“Canon's imageClass MF753Cdw is a quick, high-quality color laser printer that does just about everything right.”
- Superfast print and scan speeds
- Good print quality
- Two paper trays
- Easy setup and use
- Reliable operation
- Color cost per page is just OK
- No borderless printing
Canon’s imageClass MF753Cdw is a high-speed color laser printer that can print, copy, scan, and fax. That means it can meet all your home office and small business needs without you having to travel to a local office store to get color copies made or print a batch of flyers.
As Canon’s top-of-the-line home office model, I knew this would be a good printer. Still, I put it through a battery of tests to find out if it had enough long-term value, ease of use, and reliable quality to earn a place on our list of the best color laser printers — and I’m happy to report that it lands among the very best money can buy.
Design
The imageClass MF753Cdw is a large, heavy printer that’s built to last. It stands 17 inches tall and has a footprint of 16.8 inches by 18.2 inches. Canon recommends two people do the unboxing since it weighs 48.5 pounds.
Despite those daunting dimensions, Canon styled it nicely with a curved white body and a central black band dividing the printer and automatic document feeder (ADF) scanner features.
An adjustable 5-inch color touchscreen rises above the central output bin to the right, and a USB-B port for walk-up printing is inset to the left. The display tilts from horizontal to 39 degrees, making this a good desktop or tabletop printer.
A generous 250-sheet paper tray and 50-sheet multipurpose tray are easily accessible in a slide-out drawer at the bottom. Paper size and orientation guides are clearly marked.
Printing performance
As an office printer, the Canon imageClass MF753Cdw provides great speed and high-quality prints. The first page shoots out in as little as 7 seconds, making this the fastest printer I’ve tested. Monochrome prints are crisp and color documents look great. Sustained speed is an impressive 35 pages per minute, matching the rate of HP’s Color LaserJet Pro 4301fdw.
While Canon is best known for its cameras, high-quality prints are critical to photographers. It’s color imageClass printers run a color balance test to optimize picture quality. The result is excellent plain paper photo prints. Graphs and charts print cleanly, with no lines in color blocks and no banding in gradations.
Canon’s imageClass MF753Cdw is a duplex printer, which means it helps you save on paper. Fine print in monochrome is no problem since the imageClass MF753Cdw can print at 1,200 dots per inch. That means I can print reductions or multiple pages per sheet to cut paper costs further.
While a color laser printer wouldn’t be my first choice to print pictures, the imageClass MF753Cdw offers great quality and speed that an inkjet printer can’t match. If you do print photos frequently and demand the best glossy photo quality, it’s hard to beat a six-ink printer like Epson’s EcoTank ET-8500 that’s designed specifically for pictures.
Special features
The imageClass MF753Cdw’s ADF offers single-pass duplex that can scan up to 100 pages per minute. That makes copying superfast, with the printer blasting through long documents quickly.
Both the ADF and flatbed scanner support color at up to 600 dots per inch (dpi). ADF operation is among the best I’ve tested, with documents pulled through quickly and reliably.
Canon built the imageClass MF753Cdw for speed and quality, but didn’t forget about ease of use. The USB-B port accepts thumb drives so guests can scan and print without needing to install the app.
Software and compatibility
Canon’s imageClass MF753Cdw is a heavy lift, but setup is quick and easy once the printer is in place. Four toner cartridges are preinstalled, which is normally convenient. In my case, the cyan cartridge was misaligned or jostled during shipping, so I had to reseat it.
The problem became apparent when the color balance process failed to print. Also, I noticed my first picture was lacking cyan and looked overly warm-toned. Simply lifting the cyan cartridge up and resting it back into place solved the problem.
Within a few minutes, everything was ready, with the Canon print app installed on my iPhone and Pixel. My PC and Mac instantly recognized the imageClass MF753Cdw, but I downloaded the Canon software to make sure I could get the best results from the scanner.
While the scanner and ADF work at 600 dpi with computers, the mobile app can only receive 300 dpi scans. This limitation is arbitrary but common among printer manufacturers. For quick, high-resolution scanning, you might want to consider Epson’s EcoTank Pro ET-5850, which allows 600 dpi scanning from a phone.
It’s an investment
Canon’s imageClass MF753Cdw is an expensive printer at $650, but a fast, reliable color laser printer is a valuable investment. Canon includes a full standard black toner cartridge that can print 2,100 pages and starter cartridges for cyan, magenta, and yellow toner, with each about 58% full and offering a 1,100-page yield.
While color laser printers offer incredible savings in terms of durability and inexpensive monochrome printing, the cost of color toner will add up in a hurry. Canon’s imageClass MF753Cdw is no exception.
With standard-capacity cartridges, black toner costs $98 and prints up to 2,100 sheets, while each color cartridge is $116 and yields as much as 1,900 pages.
A high-capacity black cartridge is a $184 investment that yields 7,600 sheets. Each high-capacity color cartridge costs $226 and prints up to 5,500 sheets.
That means color documents are expensive, costing between 12 and 18 cents per sheet, while monochrome printing is quite affordable at two cents to four cents per page.
Is this the printer for you?
While the Canon imageClass MF753Cdw is more expensive than HP’s Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw, it comes with a three-year warranty that HP charges extra for.
If your budget is tight, Canon’s imageClass MF654Cdw boasts a bargain price for a 22 page-per-minute color laser printer with similar quality. However, it lacks full-duplex, and there’s a trick involved in getting the best photo prints.
If you’re still unsure which you prefer, check our guide to buying the right printer for your needs. You might find an inkjet printer or tank printer is a better fit.
