PRINTING. The Canon Pixma MG7720 prints using inkjet technology, which sprays liquid ink onto the paper from a moving head. It prints text very well, nearly as good as a laser printer. Text printing was very quick, 12.5 pages per minute, costing 6.7 cents per page. Its color graphics printing is very good for reports, newsletters and web pages, at 0.3 pages per minute, costing 22 cents per page. It has an auto duplex feature that lets you print both on sides of the page, with no loss of quality. If any color ink runs out, it stops printing -- it can't be set to just use the remaining black ink. 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 125 sheets, a typical size. It also has a separate tray for snapshot-size photo paper.
SCANNING and COPYING. Scanning performance was excellent, suitable for any task including archiving photos. It can scan or copy an area up to 11.7 x 8.5 inches (letter size). Copying performance was very good, suitable for most purposes.
CONTROLS and DISPLAY. The printer has a large, 3.5-inch display screen with a touchscreen.
CONNECTIVITY and NETWORKING. The Canon Pixma MG7720 has a memory-card reader for directly printing documents and images stored on an SD card. It lacks USB PictBridge for direct printing from cameras. It has Wireless PictBridge for direct printing from portable devices that have this feature. 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. There's a WiFi Auto-connect feature that makes it easy to link to your wireless router. 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.
COST OF OWNERSHIP. The purchase price for this printer is about $200, which is typical for an all-in-one inkjet printer. But printing uses up ink. Over time, as you print, the costs add up. After 2 years of use, we estimate the total cost to be $650, which is high for an inkjet. The estimated yearly cost is $220 -- that's also high for this printer type. So the 3-, 4- and 5-year estimates are about $870, $1,090 and $1,320 respectively.
NOTE. This printer was noisier than most while printing, so you might want to locate it away from sleeping areas. Limited access to the paper path.
