Epson Stylus Photo 830U

Everyone wants to print great photos on a cheap printer that uses cheap refills and we in the Computeractive office are no different. If you can dispense with memory card slots on your printer and tiny preview screens, it's possible to get great prints on a budget.

Epson's latest affordable photo printer is the Stylus Photo 830U. The silver and grey colour scheme is smart and it won't take up much room on your desk.

Printing at the 830U maximum resolution of 5760dpi on glossy paper, print quality in our tests was excellent. Plain black text documents took just under two pages per minute with clear, crisp results. This is not as fast as others we've seen but is still a fair result. A full A4 colour photo took around 11.5 minutes to produce, which sounds like a long time but is not unusual for good photo quality. The output was great, with vibrant, crisp images and good precision with colours.

Despite being the budget model in Epson's photo-printer range, it uses the same six-colour printing process that more expensive models use. The 830U has one black cartridge and a single five-colour cartridge, costing £23 and £19 respectively. They are easy to install and re-sealable valves means you can keep partially used cartridges stored for future use.

The printer is connected to your computer via a USB port at the back. It has another port at the front to connect a digital camera directly and print images without using your PC, although it's disappointing that this feature only works with Epson cameras. The three buttons at the top control the power, paper feeder and ink. The input paper tray is detachable and the outgoing tray can slide in and flip up for easy storage. The free Epson software for simple image tweaking is included.

At £100, the 830U is a compelling budget photo printer. Don't let the slightly tardy print speed put you off; this has plenty to commend it.

Contact: Epson 0800 220546
www.epson.co.uk