Canon Pixma MP110

It doesn't take a mastermind to work out that a multifunction device (MFD) reduces desk clutter and offers better value for money when compared to buying an individual printer and scanner.

The MP110 is part of Canon's Pixma range and at just £69 it's an affordable way to get a printer, scanner and copier all in one.

It's quite large for a budget MFD and has a maximum printing resolution of 4800 x 1200dpi. It will produce an A4 colour photo in just over seven minutes at its highest-quality setting. This is expected not just for MFDs but dedicated photo printers too.

Image quality looked great from a few feet but get up close and the imperfections were quite noticeable. Our test image suffered from 'banding' (where faint horizontal lines can be seen) and was slightly grainy. Colour depth was more impressive and its variety of monochrome tones was good too, from deep black through darker and lighter shades of grey.

It can support smaller paper sizes, such as 8 x 5in, and will print a 6 x 4in borderless photo in under a minute.

When printing black text, the MP110 can churn out seven pages per minute in its normal quality setting. This drops to two pages per minute when printing PDF documents in a mixture of colour and monochrome, which is fairly slow when compared to other MFDs.

Text quality was fairly crisp and just about readable at a 2pt font size. It lacks the finer detail (and speed) of laser printing but will be fine for the majority of home projects.

The MP110 also performs acceptably as a scanner. A 300dpi A4 scan takes about a minute and the resolution can go as high as 1200 x 2400dpi. In copy mode, this MFD can reproduce an A4 mono page in 28 seconds. Set-up is simple and scanning and copying settings can be adjusted using the front-mounted buttons.

So, for £69 you are getting a lot for your money. It costs £22 to replace both ink cartridges.

However, as well as the colour-banding issue, there are other downsides. On multiple occasions, the paper feed took more than one sheet when printing and occasionally printed pages at a slightly skewed angle.

Plus, there are no memory card slots to print photos from a digital camera. The paper tray is also quite small, which means pages will bend if left unattended for too long.

Overall, there's no denying that the MP110 offers super value for money. If you're not worried about the finer details of printing then it's a pretty good buy, but the bargain does come at a cost.