The very stylish Samsung ML-1630 flouts the monochrome laser printer's reputation for dull efficiency. It's a decent machine whose low-capacity input tray and pricey toner restrict it to individuals or small offices that wouldn't mind sacrificing some usefulness for style.

Kodak deserves credit for its economical inks and focus on photo quality. Unfortunately, these attributes together cannot overcome the Kodak EasyShare 5500 All-In-One's disappointing speed and fairly high price.

Pumpkin-coloured people aside, the Canon Pixma MX700 is, overall, one of the strongest multifunction packages we've seen to date. It stuffs a lot of functions into a fairly user-friendly package and offers scads of software to help you along.

The LaserJet P1505 doesn't look like much, but it is a fast printer. We think HP cut a few too many corners in designing it, but those seeking a no-nonsense workhorse may be willing to put up with some of its shortcomings.

The 1720dn Laser Printer offers a lot of features and flexibility for an accessible price. A small office with big ambitions won't have to leave this printer behind.

The MFC-685CW is a burger with the lot, with wireless connectivity thrown in for good measure. Its print quality for documents is adequate, and its scanning capability is good, but it's not a good choice for photo prints.

Oki's B4400n deserves credit for its performance and its sturdy design. Even the seemingly ho-hum monochrome printer category has hot competition, though, and other printers offer as many or more features for less money.

Suitable for the small or home office, this unit will print, copy, scan and fax, and it also has handy camera photo printing features. Its output was a little dull, even on glossy paper, but nevertheless adequate for typical business use.

The imagePROGRAF iPF6100 should put an end to talk that Canon can't compete in the professional photo printer market. With a better ink formulation and an improved printhead, this 12-ink printer produces excellent images on both glossy and fine-art media. Canon needs to clean up its profile management, but overall, the iPF6100 is a very good printer that fits in well in a competitive market.

The HP A626 delivers plenty of bang for your buck. With enough photo-editing and enhancing features to keep the kids occupied, the easy-to-use HP A626 produces crisp, colour-rich prints. Pity about the drying time, though.

The G610 keeps things simple for Kodak camera owners. While prints are inexpensive, output is merely adequate.

Large volume colour printing is very affordable with this unit. It's compact and easy to physically set-up and use, and it's very fast, but its print quality in colour mode is by no means perfect.