Canon imageCLASS LBP674Cdw review: quick and compact color

Canon’s Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw is a high-performance color laser printer that promises to be a great fit with your busy office thanks tovibrant documents that roll out in seconds. This sturdy printer can handle heavy workloads and has expansion options to grow with your business needs.

While it’s built for work, you can also use the Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw in a home office, where it can serve as a superfast photo printer, label maker, and all-around printer for schoolwork and projects. Since a durable, high-quality color laser printer can be expensive, I researched costs and reviewed the Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw’s performance and usability to find out if it’s the best printer for your needs.

Specs

Design

The Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw’s 50-sheet multipurpose tray is convenient for envelopes and labels. Photo by Tracey Truly / Digital Trends

The Canon Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw is a color laser printer that’s built to last. It’s a print-only model that stands 15 inches high. The footprint is a fairly standard 16.8 by 16.9 inches. While the 35.5-pound weight is enough to keep this printer steady, it’s more manageable than heavier all-in-one units with an automatic document feeder (ADF).

If you need an ADF, Canon’s Color imageClass MF753Cdw is an excellent multifunction color laser printer that’s just as fast and matches the quality of the Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw.

Canon reduced the boxy appearance, making the front a full inch shorter than the back, so the Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw looks sleeker and aerodynamic. The height difference is practical as well. It’s a little easier to see the top of this somewhat tall printer, even if it’s on a counter-height stand.

A large, adjustable five-inch color touchscreen at the top right makes setup and maintenance easy. On the opposite side, Canon hid a USB-A port behind a tilt cover for walk-up printing.

There’s a button on the left side that pops open the front panel so you can access toner cartridges, but Canon shipped the Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw with starter cartridges already installed.

The main paper tray slides out from the bottom and holds 250 sheets. A 50-sheet multipurpose tray tilts forward and provides a convenient way to print envelopes and labels.

Printing performance

Canon’s Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw delivers speed without sacrificing quality. Photo by Tracey Truly / Digital Trends

There’s no doubt that the Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw is fast. In fact, it’s one of the quickest color laser printers I’ve tested. The first page shoots out in just 7 seconds. Sustained print speeds for long documents reach up to 35 pages per minute (ppm), and color is just as fast as monochrome.

The Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw has great photo quality for a color laser printer. Photo by Tracey Truly / Digital Trends

Despite the blazing speed, color document quality is exceptional. There are no lines in color graphics and gradations are smooth. Photo prints look vibrant and have good detail, but there’s no borderless option. The only way to surpass this picture quality is by using an inkjet photo printer optimized for photographs.

The Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw handles monochrome printing with ease, delivering razor-sharp graphics and crisp text even when using fine print. Technical documents, specifications, envelopes, and labels are top quality.

Special features

The Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw’s shows thumbnails to simplify flash drive access. Photo by Tracey Truly / Digital Trends

The Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw has a convenient USB-A port to the left of the output bin to allow for walk-up printing. Canon includes security features with this business printer so only authorized users can access this feature. Since I’m testing the printer at home, I used settings to unlock the thumb drive port for quicker access.

The content of the flash drive shows up in a list on the large color touchscreen, and I can even view thumbnails to help find photos visually. This feature lets me print to the Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw without installing an app on my phone. It’s also useful when you want to let a guest use the printer.

Software and compatibility

Canon’s Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw connected to Wi-Fi quickly for fast color prints from any device. Alan Truly / Digital Trends

Canon’s quick-start guide instructed me to insert paper in the main tray, power on the Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw, and then follow instructions on the touchscreen to complete the setup. The toner was already installed, making everything quick and simple. Wi-Fi connected instantly and the Canon Print mobile app saw the printer within seconds.

The only hiccup was when I skipped the option to set the Remote UI admin code and PIN. I soon regretted that decision since I needed that information for a firmware update. I scanned a QR code to get the manual and quickly found the default is 7654321 for each.

Remote UI provides convenient access to printer settings from a web browser if you don’t want to install Canon software. If you want to manage printing with this security feature, it’s easiest to set the codes when the opportunity arises.

Canon notes that the Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw is compatible with Windows, macOS, and ChromeOS computers, as well as iOS and Android phones. I connected via Wi-Fi. USB-B and Ethernet cables are supported for computer connection.

Price

Canon’s list price for the Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw is $630, but online retailers often discount it to $550 or less. It’s more expensive than HP’s equally fast Color LaserJet Pro 4201dw, but has a few extras. While HP opted for a low-cost dial-based control scheme and monochrome display, Canon chose a large color touchscreen for printer setup and management.

While the purchase price of a color laser printer must be considered, toner costs have the most significant impact on the total cost of ownership. You’ll get the best value from high-capacity toner cartridges. Canon’s 069H Black yields 7,600 sheets and lists for $184, while the standard 069 cartridge costs $98 and prints up to 2,100 sheets. That makes the cost per page (cpp) for monochrome documents 2 cents and 4 cents, respectively.

Color toner always costs significantly more. Canon’s high-yield color cartridges cost $226 and supply up to 5,500 sheets, while a standard color cartridge is $116 and prints about 1,900 pages. That means each color page costs 12 cents and 18 cents, respectively. That’s fairly standard for a color laser printer. If you want to minimize color toner costs, Brother’s HL-L3295CDW reduces the cost of color pages to as low as 10 cents if you invest in super-high-yield color toner.

Canon ships the Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw with starter cartridges with reduced capacity, so you’ll need to purchase toner relatively quickly. The yield is approximately 1,100 pages for cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges and 1,200 pages for black.

Is this the printer for you?

The Canon Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw is a high-performance printer with exceptional color document quality and impressive photo prints. The Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw feels quite sturdy and should last for many years.

Since all-in-one models sell in higher volume, the Color imageClass MF753Cdw is sometimes available at a lower cost than the print-only models. However, the Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdwyou is smaller and lighter and a large heavy unit is awkward to move.

The Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw can handle a heavy workload and Canon recommends a monthly print volume of up to 4,000 pages. An optional paper cassette adds a lower tray that can hold 550 sheets. Expanding paper capacity to 800 sheets and installing high-yield toner cartridges can keep a busy office rolling instead of stopping frequently to replenish supplies.

While the Color imageCLASS LBP674Cdw is a fast, high-quality printer from one of the best brands, it’s worth shopping around. There are plenty of efficient and durable small business printers to choose from.