Canon imageClass MF232w - Review 2022

The Canon imageClass MF232w ($189) is a monochrome all-in-1 (AIO) laser printer that'southward a step below the Editors' Choice Canon imageClass MF249dw. Granted, information technology lacks an automatic document feeder (ADF) and an automobile-duplexing print engine for printing two-sided pages automatically. What y'all do get with this sub-$200 laser AIO, however, is decent print speeds and good output quality for the cost, as well as competitive running costs. That makes it a sensible selection for low-book press and copying from a home-based or small or micro office or workgroup, or equally a low-volume personal laser AIO.

Small, Light, Bones

The all-black MF232w looks similar several of Canon'south other entry-level AIOs, including the same MF249dw, the imageClass MF227dw, some other pinnacle pick, and the imageClass D570. Like the MF232w, the Canon D570 lacks an ADF, though it does support auto-duplexing and has a slightly higher print speed rating (28 pages per minute, or ppm, versus 24ppm). It'southward also of import to annotation that the same printer as the MF232w with a different name, the imageClass WiFi MF232W Monochrome Laser Printer/Copier/Scanner, is sold exclusively at Walmart, without toner for about $85 and with toner for about $144.

Measuring 12.3 by 15.4 by fourteen.6 inches (HWD) and weighing 25.2 pounds, the MF232w is identical in size and weight to the Canon D570. That's about ii inches shorter and 3 pounds lighter than the Catechism MF227dw, and almost 5 pounds lighter than the Canon MF249dw. In any case, all these Canon models should fit comfortably on the average desktop. The HP LaserJet Pro MFP M130fw, on the other hand, is several inches smaller and virtually ix pounds lighter than the MF232w, whereas the Blood brother MFC-L2710DW and DCP-L2550DW are like in size and weight to the MF232w, even though both models come up with ADFs up top.

The MF232w'south command panel, which is anchored by a small monochrome LCD, consists of several buttons, including a x-key number pad and an OK push button surrounded with directional keys for navigating drill-downward menus on the brandish. The control console and its drill-downwardly menus are uncomplicated enough to apply, especially if yous take experience navigating this at present-somewhat-blowsy brandish type. But it's not about as easy to operate as printers with large color touch screens, including those on several of Canon'south higher-end monochrome laser AIOs.

Every bit for paper handling, the MF232w supports up to 251 sheets, split betwixt a 250-sheet newspaper drawer upward forepart and a one-sheet multipurpose tray on the back. This is standard fare for the other entry-level Canon models mentioned here, as well as several others. Both the Brother MFC-L2710DW and DCP-L2550DW accept the same paper-input configuration, and the HP M130fw comes with simply one 150-sheet paper input tray.

The maximum monthly duty cycle for the MF232w is 15,000 pages, with a iii,000-page recommended monthly print volume. That'south the aforementioned duty cycle every bit the Canon imageClass D570 and the Canon MF249dw, also as the Blood brother MFC-L2710DW and the Brother DCP-L2550DW. The Canon MF227dw's and HP M130fw's duty cycles are both 5,000 pages less than that of the MF232w.

Connecting and Securing the MF232w

The w in the name MF232w stands for wireless, merely this AIO as well supports Ethernet and Wi-Fi Direct. Wi-Fi Direct is a peer-to-peer networking protocol that allows yous to connect your mobile devices to the printer without either it or them existence connected to an intermediary network or router.

In addition to Wi-Fi Direct, the MF232w supports several third-party mobile connectivity options, such every bit Apple AirPrint, Google Deject Print, Mopria Print Services, and Canon's ain Catechism Impress Business. Catechism Print Business helps you connect to various deject sites and impress from electronic mail. In that location is no back up for USB thumb drives, and the MF232w cannot connect to several of the numerous popular cloud sites available, since y'all demand the ability to work with apps to connect to some cloud sites, and that requires a graphical interface brandish (which the MF232w lacks).

Since this is an entry-level AIO, the MF232w is a bit short on security features. But you practice get the ability to monitor and configure the printer from its built-in secure website (HTTPS), as well as IPS/MAC address filtering for controlling where on your network and the net traffic to the printer comes from. Unfortunately, y'all'll have to pace upwardly to one of Canon'southward higher-end AIOs, such as the imageClass D1520, to become Secure Print for securing print jobs with PIN numbers and the power to assign department IDs to restrict access with a username and password.

As Fast As Promised

Canon rates the MF232w at 24ppm for monochrome pages. To decide if it meets that rating and how well it stacks up against its competition, I timed it equally information technology printed our 12-page Microsoft Discussion text document. (I conducted my tests over Ethernet from our standard Intel Core i5-equipped desktop PC testbed running Windows 10 Professional person.) The MF232w churned at a charge per unit of 24.8ppm in this portion of our tests. That's about 4ppm slower than the Canon D570, and about 10ppm faster than the Canon MF249dw and the HP M130fw.

On the other hand, the MF232w came in nearly 10ppm slower than both the Brother DCP-L2550DW and MFC-L2710DW. Unfortunately, the Canon MF227dw was tested under a retired fix of protocols, making it impractical for comparison's here.

When I combined the results from press the previous 12-page certificate with those from press our colorful Excel charts, PowerPoint handouts, and Acrobat documents containing photos, the MF232w churned at the rate of 16ppm. That'southward 0.9ppm slower than the Canon D570 and 0.3ppm slower than the Canon MF249dw. Notwithstanding, the MF232w was 5.5ppm faster than the HP M130fw, 2ppm faster than the Brother MFC-L2710DW, and 1.6ppm faster than the Brother DCP-L2550DW.

I also tested how quickly the MF232w printed our two sample 4-by-6-inch snapshots. It converted these colorful and highly detailed images to grayscale and printed them at an average of 8 seconds each. Simply so once more, that's not unusual for laser printers to impress photographs quickly. Virtually of the other monochrome laser AIOs discussed here also printed the same photos in well nether 30 seconds.

Infrequent Print Quality

One of the MF232w'south more attractive attributes is how well information technology prints text, business organization graphics, and grayscale photographs. Standard serif and sans-serif text came out well-shaped and evenly spaced down to the smallest text size (4 points) we examination, and larger type—say, 60 or 70 points—printed with shine, unjagged edges. Business organization graphics looked good, too, with smoothen-flowing gradients and dark, fifty-fifty fills for the most role. Hairlines (rules nether 1 point) printed conspicuously and unbroken from end to end. I did, notwithstanding, see some minor streaking in a couple of backgrounds, simply they were barely noticeable.

Very surprising was how well the MF232w printed our test photographs. The conversion from color to grayscale was very well implemented, and the images themselves were more detailed, with seemingly more shades of gray than I normally see from nearly monochrome laser AIOs. The images were nigh equally good-looking as you can get when printing colour photos on a black-and-white printer.

Run-of-the-Mill Operating Costs

I oftentimes mutter about the per-page price of toner for entry-level and midrange laser printers. Unfortunately, at 3.5 cents per folio, the MF232w's running costs are right upward there among the highest. That matches all the printers discussed hither, except the HP M130fw's cost per page, which runs even higher, at 3.9 cents. These running costs, unfortunately, relegate these otherwise reasonably fast and well-printing monochrome laser AIOs to relatively low-volume printing, say, no more than near 200 to 300 pages per month.

The just way around this is to buy a higher-cease machine, such as Blood brother's MFC-L5800DW (ane.6 cents per folio) or Canon's own imageClass MF424dw (2.three cents per page). Keep in mind that for every 10,000 pages you impress at a 1.5-cent higher toll per page will cost you $150; 100,000 pages (which is easy to do over the iii-to-5-twelvemonth life span of a printer) will toll y'all $1,500—enough to buy six or vii of these printers.

A Decent Monochrome Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation AIO

There are so many entry-level monochrome light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation AIOs in the world, and they're so closely priced, that choosing the correct one for your small or dwelling-based role or workgroup tin be a difficult choice. If, for case, you lot call back that you might be scanning or copying multipage documents, then by all means you should spend the actress $20 or and then to get a model with an ADF. Volition yous be printing ii-sided pages? An car-duplexing impress engine doesn't cost very much more than. Just every bit buying too much printer can be a waste of money, buying non-enough printer can exist counterproductive.

If you lot demand all these features, the Editors' Option Canon MF249dw is a terrific value. If y'all need to print more than than a few hundred pages, the higher-end Catechism MF424dw or Brother MFC-L5800DW may be a amend choice. But if what you demand is to print a low book of 1-sided pages with the occasional one- or two-page copy or browse, the MF232w prints well enough and fast enough for that, and at a reasonably depression purchase toll.