The Canon imageClass MF232w ($189) is a monochrome all-in-one (AIO) laser printer that's a step below the Editors' Choice Canon imageClass MF249dw.
Granted, it lacks an automatic document feeder (ADF) and an auto-duplexing print engine for printing two-sided pages automatically.
What you do get with this sub-$200 laser AIO, however, is decent print speeds and good output quality for the price, as well as competitive running costs.
That makes it a sensible choice for low-volume printing and copying from a home-based or small or micro office or workgroup, or as a low-volume personal laser AIO.
Small, Light, Basic
The all-black MF232w ($128.85 at Amazon) looks like several of Canon's other entry-level AIOs, including the aforementioned MF249dw ($459.00 at Amazon) , the imageClass MF227dw, another top pick, and the imageClass D570.
Like the MF232w, the Canon D570 lacks an ADF, though it does support auto-duplexing and has a slightly higher print speed rating (28 pages per minute, or ppm, versus 24ppm).
It's also important to note that the same printer as the MF232w with a different name, the imageClass WiFi MF232W Monochrome Laser Printer/Copier/Scanner, is sold exclusively at Walmart, without toner for about $85 and with toner for about $144.
Measuring 12.3 by 15.4 by 14.6 inches (HWD) and weighing 25.2 pounds, the MF232w is identical in size and weight to the Canon D570.
That's about 2 inches shorter and 3 pounds lighter than the Canon MF227dw, and about 5 pounds lighter than the Canon MF249dw.
In any case, all these Canon models should fit comfortably on the average desktop.
The HP LaserJet Pro MFP M130fw ($149.99 at HP) , on the other hand, is several inches smaller and about 9 pounds lighter than the MF232w, whereas the Brother MFC-L2710DW and DCP-L2550DW are similar in size and weight to the MF232w, even though both models come with ADFs up top.
The MF232w's control panel, which is anchored by a small monochrome LCD, consists of several buttons, including a 10-key number pad and an OK button surrounded with directional keys for navigating drill-down menus on the display.
The control panel and its drill-down menus are simple enough to use, especially if you have experience navigating this now-somewhat-antiquated display type.
But it's not nearly as easy to operate as printers with large color touch screens, including those on several of Canon's higher-end monochrome laser AIOs.
As for paper handling, the MF232w supports up to 251 sheets, split between a 250-sheet paper drawer up front and a one-sheet multipurpose tray on the back.
This is standard fare for the other entry-level Canon models mentioned here, as well as several others.
Both the Brother MFC-L2710DW and DCP-L2550DW have the same paper-input configuration, and the HP M130fw comes with only one 150-sheet paper input tray.
The maximum monthly duty cycle for the MF232w is 15,000 pages, with a 3,000-page recommended monthly print volume.
That's the same duty cycle as the Canon imageClass D570 ($227.77 at Amazon) and the Canon MF249dw, as well as the Brother MFC-L2710DW and the Brother DCP-L2550DW ($246.90 at Amazon) .
The Canon MF227dw's and HP M130fw's duty cycles are both 5,000 pages less than that of the MF232w.
Connecting and Securing the MF232w
The w in the name MF232w stands for wireless, but this AIO also supports Ethernet and Wi-Fi Direct.
Wi-Fi Direct is a peer-to-peer networking protocol that allows you to connect your mobile devices to the printer without either it or them being connected to an intermediary network or router.
In addition to Wi-Fi Direct, the MF232w supports several third-party mobile connectivity options, such as Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, Mopria Print Services, and Canon's own Canon Print Business.
Canon Print Business helps you connect to various cloud sites and print from email.
There is no support for USB thumb drives, and the MF232w cannot connect to several of the numerous popular cloud sites available, since you need the ability to work with apps to connect to some cloud sites, and that requires a graphical interface display (which the MF232w lacks).
Since this is an entry-level AIO, the MF232w is a bit short on security features.
But you do get the ability to monitor and configure the printer from its built-in secure website (HTTPS), as well as IPS/MAC address filtering for controlling where on your network and the internet traffic to the printer comes from.
Unfortunately, you'll have to step up to one of Canon's higher-end AIOs, such as the imageClass D1520 ($1,857.06 at Amazon) , to get Secure Print for securing print jobs with PIN numbers and the ability to assign department IDs to restrict access with a username and password.
As Fast As Promised
Canon rates the MF232w at 24ppm for monochrome pages.
To determine if it meets that rating and how well it stacks up against its competition, I timed it as it printed our 12-page Microsoft Word text document.
(I conducted my tests over Ethernet from our standard Intel Core i5-equipped desktop PC testbed running Windows 10 Professional.) The MF232w churned at a rate of 24.8ppm in this portion of our tests.
That's about 4ppm slower than the Canon D570, and almost 10ppm faster than the Canon MF249dw and the HP M130fw.
On the other hand, the MF232w came in about 10ppm slower than both the Brother DCP-L2550DW and MFC-L2710DW.
Unfortunately, the Canon MF227dw ($399.95 at Amazon) was tested under a retired set of protocols, making it impractical for comparison's here.
When I combined the results from printing the previous 12-page document with those from printing our colorful Excel charts, PowerPoint handouts, and Acrobat documents containing photos, the MF232w churned at the rate of 16ppm.
That's 0.9ppm slower than the Canon D570 and 0.3ppm slower than the Canon MF249dw.
However, the MF232w was 5.5ppm faster than the HP M130fw, 2ppm faster than the Brother MFC-L2710DW, and 1.6ppm faster than the Brother DCP-L2550DW.
I also tested how quickly the MF232w printed our two sample 4-by-6-inch snapshots.
It converted these colorful and highly detailed images to grayscale and printed them at an average of 8 seconds each.
But then again, that's not unusual for laser printers to print photographs quickly.
Most of the other monochrome laser AIOs discussed here also printed the same photos in well under 30 seconds.
Exceptional Print Quality
One of the MF232w's more attractive attributes is how well it prints text, business graphics, and grayscale photographs.
Standard serif and sans-serif text came out well-shaped and evenly spaced down to the smallest text size (4 points) we test, and larger type—say, 60 or 70 points—printed with smooth, unjagged edges.
Business graphics looked good, too, with smooth-flowing gradients and dark, even fills for the most part.
Hairlines (rules under 1 point) printed clearly and unbroken from end to end.
I did, however, see some minor streaking in a couple of backgrounds, but they were barely noticeable.
Very surprising was how well the MF232w printed our test photographs.
The conversion from color to grayscale was very well implemented, and the images themselves were more detailed, with seemingly more shades of gray than I usually see from most monochrome laser AIOs.
The images were about as good-looking as you can get when printing color photos on a black-and-white printer.
Run-of-the-Mill Operating Costs
I often complain about the per-page price of toner for entry-level and midrange laser printers.
Unfortunately, at 3.5 cents per page, the MF232w's running costs are right up there among the highest.
That matches all the printers discussed here, except the HP M130fw's cost per page, which runs even higher, at 3.9 cents.
These running costs, unfortunately, relegate these otherwise reasonably fast and well-printing monochrome laser AIOs to relatively low-volume printing, say, no more than about 200 to 300 pages per month.
The only way around this is to buy a higher-end machine, such as Brother's MFC-L5800DW ($620.00 at Amazon) (1.6 cents per page) or Canon's own imageClass MF424dw (2.3 cents per page).
Keep in mind that for every 10,000 pages you print at a 1.5-cent higher cost per page will cost you $150; 100,000 pages (which is easy to do over the 3-to-5-year life span of a printer) will cost you $1,500—enough to buy six or seven of these printers.
A Decent Monochrome Laser AIO
There are so many entry-level monochrome laser AIOs in the world, and they're so closely priced, that choosing the right one for your small or home-based office or workgroup can be a difficult choice.
If, for example, you think that you might be scanning or copying multipage documents, then by all means you should spend the extra $20 or so to get a model with an ADF.
Will you be printing two-sided pages? An auto-duplexing print engine doesn't cost very much more.
Just as buying too much printer can be a waste of money, buying not-enough printer can be counterproductive.
If you need all these features, the Editors' Choice Canon MF249dw is a terrific value.
If you need to print more than a few hundred pages, the higher-end Canon MF424dw or Brother MFC-L5800DW may be a better choice.
But if what you need is to print a low volume of one-sided pages with the occasional one- or two-page copy or scan, the MF232w prints well enough and fast enough for that, and at a reasonably low purchase price.
Pros
Good price.
Compact.
Excellent print quality.
Fast print speed.
View More
The Bottom Line
It may lack an ADF and automatic two-sided printing, but Canon's imageClass MF232w all-in-one (AIO) prints well and at a highly respectable speed for the price.
The Canon imageClass MF232w ($189) is a monochrome all-in-one (AIO) laser printer that's a step below the Editors' Choice Canon imageClass MF249dw.
Granted, it lacks an automatic document feeder (ADF) and an auto-duplexing print engine for printing two-sided pages automatically.
What you do get with this sub-$200 laser AIO, however, is decent print speeds and good output quality for the price, as well as competitive running costs.
That makes it a sensible choice for low-volume printing and copying from a home-based or small or micro office or workgroup, or as a low-volume personal laser AIO.
Small, Light, Basic
The all-black MF232w ($128.85 at Amazon) looks like several of Canon's other entry-level AIOs, including the aforementioned MF249dw ($459.00 at Amazon) , the imageClass MF227dw, another top pick, and the imageClass D570.
Like the MF232w, the Canon D570 lacks an ADF, though it does support auto-duplexing and has a slightly higher print speed rating (28 pages per minute, or ppm, versus 24ppm).
It's also important to note that the same printer as the MF232w with a different name, the imageClass WiFi MF232W Monochrome Laser Printer/Copier/Scanner, is sold exclusively at Walmart, without toner for about $85 and with toner for about $144.
Measuring 12.3 by 15.4 by 14.6 inches (HWD) and weighing 25.2 pounds, the MF232w is identical in size and weight to the Canon D570.
That's about 2 inches shorter and 3 pounds lighter than the Canon MF227dw, and about 5 pounds lighter than the Canon MF249dw.
In any case, all these Canon models should fit comfortably on the average desktop.
The HP LaserJet Pro MFP M130fw ($149.99 at HP) , on the other hand, is several inches smaller and about 9 pounds lighter than the MF232w, whereas the Brother MFC-L2710DW and DCP-L2550DW are similar in size and weight to the MF232w, even though both models come with ADFs up top.
The MF232w's control panel, which is anchored by a small monochrome LCD, consists of several buttons, including a 10-key number pad and an OK button surrounded with directional keys for navigating drill-down menus on the display.
The control panel and its drill-down menus are simple enough to use, especially if you have experience navigating this now-somewhat-antiquated display type.
But it's not nearly as easy to operate as printers with large color touch screens, including those on several of Canon's higher-end monochrome laser AIOs.
As for paper handling, the MF232w supports up to 251 sheets, split between a 250-sheet paper drawer up front and a one-sheet multipurpose tray on the back.
This is standard fare for the other entry-level Canon models mentioned here, as well as several others.
Both the Brother MFC-L2710DW and DCP-L2550DW have the same paper-input configuration, and the HP M130fw comes with only one 150-sheet paper input tray.
The maximum monthly duty cycle for the MF232w is 15,000 pages, with a 3,000-page recommended monthly print volume.
That's the same duty cycle as the Canon imageClass D570 ($227.77 at Amazon) and the Canon MF249dw, as well as the Brother MFC-L2710DW and the Brother DCP-L2550DW ($246.90 at Amazon) .
The Canon MF227dw's and HP M130fw's duty cycles are both 5,000 pages less than that of the MF232w.
Connecting and Securing the MF232w
The w in the name MF232w stands for wireless, but this AIO also supports Ethernet and Wi-Fi Direct.
Wi-Fi Direct is a peer-to-peer networking protocol that allows you to connect your mobile devices to the printer without either it or them being connected to an intermediary network or router.
In addition to Wi-Fi Direct, the MF232w supports several third-party mobile connectivity options, such as Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, Mopria Print Services, and Canon's own Canon Print Business.
Canon Print Business helps you connect to various cloud sites and print from email.
There is no support for USB thumb drives, and the MF232w cannot connect to several of the numerous popular cloud sites available, since you need the ability to work with apps to connect to some cloud sites, and that requires a graphical interface display (which the MF232w lacks).
Since this is an entry-level AIO, the MF232w is a bit short on security features.
But you do get the ability to monitor and configure the printer from its built-in secure website (HTTPS), as well as IPS/MAC address filtering for controlling where on your network and the internet traffic to the printer comes from.
Unfortunately, you'll have to step up to one of Canon's higher-end AIOs, such as the imageClass D1520 ($1,857.06 at Amazon) , to get Secure Print for securing print jobs with PIN numbers and the ability to assign department IDs to restrict access with a username and password.
As Fast As Promised
Canon rates the MF232w at 24ppm for monochrome pages.
To determine if it meets that rating and how well it stacks up against its competition, I timed it as it printed our 12-page Microsoft Word text document.
(I conducted my tests over Ethernet from our standard Intel Core i5-equipped desktop PC testbed running Windows 10 Professional.) The MF232w churned at a rate of 24.8ppm in this portion of our tests.
That's about 4ppm slower than the Canon D570, and almost 10ppm faster than the Canon MF249dw and the HP M130fw.
On the other hand, the MF232w came in about 10ppm slower than both the Brother DCP-L2550DW and MFC-L2710DW.
Unfortunately, the Canon MF227dw ($399.95 at Amazon) was tested under a retired set of protocols, making it impractical for comparison's here.
When I combined the results from printing the previous 12-page document with those from printing our colorful Excel charts, PowerPoint handouts, and Acrobat documents containing photos, the MF232w churned at the rate of 16ppm.
That's 0.9ppm slower than the Canon D570 and 0.3ppm slower than the Canon MF249dw.
However, the MF232w was 5.5ppm faster than the HP M130fw, 2ppm faster than the Brother MFC-L2710DW, and 1.6ppm faster than the Brother DCP-L2550DW.
I also tested how quickly the MF232w printed our two sample 4-by-6-inch snapshots.
It converted these colorful and highly detailed images to grayscale and printed them at an average of 8 seconds each.
But then again, that's not unusual for laser printers to print photographs quickly.
Most of the other monochrome laser AIOs discussed here also printed the same photos in well under 30 seconds.
Exceptional Print Quality
One of the MF232w's more attractive attributes is how well it prints text, business graphics, and grayscale photographs.
Standard serif and sans-serif text came out well-shaped and evenly spaced down to the smallest text size (4 points) we test, and larger type—say, 60 or 70 points—printed with smooth, unjagged edges.
Business graphics looked good, too, with smooth-flowing gradients and dark, even fills for the most part.
Hairlines (rules under 1 point) printed clearly and unbroken from end to end.
I did, however, see some minor streaking in a couple of backgrounds, but they were barely noticeable.
Very surprising was how well the MF232w printed our test photographs.
The conversion from color to grayscale was very well implemented, and the images themselves were more detailed, with seemingly more shades of gray than I usually see from most monochrome laser AIOs.
The images were about as good-looking as you can get when printing color photos on a black-and-white printer.
Run-of-the-Mill Operating Costs
I often complain about the per-page price of toner for entry-level and midrange laser printers.
Unfortunately, at 3.5 cents per page, the MF232w's running costs are right up there among the highest.
That matches all the printers discussed here, except the HP M130fw's cost per page, which runs even higher, at 3.9 cents.
These running costs, unfortunately, relegate these otherwise reasonably fast and well-printing monochrome laser AIOs to relatively low-volume printing, say, no more than about 200 to 300 pages per month.
The only way around this is to buy a higher-end machine, such as Brother's MFC-L5800DW ($620.00 at Amazon) (1.6 cents per page) or Canon's own imageClass MF424dw (2.3 cents per page).
Keep in mind that for every 10,000 pages you print at a 1.5-cent higher cost per page will cost you $150; 100,000 pages (which is easy to do over the 3-to-5-year life span of a printer) will cost you $1,500—enough to buy six or seven of these printers.
A Decent Monochrome Laser AIO
There are so many entry-level monochrome laser AIOs in the world, and they're so closely priced, that choosing the right one for your small or home-based office or workgroup can be a difficult choice.
If, for example, you think that you might be scanning or copying multipage documents, then by all means you should spend the extra $20 or so to get a model with an ADF.
Will you be printing two-sided pages? An auto-duplexing print engine doesn't cost very much more.
Just as buying too much printer can be a waste of money, buying not-enough printer can be counterproductive.
If you need all these features, the Editors' Choice Canon MF249dw is a terrific value.
If you need to print more than a few hundred pages, the higher-end Canon MF424dw or Brother MFC-L5800DW may be a better choice.
But if what you need is to print a low volume of one-sided pages with the occasional one- or two-page copy or scan, the MF232w prints well enough and fast enough for that, and at a reasonably low purchase price.
Pros
Good price.
Compact.
Excellent print quality.
Fast print speed.
View More
The Bottom Line
It may lack an ADF and automatic two-sided printing, but Canon's imageClass MF232w all-in-one (AIO) prints well and at a highly respectable speed for the price.
