The Canon Copier ImageClass MF4690 is another multifunction device from the office equipment giant. It is a full duplex monochrome printer, copier, scanner and fax all in one little package and offers great value for money. It’s perfect for a small or home office and performed well in every test we threw at it.
The MF4690 has every that make it suitable for a small office or workgroup including networking. It prints, copies, scans, and faxes, and you can even scan to e-mail or to a file server if you like. The automatic document feeder enables you to scan or copy documents with multiple pages. It also has a built-in duplexer for double-sided printing.
Printing is the MF4690s real strength. It can produce good quality prints up to 21 pages per minute. The print quality is sharp, with text showing as crisp, with clean edges and good fill. Images are clear, with the shading evenly spread without bleeding. The test document includes all the main fonts in different sizes, and all appeared well defined and clear, even down to 3 point.
The paper drawer holds up to 250 sheet of paper and feels solid. There is also a 35 sheet automatic document feeder. The overall build quality seems robust, which is a good sign.
The scanner and fax are both pretty standard. There are options to fax from the desktop, scan to PC over USB, but not over the network which is a little disappointing. You can also scan to a USB key, which is a nice touch but not wholly useful. It would have been nicer to be able to scan over the network.
Setting up is simple, with the basic configuration done through drivers. The MF4690 can work either standalone or as part of a network, through the built in network port. A quick driver install later and you’ll be up and running in no time at all. There is a built in web page based configuration tool where you can add and modify system settings which is simple and straightforward.
Overall the MF4690 is a good device, but not perfect. It has a mix of great attributes like good quality printing and copying, a fully featured fax and scanner but misses out on features like scan over network and other neat features that other devices offer.
