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

Canon continues the good work and delivers another winner with the MP610.

Printer manufacturers have steadily been increasing the number of ink cartridges in their top of the range photo printers on the basis that the more basic colours they have to work with the more precise the overall result.

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

Expensive but solidly built – a fast way to get superbly vibrant A3 prints.

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

Good photo quality and a large touchscreen make this the A4 inkjet to buy.

Capable of reproducing good photos, but it’s slow, a bit expensive to run and has a poor scanner.

Cheap to buy and run, the X5470 is great for mono printing, but less so for photos and images.

While HP’s strength in photo printing is once again proved, mono prints take too long and the scanner is poor.

It’s one of the few to include a fax machine and the ADF could be useful, but we expected far better print quality and faster speed at this price.

Reasonably affordable to buy, but high running costs combined with poor-quality output mean you’re better off spending your money elsewhere.

The quality of this diminutive cutie is almost as good as the high-end models, but the price means a compromise on both speed and features.

Packed with features like network capability and transparency scanning, it also has the best scanner by far, with great print quality too.

With a lightning-fast scanner and high-quality photo printing, it’s only hampered by speed and running costs. CD printing and transparency scanning are bonuses, though.

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.

The price is reasonable, but the interface is poor and speed and quality are below average.

The MP500 is a great all-rounder. It’s capable of excellent print quality at high speeds, plus CD printing, has an automatic duplex module and a tempting price.

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.