If you are looking for an affordable all-in-one multipurpose printer right now, Canon’s best selling models, MX492 and MG3620, may be attractive choices. You can get them with a budget of less than a hundred dollars. Both models offer neat and compact designs as well as excellent printing speeds. However, they do have different selling points. Canon MX492 has a built-in fax and creative software, whereas Canon MG3620 features the auto duplex printing capability. Continue reading below for the more detailed comparisons of Canon MX492 vs MG3620.
Print Performance
Canon MX492 is pretty fast for its class. Well, the black printing speed is 8.8 ISO ppm and the color printing speed is 4.4 ISO ppm. They are not very impressive, but good enough for home use and light office use. It runs on two cartridges, which are PG-245 for the black ink and CL-246 for the color inks. It uses dye-based inks. Although the maximum resolution is 4800 x 1200, note that there are 1280 total nozzles on this printer. The print quality is good but not great – see the comparisons of Canon MX492 vs MX922.
Canon MG3620 offers better print quality. It is quite faster, with a black printing speed of 9.9 ISO ppm and a color printing speed of 5.7 ISO ppm. In addition, it also has automatic duplex printing, which can significantly reduce the time needed to print two-sided pages. Unfortunately, the text sharpness seems to be reduced a little bit on duplex printing.
Canon MG3620 runs using the PG-240 pigment black ink and CL-241 dye-based color inks. The maximum print resolution is also 4800 x 1200, but this printer had more nozzles with a total of 1792. As the effect, it can produce better details. Surprisingly, the photo printing quality is very good.
Scanner and Fax
One reason why people prefer Canon MX492 is the built-in fax. If you need an all-in-one printer with fax functionality, this is a good choice. The fax speed is good. It requires only 3 seconds to transmit a black page. However, it may take up to 1 minute to transmit a color page.
The fax has an internal memory with a capacity of 50 pages. It has 19 locations for group dialing. Meanwhile, the scanner is equipped with an automatic document feeder (ADF), but the optical resolution is only 600 x 1200.
Canon MG3620 does not have the fax function. The scanner is also without the ADF. But the scanner’s optical resolution is better at 1200 x 2400.
Connectivity
Each of the Canon MX492 vs MG3620 printers is equipped with a USB port and built-in Wi-Fi. The wireless connectivity is indeed very handy. It enables you to connect the printer to your wireless network and perform mobile printing. However, Canon MX492 does not have PictBridge. Canon MG3620 comes with PictBridge for direct printing from a digital camera.
Conclusion
If you really need the built-in fax or the ADF, choose Canon MX492. Otherwise, Canon MG3620 should be the way to go because of the better print quality and speed. It has auto duplex printing, which is very useful for printing two-sided pages. It also has PictBridge for direct printing from a digital camera.
