It's rare that a product – even a very good one – balances function, innovation, and performance, but that's what Hewlett-Packard has done with the Designjet Z3100 Photo Printer. The ease of use, excellent print quality, and smart design touches have been combined into one of the best professional printers we have ever seen.

The compact HP PSC 1610 is slower than average, but its extensive software and high-quality prints make it a great value.

The wide-format Deskjet 9650 delivers consistently good print quality on many kinds of documents. This printer is no speed demon, however, and its costs per page are quite high.

The HP Business Inkjet 1200d makes a good workhorse printer for a small office, as long as paper-handling options are more important to you than print quality.

Should your business need to add scanning to basic mono print facilities, the HP LaserJet M1120 MFP will cover both tasks with reasonable aplomb. It's not super fast, and you won't want to rely on it for huge print jobs, but for running off a few text documents it'll more than suffice. Should you not need scanning, though, you can find better dedicated printers elsewhere.

This printer is definitely a good choice for the busy small office due to its speed, print quality and excellent range of connectivity options.

The Photosmart A526's minimal-options approach to printing photos will be a relief for some, a frustration for others. But it's the slow printing that dampens its value somewhat, even if the photos are worth the wait.

HP Officejet 6210 All-in-One is a compelling printer for a demanding home, however inadequate paper capacity will lessen its appeal for a business market.

The HP Deskjet 5740 won't win any awards for speed or economy, but for all-around print quality, it's a good little performer.

This model's small footprint, decent paper handling, and competitive costs per page make it worth a look. And it prints text faster than its less-expensive sibling does.

The 7760 prints terrific colour and black-and-white glossy photos, making it a good choice for users who don't mind swapping ink cartridges frequently.

For individual users or a small office, the Color LaserJet CP1518ni's minimal paper handling and toner supplies are probably adequate. Only extremely patient people will find it easy to tolerate the slow engine, however, especially when similarly priced models are much faster and have better features.