PC Advisor reviews the best multifunctional printers, and the sharpest direct photo printers.
The end of the summer holidays always seems to provoke a rush to buy new kit, whether it's because students are moving away and need items that home or school previously provided, or because they want to start the academic year with new tools.
Increasingly, these tools are of the electronic variety, rather than the notebooks and pens of old. Affordability and efficient use of space are top priorities although portability isn't to be prized at any cost.
If you've got a roomful of high-tech gadgets including a computer, games console, DVD player and iPod, you probably don't want to increase the clutter too much by adding a bulky printer and scanner to the mix.
That's why combined units that do both - and often include photocopying and faxing capabilities too - are such a neat idea for students and other space-conscious buyers.
Of course, these very same attributes make all-in-ones (also known as multifunction printers or MFPs) compelling for home use and small businesses too.
An all-in-one inkjet printer, photocopier and scanner saves space and is certainly more cost-effective than separate devices. Accordingly, we've focused our tests on the MFPs that are good at printing photos.
However, if you're in the market for a printer that specialises in handling photos and don't intend to print anything else, a dedicated photo printer may be a better all-round bet. The ones we've looked at for this group test are dedicated models that don't even need to be hooked up to a PC.
Their ease of use means you can have the best of your holiday photos pinned to a noticeboard or displayed in frames with minimum fuss, thus saving them from the ulitmate iniquity - languishing on your hard drive for ever more, never again to see the light of day.
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Comments
Gordon said: Anyone who wishes to print a lot of colour photographs needs more than a printer They need a good cheap supply of ink A continuous Ink Supply System is almost a necessity with the current prices of colour ink cartridges To my mind anyone using proprietary brand cartridges to do this sort of thing has more money than sense What has this computer magazine got against these systems as I dont recall you ever giving any space to their discussion In the far east where I spend 6 months each year it is all you ever see and people laugh at you when you talk about cartridges