improves the Canon MX472 by enabling duplexing (two-sided printing) and scanning USB keys. It increases mobile printing over the Canon MX522. However, it does not include an Ethernet connector for a wired network.

It is also unable to print from USB drives. In addition, it replaces the Canon MX522’s color LCD with a two-line text-based display because there are no photos to preview before printing without the ability to print from a USB key.

Testing

Using a Windows Vista computer and a USB cable to connect the printer, I tested the Pixma MX532. When setup goes smoothly, it’s commonplace, but on the test computer, a Windows Vista security feature wouldn’t let the setup application begin.

As of this writing, Canon is still looking into the issue, but it has found another method to install the driver and other software. Canon’s tech support should be able to walk you through the remedy over the phone if you have the same problem I had.

After I installed the printer, everything performed as expected. Print speed is a weak point, regrettably. I measured the printer on our business applications suite at a disappointing 2.3 pages per minute using QualityLogic’s hardware and software for timing (ppm).

That’s tied with the Canon MX472, but the Pixma MX532’s higher cost makes its poor speed a bigger problem. The Editors’ Selection In our tests, the Brother MFC-J870DW ($499.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) performed twice as quickly, at 4.7 ppm. The Pixma MX532 took an average of 2 minutes and 3 seconds to complete a four-by-six shot. It just took the Brother printer 59 seconds.

To Conclusion

A wireless All-in-One printer that prints professional-quality documents for your company is the Canon PIXMA MX532. It is ideal for those frequently on the go because of its many useful features, such as the Canon Printing Software, which enables you to print or search images and documents from a compatible mobile device.

Using your mobile device and the Canon Printing app, you can print directly from several well-known Web Cloud services, including Facebook, Picasa Web Archives, Twitter, and Dropbox.

Frequently Asked Questions