Comparison Canon i-SENSYS MF264DW vs Canon i-SENSYS MF421DW

The time passed from pressing the Copy button to the completion of the first copy in MFPs. Typically specified for low quality black and white printing on A4 paper. The time for the first copy to be released is the longest (because of the time to prepare for work and scan the document); subsequent copies of the same document are printed much faster. Fast first copy time is important if you have to copy documents frequently.

Black and white copy speed – the number of copies of one page that the MFP can produce in 1 minute. Typically indicated for poor print quality. This option is important if you often need to make many copies of a single document.

Possibility to scan a document simultaneously from two sides. This feature significantly saves time and saves the user from unnecessary actions when working with two-sided documents. At the same time, a two-sided scanner is expensive, so it hardly makes sense to look for an MFP with such equipment for home use. But for working with numerous documents, such a feature may be indispensable.

The number of pages the printer can produce per minute in black and white mode. Typically indicated for low print quality, higher print quality takes longer. This setting is important if you need to frequently print text documents.

The maximum amount of sheets that can be loaded into the MFP's document autofeed at one time. The autofeed makes it easy to scan and copy a large amount of documents - just load a stack of sheets and turn on the programme, after which each document will be automatically fed for scanning. An auto-feed MFP is worth considering if you frequently scan or copy a large amount of documents.

The maximum number of pages that the MFP can print in a month while remaining fully operational.

Approximate number of pages that the MFP can print in black and white mode without replacing the cartridge. In fact, this greatly depends on the specs of the images to print, so the actual resource may greatly differ from the claimed one in one way or another. Nevertheless, according to this indicator, it is quite possible to evaluate the capabilities of the MFP and compare it with other models.

Types of cartridges (both black&white and colour) used in the MFP. Some models of the MFP are able to work with third-party cartridges, but this feature usually refers to undocumented, and the manufacturer's warranty applies only to specific types of cartridges. So, use third-party compatible cartridge models with caution.

The MFP cartridge is designed for a certain duty cycle. However, the device compatibility with different cartridges sometimes allows you to install a cartridge with higher capacity, which can result in more pages being printed. These models with the option to expand the print cycle that are included in this paragraph.