Inkjet all-in-one machines are definitely beginning to take over from inkjet printers as the main consumer printing device. For very little more money, you have all the extra functionality of scanning and copying. Lexmark has a range of all-in-ones to suit all prices and the Lexmark X5470 sits above its entry-level devices and offers faxing as well as photo printing.

Lexmark's text print is of reasonable quality, if a little heavy. There's little spatter evident, but it still looks slightly overprinted. Colour graphics are not too hot, either, with obvious banding in areas of solid colour. This is particularly true of colour photocopies, where the main colours are also reproduced considerably paler than when printed direct.

Photo prints, as we've noted before on Lexmark machines, are considerably better than plain paper prints, relevant to their main rivals. Colours are a little over vivid, but nothing objectionable, and there's some micro-banding noticeable, though prints are still OK for everyday use.

Lexmark is honest enough to quote print speeds for print in normal mode, as well as draft mode, but 15ppm for black print and 5ppm for colour print doesn't match up to what we saw. Our five page text print completed in 47 seconds, so just over 5ppm, while our colour document took 2:24, only just over 2ppm – this isn't a quick machine. A photo print took between 2:23 and 2:59, depending on the source of the image, which is also slow.

There are a lot of different ways of buying cartridges for the X5470. There’s a standard yield black and a standard yield tri-colour cartridge, but then there are high-yield versions of both these, too. You can also buy the standard yield black cartridge in a twin pack. Then there's the photo cartridge, which introduces an extra three colours to the basic cyan, magenta and yellow and you can buy this separately or in a combo pack, together with the standard colour cartridge.

The conclusion is that the Lexmark X5470 is a good looking all-in-one machine, in a chunky sort of way, is easy to set up and use and is quite feature-rich for its asking price. It's not that quick and doesn't print that well (particularly when printing colour graphics), but it's quite cheap to run, as some compensation.

Read full review on TrustedReviews.

Sagem Communication has completed its range of personal photo printers with its latest model: SAGEM PHOTO EASY 270. The PHOTO EASY 270 comes with a large 6.1 cm pivoting LCD colour screen. Very practical, the screen allows the user to view, select, zoom, touch-up, or reframe shots without a camera or a computer. They can even add frames to the photo or use numerous special effects (black and white, sepia, negative, watercolours, etc).

The printer is equipped with eight buttons and a four-directional navigator giving quick and easy access to the various menus. The PHOTO EASY 270 printer can be connected to a television or a video projector.

It also has 9-in-1 card reader (CF I+II, Microdrive, Memory Stick/Pro, xD Card, SM, MMC, SD, Memory Stick duo and mini SD), camera compatible with PictBridge and DPOF, via a USB connection, wireless printing: Wi Fi*, Bluetooth*,and infrared (IrDA), printing with PC on Mac: USB 2.0 compatible, TV output via S-Video, WiFi or Bluetooth adapter optional.

The reccomended retail price is 199.99 EUR (about 250 USD).


Official Sagem press release:

"Sagem Communication (SAFRAN Group) has completed its range of personal photo printers with its latest model: SAGEM PHOTO EASY 270.
Following the success of the PHOTO EASY 110, the PHOTO EASY 270 uses its innovative design and proposes a model enriched with numerous new functions.
Compact (140x200x83 mm) and light (1.5 kg), with its "chocolate" colour scheme it totally embraces current trends and is a true designer article.

A large colour screen for maximum autonomy: selection and touch-up without a computer
The PHOTO EASYTM 270 comes with a large 6.1 cm pivoting LCD colour screen. Very practical, the screen allows the user to view, select, zoom, touch-up, or reframe shots without a camera or a computer. They can even add frames to the photo or use numerous special effects (black and white, sepia, negative, watercolours, etc).
The printer is equipped with eight buttons and a four-directional navigator giving quick and easy access to the various menus.
Like all SAGEM printers, the PHOTO EASYTM 270 comes with SAGEM CRYSTAL IMAGETM technology, a SAGEM exclusivity enabling the correction of red eye as well as the automatic and instantaneous touching up of photos. For more information: www.sagem.com/crystal-image.

TV connection
The PHOTO EASYTM 270 printer can be connected to a television or a video projector.
To connect to a TV procure the SAGEM Television Printer Kit that includes a remote control and an S-Video cable, enabling the use of the slideshow function on a large screen and the printing of photos directly from the sofa!

High performance consumables
EXCLUSIVITY: SAGEM photo printers are the only ones on the market with a "clamshell" opening, making for simple and practical ribbon loading by just opening the printer from above.
Furthermore, their consumables have some of the greatest autonomy in the market given their reduced size: 75 prints with a single ribbon this is a great advantage for the user who has to change the cartridge much less frequently.
This new system also avoids using a disposable plastic cassette for the ribbon, thus saving extra space and taking another step in the right direction environmentally (less plastic).

COMPLETE MULTIMEDIA CONNECTIVITY
Digital cameras, camera phones, memory cards, PC, Mac: PHOTO EASYTM is the most universal printer for digital photos on the market.
Direct printing, with or without computer:
- 9-in-1 card reader (CF I+II, Microdrive, Memory Stick/Pro, xD Card, SM, MMC, SD, Memory Stick duo and mini SD)
- Camera compatible with PictBridge and DPOF, via a USB connection
- Wireless printing: Wi Fi*, Bluetooth*,and infrared (IrDA),
- Printing with PC on Mac: USB 2.0 compatible
- TV output via S-Video
* WiFi or Bluetooth adapter optional

EXCELLENT PRINTING QUALITY FOR ULTRA-RESISTANT PHOTOS
PHOTO EASYTM printers use thermal sublimation to print very high quality photos in 10x15 cm format: 300 x 300 pixels per inch (equivalent to a 4800x4800 dpi inkjet printer) and 16.77 million colours.
Thermal sublimation, a professional technique, enables the printing of photos with bright and accurate colours with optimum definition.
It gives a continuous rendering of colours and applies a brilliant protective film on the printed area. With highly resistant and waterproof paper the photos will not be altered, even after much handling.
A master of thermal transfer technology for many years, Sagem Communication is the European leader in the fax market using this technology.

RECOMMENDED RETAIL PRICES:

SAGEM PHOTO EASYTM 270:


179.99 Euros including VAT

SAGEM PHOTO EASYTM 270 WIFI (including a WiFi adapter):


199.99 Euros including VAT

Consumables: (Packs containing the colour cartridge and 10x15cm photo paper)

Pack for 75 prints, SAGEM DSR 420:


34.99 Euros including VAT

Pack for 150prints, SAGEM DSR 420D:


44.99 Euros including VAT

Cost per printed photo:


0.30 euros

Accessory:


SAGEM TELEVISION PRINTER KIT:


19.99 Euros including VA"

Kyocera sells a range of laser printers into the small business to enterprise market space and the FS-2000D sits at the lower end of its workgroup offerings. Its comparatively high asking price of just over £400 reflects its speed rating of 30ppm and the inclusion of a duplex facility as standard for double-sided printing.

Kyocera laser printers have always looked functional, rather than aesthetically pleasing and the FS-2000D is no exception. Its cuboid shape is relieved by a slight curve to the front of its top panel and a scallop out of the front of its paper tray, and while its computer-beige colouring is broken up by a couple of dark-slate panels, it’s still basically a big box that prints.

TrustedReview made a review of the Kyocera FS-2000D and here are some of their impressions. Paper feeds from a substantial, 500-sheet paper tray underneath and you can fit a second, identical tray below that, as an option. Above the tray is a pull-down, multipurpose feeder, which can take a further 100 sheets.

Kyocera claims print speeds of up to 30ppm for the FS-2000D and while these are likely to be for draft mode print, we managed to print a five-page text test piece in 23 seconds, giving it a real world, normal print speed of just over 13ppm. The mixed text and graphics page, which is a five-off print of a single page, completed even more quickly, in 20 seconds, so touching 15ppm.

The printer's built-in duplex unit handles two-sided printing economically, taking each page back in from the output tray to print the second side. Print speeds are slightly lower, but at 13ppm, are still very respectable.

Kyocera’s unique lifetime drum and fuser means that the only consumable you’re paying for is toner and a cartridge sufficient for around 12,000, five per cent cover pages costs just under £60. This gives a page cost, including VAT and paper, of 0.95p.

The conclusion is that the key feature of the Kyocera FS-2000D, like so many of its stable mates, is it's low running costs. At less than a penny per page, even the comparatively high price of the machine seems reasonable. However, the print quality we saw under test is no great shakes and isn't as good as from some previous FS models. While for many general office uses it will be adequate, we’ve seen more balanced greyscale output from several other mono lasers under test.

Read the full review on TrustedReviews.

Hewlett-Packard has consistently produced printers of a high standard and durability and so the release of the latest in the Photosmart series is a cause for interest. Because success in this field is gauged as much by user-friendliness as speed and quality of delivery, HP has introduced a number of new features to appeal directly to the technophobe.

The first innovation of the HP Photosmart D7360 is a touch screen with a large 8.6cm (3.4-inch) colour display that sits up in the middle of the front control panel and is designed for direct photo printing either from memory cards (Secure Digital, CompactFlash, Memory Stick and xD but not SmartMedia) or from digital cameras via Pictbridge through the USB 2.0 slot.

HP has created a new high-end paper type, the HP Advanced Photo Paper, which quickly absorbs ink, dries quickly and avoids smudging whilst retaining quality. There's even a new sensor (Auto Sense) within the printer which detects unique marks on the back of this particular paper so as to select the optimum colour profile and print settings.

The conclusion is that the HP Photosmart D7360 offers a major leap forward in volume photo printing at a friendly price and with a number of user-friendly innovations, including a large LCD display and the opportunity to edit, print and share photos without the use of a computer.

Read full review on itreviews.

After we wrote about HP launching the HP Photosmart A618 back in august, trustedreviews made a review of this printer and here are some of their impressions.

HP’s standalone photo printers have been a big success for the company, but it’s not that easy to think of ways to improve them. The length of the printer, which still looks something like a small, black and grey toaster, is the giveaway. It has to be that bit longer because it can now produce 18 x 13cm (7 x 5-inch) prints, as well as the 15 x 10cm ones its predecessors could handle.

We've come to expect good quality from HP photo prints and in general we weren't disappointed here. Colours came out natural and both bright and pastels shades are well reproduced. Graduated tints aren't quite as smooth as we've seen before, however, and despite the automatic lighting correction, some shadow detail was lost. We also noted differences between colours reproduced on the LCD display and those printed.

The conclusion is that the main advantages of this printer over its predecessors are the larger 18 x 13cm prints it can produce and the fully integrated Bluetooth support; you need no plug in dongle, here. While both features are useful additions, we're not over-impressed by the combination of Vivera inks and HP’s advanced photo paper. The ink may dry quickly, but there seems little improvement in colour quality.

Read full review on TrustedReviews.