Call us old-school, but we prefer a set of well-organized and clearly labeled button controls, such as those found on the Pixma MX420, over the cool but sometimes confusing space-age touchscreens and panels found on some more-expensive units. The 2.5-inch color LCD is small but easy to read. You can even scan to a PC from the MFP's control panel--a rare ability at this price.

Setup on the PC platform was easy. USB, ethernet, and Wi-Fi connectivity are available. The only hitch occurred during Mac installation, which presented us with two separate entries in the Add Printer dialog box: one listed as Bonjour-connected and the other on 'canonijnetwork'. Even though we could use Safari to browse to the MFP's HTML configuration pages with either listing, only the 'canonijnetwork' listing functioned properly.

The Pixma MX420 has a 30-sheet automatic document feeder that scans up to legal-size documents, with a convenient flip-open panel for clearing jams, should they occur. Otherwise, the paper-handling features are adequate only for low-usage scenarios. The flatbed scanner is letter/A4-size.

You'll find just a single, 100-sheet rear vertical feed for all media types. Duplexing (two-sided printing) is manual on the PC and nonexistent on the Mac.

Print, copy, and scan speeds for the Pixma MX420 are below average, though still acceptable. Black text and simple monochrome graphics printed at a rate of 5.6 pages per minute on both the PC and Mac. A small photo printed on the PC took about 25 seconds (2.3 ppm) at the default setting with plain paper, and 45 seconds (1.3 ppm) at better settings on Canon's own photo paper. A full-page photo printed on the Mac plodded out at a rate of 0.28 ppm. At 600 dots per inch, scan previews took about 6 seconds, and a full scan required about 45 seconds. A one-page monochrome copy took about 21 seconds.