PRINTING. The Canon imageCLASS LBP6230DW prints using laser technology, which picks up powdered 'toner' on a roller and fuses it to the paper with heat. It prints black-and-white text with excellent quality, as we've come to expect from a laser printer. Text printing was very quick, 18.8 pages per minute, costing 5.2 cents per page. It prints black-and-white graphics well enough for most purposes, such as school reports, at 0.1 pages per minute, costing 11.9 cents per page. It has an auto duplex feature that lets you print both on sides of the page, with no loss of quality. The capacity of the main paper tray is 250 sheets, a generous size. There's a second tray for full-size paper, allowing you to load letterhead paper, for instance.
CONTROLS and DISPLAY. The printer has no display screen.
CONNECTIVITY and NETWORKING. You can connect directly to a PC with a USB cable, or to your network router either wirelessly with WiFi or with an Ethernet cable. You can also install Canon's app on your smart phone or tablet, as another option for printing over your WiFi network.
COST OF OWNERSHIP. The purchase price for this printer is about $170, which is typical for a black and white laser printer. But printing uses up toner. Over time, as you print, the costs add up. After 2 years of use, we estimate the total cost to be $320, which is typical for a mono laser. The estimated yearly cost is $70 -- that's very high for this printer type. So the 3-, 4- and 5-year estimates are about $390, $460 and $540 respectively.
