Major Price Drop Makes This Compact All-in-One a Solid Choice for Students

compact all-in-one printer on desk
Photo by Mahrous Houses

Canon’s Pixma TS6520 has just landed at $79 on Amazon, down from its regular $149.99 price tag. That represents a 47 percent discount, making this the kind of back-to-school deal worth considering if you’re shopping for a home printer that won’t drain your wallet.

The Canon Pixma line has earned its reputation as the go-to choice for household printing over many years. The TS6520 follows that tradition by combining simplicity with practical everyday features in a footprint small enough to fit on most desks without complaint. For students heading into a new academic year or anyone tired of wrestling with complicated printer setups, this model strips things down to what actually matters.

What You Get for Your Money

This wireless color inkjet handles the three core functions most home users need: printing, scanning, and copying. It connects to your network without fuss, supports mobile printing through both the Canon PRINT app and Apple AirPrint, and includes a 1.42-inch OLED display that lets you check ink levels and adjust settings directly on the machine rather than fumbling through a smartphone app.

The automatic two-sided printing feature deserves attention if paper savings matter to your household budget. It handles duplex printing without requiring you to manually flip and reinsert pages, which saves both materials and the tedious repetition of feeding paper back through the machine. For students writing research papers or anyone printing documents regularly, that convenience adds up.

The compact design is genuinely useful for tight spaces. Many budget all-in-one printers either lack a display entirely or make it so small that checking settings becomes frustrating. This model gives you a proper screen at a budget price point, a combination rarely found in this category. If you’re worried about printer driver compatibility or setup issues, the straightforward Wi-Fi connection and minimal configuration make this machine accessible to users who aren’t tech-savvy.

Understanding the Trade-offs

This printer doesn’t include an automatic document feeder, which means scanning or copying multi-page stacks requires feeding pages one at a time. For typical student assignments and home printing, that’s unlikely to create real problems. However, if you regularly work with thick document batches or need to digitize entire folders of paper, this limitation matters.

Like virtually all inkjet printers, the ongoing cost of replacement cartridges factors into your total spending. Inkjet cartridges typically cost more per page than other technologies when you calculate the expense over time. If printing volume climbs significantly, you might want to explore alternative printer options with refillable tank systems that reduce per-page costs for heavy users.

Is This Deal Worth Acting On

The current $79 price represents one of the larger discounts Canon has offered on this Pixma model. While the machine did drop to $64 during Black Friday, that’s a once-a-year occurrence. Throughout most of the year, this printer moves between $100 and $140, so the current markdown genuinely positions it as an attractive back-to-school option.

You should buy this printer if you need a reliable, straightforward machine for school assignments and basic home use, if you print double-sided documents frequently and want automatic duplexing without extra steps, or if you’re working with limited desk space and need a compact footprint.

Skip it if you regularly scan multi-page documents and want an automatic feeder for speed, if you print high volumes and want a refillable ink tank system to keep costs manageable, or if you prefer to read detailed hands-on reviews before committing to a purchase.

The Bottom Line

The Pixma TS6520 at this price delivers on the basics without pretense. It prints, scans, and copies with the kind of reliability that has made Canon’s Pixma series a household default for years. The OLED display and compact design are practical touches that most competitors skip at this price level. For students and home users who want a printer that simply works without drama, this option handles everyday office tasks efficiently. The $70 discount makes it an opportune moment to grab one before back-to-school shopping peaks.