The Expression Premium XP-605 is smaller and more compact than previous Epson printers, but does it do enough to tempt you to upgrade?

Although the all-black A3+ Epson 1500W/Artisan 1430 printer looks different to the two-tone Epson 1400, under the hood it's a different matter.

We take an in-depth look at the latest Epson printer, the A3+ Stylus Photo R3000 with ink prices and printing costs

An upsized, six-ink Epson dye-based printer

The good, the bad and the ugly for a few dollars more

It offers A2 photo prints, but is bigger really better?

The Epson Stylus Office BX625FWD represents fantastic value for money

Versatility is key in the latest all-in-one inkjet printers and Epson has packed a handy range of features into its new mid-range PX660, along with impressive ease of use

From six-ink photo printing to scanning, faxing and photocopying, complete with Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity, the PX820FWD ticks all the essential boxes and more besides

A low-budget wireless all-in-one inkjet without the usual sting in the tail?

A stickler for tradition, Epson's PX720WD resists the temptation of settling for five inks, as found in the likes of the Canon PIXMA MG5150 and HP Photosmart Premium C309G. So instead of getting both dye-based and pigment-based black inks as a compromise between document and photo printing, the Epson goes for the full 6-ink monty.

Inkjet printers have a sloppy reputation for business printing. Run a highlighter pen over an important phrase of text and you're likely to end up with a smudgy mess. A few raindrops can make ink-printed envelopes almost unintelligible. Colour laser printers make a viable alternative but they tend to be big, heavy and expensive, so what's the answer? Epson bridges the gap between regular inkjet and laser printing with its resin-based DURABrite Ultra inks, which are practically dry by the time they hit the paper and are remarkably resistant to water, smudging and fading.

Epson has always bucked the inkjet printing trend, using cool-running piezo-electric print heads to get the ink onto the paper, instead of boiling it in the conventional thermal fashion. The company claims this gives greater freedom when it comes to formulating inks, as the consideration of a rapid boiling and cooling cycle is taken out of the equation.

This 5-ink photo printer creates stunning images in its own time

You may well have thought that the days of the flatbed scanner are behind us, thanks to multifunction print/fax/scan/copy machines and digital photography. But no. They continue to sell well to people with old photos, negatives and slides that need scanning. This is because the flatbed offers a better scanning quality and accessories than all-in-ones.

Dear oh dear, the Epson looks more like a mop bucket than a printer! Its slab-sided design, muted grey finish and crude-looking buttons are worrying, given that it’s the most expensive printer on test.

Although the Epson Stylus DX9400F has a SRP of £130, you’ll find it on sale for £100, which seems very reasonable for a printer and scanner that includes a fax.

Banishing compromise from its outlook on printing, the Epson RX585 nails its vibrant colours firmly to the mast of photographic output, with a purely dye-based range of six Epson Claria inks.

Whether they use pigment- or dye-based inks, one almost universal problem with inkjet printers is that their output onto plain paper can be ruined by smudging, either merely by wiping a hand across the page or by a wayward drop of water. By contrast, the DX8400 uses Epson's cunning Durabright inks, which are resin-based.

The 4490 offers much of the appeal of the 4990 Photo but at a far lowerprice. It boasts the same 4800x9600dpi resolution for a start, thoughthe stratospheric resolution figures being bandied about

One of the aims of such tests is to establish how much you need to payfor a flatbed scanner. Central to this is whether you want high-quality film scanning, as this is what tends to bump up the price.

The Epson R285 is a bare-bones A4 printer which doesn't even include PictBridge support. What you do get, however, is Epson's latest generation of Claria dye-based inks that are delivered from six replaceable cartridges.

On the face of it, the RX585 appears to be based on exactly the same print engine as the Epson R285, but adds all the extras you could wish for, including a multi-format card reader and colour screen for direct printing

This colour inkjet boasts CD printing facilities, a rack of camera card bays and a large colour LCD screen for previewing shots. You can also print from BlueTooth devices, but need to buy a separate dongle to do this

We all like a bargain and on the surface this seems like a great one. But the cost of a printer needs to be weighed against its running costs. For this model, a new set of inks will set you back around £25