Lacklustre colour quality, but good speed and value for money make the K8600 a contender if you like blowing things up to A3 size

An interesting new technology, but cheap running costs are let down by poor quality.

An excellent all-in-one, particularly when it comes to photo quality, but it’s possible to get more features elsewhere.

Economical running costs and a great scanner make it appealing, but it’s slow and hard to use as a standalone copier.

The best home-office choice with an ADF and fax, plus good text speeds and quality. Those looking for a photo printer should look elsewhere, though.

One of the fastest and best-quality printers on show. The scanner isn’t perfect and there aren’t as many features as the best here, but the MP170 is hard to beat for value.

Digital photography is gaining in popularity, and the features offered by the HP PhotoSmart 2710 are designed to cater to this: PictBridge, a large colour screen and on-printer photo editing. The HP is the most expensive machine here, but isn't geared to one particular market or another.

With a performance reflecting its relatively lower price, the Brother didn't score as well in most printing tests. The photo print in particular took over four times longer than many of the other printers, and its quality was inferior in comparison. Text quality was also poor, particularly on the smaller 6pt font where visible banding occurred.

Looking similar to a retro portable radio, the PictureMate has a touch of style to it that is backed up by the overall quality of the product. At a buck under $400 it won’t appeal to everyone, particularly seeing as it’s a dedicated photoprinter, requires its own specialist photo pack and restricts you to postcard sized prints.

The 5250 is a compact unit that combines a good quality scanner with an average printer, efficient photocopy function and basic fax, all controlled from a simple to use software control centre.