Product Face-Offs
Printers
Vincent Alzieu
Test date: November 12, 2008
Test date: November 12, 2008
In recent years, basic color inket printers have more or less disappeared from the market, to be replaced by a new breed of all-in-one multifunction printers.
They hardly take up any more room than their predecessors, are generally no more expensive and work as a color scanner and copier as well as simply printing documents.
One simple rule to remember is that the cheapere the printer is to start with, the more you'll end up paying for cartridges over its lifetime.
There are very few exceptions to this rule and it's easy to understand why ... the manufacturers have got to make their money somewhere.
Photo Printing
As well as these A4 printers, there are also models designed exclusively for making 4 x 6'' (10 x 15 cm) photo prints, although they are becoming increasingly rare.
In particular, they have a tendancy to cut off the edge of some photos, and sometimes cost as much to run as full-size printers--without offering any of the extra benefits.
Their main advantage is, of course, their simplicity of use and small footprint.
If you're sure all you'll want to print is simple photos, then they can be worthwhile.
They hardly take up any more room than their predecessors, are generally no more expensive and work as a color scanner and copier as well as simply printing documents.
One simple rule to remember is that the cheapere the printer is to start with, the more you'll end up paying for cartridges over its lifetime.
There are very few exceptions to this rule and it's easy to understand why ... the manufacturers have got to make their money somewhere.
Photo Printing
As well as these A4 printers, there are also models designed exclusively for making 4 x 6'' (10 x 15 cm) photo prints, although they are becoming increasingly rare.
In particular, they have a tendancy to cut off the edge of some photos, and sometimes cost as much to run as full-size printers--without offering any of the extra benefits.
Their main advantage is, of course, their simplicity of use and small footprint.
If you're sure all you'll want to print is simple photos, then they can be worthwhile.
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Budget Buyer: Canon Pixma MP240 The MP240 is an all-in-one that offers an excellent compromise between quality, speed and ink costs. It's too loud in normal mode (and too slow in silent mode) to be an unqualified success though, and the lack of an LCD screen limits the amount of things that it can do without the PC interface.
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Simplicity First: HP Photosmart A826 With a very unusual look, the A826 is designed with easy photo printing in mind. A quality touchscreen interface allows you to easily edit your photos if you wish, or simply preview them before printing directly on to 4 x 6'' stock.
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Demanding User: HP Photosmart C4480 Admittedly, the C4480 is slower and not quite as sharp as Canon's excellent MP630. Nevertheless, it's a lot cheaper to buy and very economical run when paired with HP's XL cartridges.
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On The Go: Lexmark X4650 The most attractive thing about this printer is its simple WiFi. After that, it prints perfectly well, with particularly good results in office printing, and runs very economically provided you install XL cartridges. |
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Expert: Canon Pixma MP620 The MP620 remains the printer of choice for those seeking the very best. It's fast, good at a wide range of printing tasks and WiFi is a definite bonus. The expensive cartridges make it less attractive than it would be otherwise, but in every technical regard this is an excellent printer.
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