Canon Pixma iP4300 vs Canon pixma iP5300

[TheGreg]

I know that the iP4300 just came out and the iP5300 is due out in October. I really wanted the 5200, but Canon has decided to discontinue it and no store has it. So my question is do I buy the iP4300 now or will it be worth it to wait for the iP5300. I need a printer for some photo printing, but more for printing out documents with graphics.

 

[drc023]

The iP4300 should do great. Since it's the successor to the iP4200 which produced stunning output, you don't need to worry about any print quality issues. Additionally, the iP4300 is dirt cheap. Newegg.com has them for $89.99 with free shipping.

 

[hpnetserver]

Anyone noticed that ip4300 is distinctly different from ip4200 in the print head? There are two sets of nozzles for Cyan and Magenta. It looks like this: 1,024 x 2 colors (C, M), 512 x 2 colors (C, M), 512 x 2 colors (Y, BK). The black text has the same 512 nozzles. Total number of nozzles is 3584. The increase of nozzle count is in the color portions.
The ip4300 is probably a better photo printer than ip4200. At least it will be faster. I saw one at Fry's Electronics yesterday. I like the look of ip4200 better. The ip4300 looks cheapy. This may be just my opinion though. Price at Fry's was on sale at $79.95 yesterday.

 

[hpnetserver]

Ip4300 also has 50% more nozzles than ip4200. It is comparable to ip5200 in nozzle count. This is probably why 4200 and 5200 are discontinued. There is no info about ip5300 yet. It's not on Canon web site.

 

[hpnetserver]

Ip4300 has 512 nozzles in its PGI-5 texting printing head. That's about 50% more than ip4200's. That's what I was trying to say. This makes it a very fast text and photo printer.

 

[YellowBrickRoad]

I would pay attention to the size of dropplet produced....you want the 1 picoliter heads for the best photo reproduction. Speed of print is a secondary consideration, at least for me.

 

[hpnetserver]

Speed is cartainly not necessary a top consideration for many. But between 1 and 2 picoliter there isn't really much difference either. My ip8500 has a 2 picoliter print head. It's still the top dog of all Canon photo printers now. For about the same money ip4300 definitely beats an ip4200. 5300 is not available yet. So there is no way to compare an ip4300 to an ip5300 now. I believe the difference may be in the number of nozzles and printing speed as well.

 

[websnail]

I've been out of the loop for months now.. but the one question I want answered is whether the new models have different approaches to refilling, etc...