PRINTING. The Canon imageCLASS MF634Cdw prints using laser technology, which picks up powdered 'toner' on a roller and fuses it to the paper with heat. It prints photos poorly, like early color laser printers. Its text quality is Excellent, as we've come to expect from a laser printer. Text printing was very quick, 12 pages per minute, costing 3.5 cents per page. Its color graphics printing is Very Good for reports, newsletters and web pages, at 4.3 pages per minute, costing 17.5 cents per page. It has auto-duplex printing to print both on sides of the page, with no loss of quality. If the black ink runs out, it stops printing—it can't be set to just use the remaining color ink. The capacity of the main paper tray is 150 sheets, a typical size. There's a second tray for full-size paper, allowing you to load letterhead paper, for instance.
SCANNING and COPYING. Scanning performance was Very Good, fine for general-purpose scanning. It can scan or copy an area up to 11.7 x 8.5 inches (letter size). Copying performance was Good, but had a few noticeable flaws. It has an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) for easily scanning/copying a stack of pages. The ADF can duplex—it's a DADF—which can scan/copy both sides of each page. Includes OCR (optical character recognition) software, useful for making scanned documents editable in a word processor program.
CONTROLS and DISPLAY. The printer has a large, 4.9-inch display screen with a touchscreen.
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. Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Print are built-in, to print wirelessly from smartphones, tablets and PCs. You can also install Canon's app on your smart phone or tablet, as another option for printing over your WiFi network. This model has built-in faxing, can store incoming faxes if the paper runs out, and can send faxes from an attached PC.
COST OF OWNERSHIP AND TONER. When this section was last updated, the printer's purchase price was about $400, typical for an all-in-one color laser printer. Printing uses up toner. Over time, as you print, the costs add up. This printer uses 4 cartridges. The Canon toner cartridges used in testing were the 045H BK, 045H C, 045H M and 045H Y. At the time, their prices were $98 for black and $86 (each) for the other three. We estimate the toner cartridges to last an extraordinarily long time — around 4 years — following a typical printing schedule. After 2 years of typical use, we estimate the total cost to be $630, typical for a color laser. The estimated yearly cost is $115, also typical for this printer type. So the 3-, 4- and 5-year estimates are $746, $861 and $976 respectively.
PRINTER FIRMWARE. Firmware is software that exists inside the printer. All models are evaluated using the latest firmware version available at the time of testing.
SOFTWARE. The collection of software accompanying the printer may include: the printer driver, printer applications, electronic user manual, (and for all-in-ones:) scanning, faxing, and OCR apps. These get installed on your personal computer. All models are evaluated with a Windows 10 PC using the latest version of printer driver and printer support apps available at the time of testing. The software version was 21.81.0.0.
ABOUT THE TONER CARTRIDGES, SOFTWARE AND FIRMWARE. Our test results are valid only for the Canon-brand toner cartridges, and the software and firmware versions indicated. If your printer's software or firmware differ from the ones shown you either have an older or a newer version of these. Manufacturers may periodically upgrade the printer's firmware to enhance operation, fix bugs, or add features. Firmware updates are downloadable directly to your printer via a wired or wireless network (if internet capable). You can check your printer's firmware version, or upgrade to the latest firmware by either (1) running the Canon printer-update app installed on the PC, or (2) accessing the "Settings" section of the printer menu and navigating to the firmware update option. Consult the user manual or Canon's website for further guidance. Try searching online.
