Canon Pro 300 and Macintosh M1 compatibility

[greg1949]

I own a Canon Pro 300 printer. It works well connected to my Intel processor iMac running Big Sur. I may be replacing this computer with a new iMac running the M1 processor. Can anyone tell me if the Big Sur print drivers work on these new M1 Macs? 

[JayC1]

Hi. I see that you are wondering if the PRO-300 CUPS Printer Driver Ver.22.2.0.0 for macOS Big Sur will work on an iMac with an M1 processor. As long as the printer is connected wirelessly, the driver will work on that computer.

I hope this information helps. Thank you for choosing Canon.

[greg1949]

Thanks, I was fairly sure it would work wirelessly. But, when using the wireless connection many print options are not available. And i need some of those options. So I stil need to find out if this printer will work with either a USB connection or an Ethernet connection. I have tried both of those connection types on my Intel iMac running Sur. The printer works fine with either one. I would still like to know if it will work with USB or Ethernet connected to an M1 processor based iMac running Big Sur. I sure hope it does. I just ordered a new M1 iMac today. Canon phone support was no help at all. These M1 Macs have been for sale for six month now yet Canon still cant answer this question of mine. I suspect the Rosetta 2 emulation of these new Macs will allow me to print normally. But it would have been nice to know before plunking down a lot of money for a new Mac.

[JayC1]

Hi again.

The information that you are requesting has not been passed down to our Technical Support team. Since an Ethernet connection is a type of "network connection" (similiar to wireless), it's possible that may also work. I recommend trying that option first. For now, if you see any issues with an Ethernet or USB connection, please let us know.

Thanks.

[greg1949]

yes, I am using an Ethernet connection at the moment. it works well And I plan to use it with my new iMac when it arrives in a few weeks. We shall see what happens. I have seen a few anecdotal reports of certain Canon printers working with the new M1 Macs provided they have Big Sur compatabile drivers. So there is some hope. 

[jrhoffman75]

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@greg1949 wrote:

Thanks, I was fairly sure it would work wirelessly. But, when using the wireless connection many print options are not available. And i need some of those options. So I stil need to find out if this printer will work with either a USB connection or an Ethernet connection. I have tried both of those connection types on my Intel iMac running Sur. The printer works fine with either one. I would still like to know if it will work with USB or Ethernet connected to an M1 processor based iMac running Big Sur. I sure hope it does. I just ordered a new M1 iMac today. Canon phone support was no help at all. These M1 Macs have been for sale for six month now yet Canon still cant answer this question of mine. I suspect the Rosetta 2 emulation of these new Macs will allow me to print normally. But it would have been nice to know before plunking down a lot of money for a new Mac.

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Slightly off-topic.

I have a Pro-100 connected wirelessly to two Intel macs and vis USB to a PC.

I have never noticed a difference in printing capability. I am curious what options you find missing when you connect wirelessly.

[greg1949]

There are some color adjustment settings that are not available in the Airprint driver. I use thes to fine tune the color matching of the print. These settings do not affect the Photoshop file itself, just the print. There are other missing settings, but I cant remember all of them now as it has been six months since I tried the Airprint option with my Pro-300

[jrhoffman75]

OK. I understand; I thought you might be using the AirPrint driver. You should be able to add the printer in System Preferences->Printers & Scanners. When you select the “+” button wait for the IJ Series version of the printer to appear. It could take several minutes. That gives full capability of the Canon driver.

[greg1949]

Yes, the Canon driver works fine now, with an Intel iMac. I have connected the printer using USB and Ethernet. Both work. But no one seems able to say if this printer will still connect via either USB or Ethernet with the new M1 Macs, despite these computers being out for over six months now.

[greg1949]

Well I was finally able to answer my own question about the Pro-300 workinig with the M1 processor Macs. Today, I received my new M1 iMac. And one of the first things I did was to test out my printer with it. My Pro-300 is connected via Ethernet. When I clicked on the Add Printer button all it did was suggest the Airprint verison. So, I went to the Canon site and downloaded the Big Sur version of the print drivers. After I installed that, the Pro 300 Series showed up when i went to add a printer. When I clicked on it, a message came up asking if I wanted to use Apple's Rosetta 2 translation software. I said yes. A few seconds later I could check ink levels, bring up the print utility, and print. Yippie! All is good. And, for what its worth, this new iMac is so very fast. Photoshop launches in 2 seconds, Safari in one second. Everything, even Illustrator (which is not yet optimized for the M1 Macs yet) is much faster on this new computer than on my 31/2 old high end intel iMac. Also, this is the first Mac I have owned that does not need external speakers to get good sound. The built in speakers are excellent.