Epson Stylus C20UX

There's no shortage of budget inkjet printers on the market, so new models have to be good to stand out. Epson hopes to make decisions harder still with the launch of the Stylus C20 range, designed for the budget-conscious buyer who wants flexibility, reasonable performance and a low price.

The printer is compact in size and operating procedures are simple. It consists of two function buttons, a 100-sheet feeder and a snazzy retractable paper tray that slides away conveniently when not in use. A clear set-up poster also means it won't be long before you are up and running.

The C20 is available as a parallel and a USB printer. We looked at the C20UX, the USB version which works with PCs and Macs. USB connection means the printer is automatically detected and information can travel faster using USB than the parallel port, so there is also a slight performance advantage.

Renowned for its individual approach to inkjet technology, Epson's Piezo electric printing method helps produce tiny dots of ink that increase the printer resolution and help improve results.

The performance of the C20 is a mixed bag, printing two pages per minute of text and one page per minute if text is mixed with graphics. The pace and text quality are very ordinary, although acceptable for the price.

The photo-quality printing also took a long time, 17 minutes to reproduce an A4 image. The printout from the 720dpi was good with great colours and definition, and this is easily the printer's best point.

The printer uses a two-cartridge system, one mono- and one three-colour cartridge, and both are installed simultaneously. When printing a document needing both black and colour, there is no real compromise between the two. Unlike a four-cartridge system, this system means that when one ink colour runs out, the colour cartridge needs replacing, creating some wastage of ink.

Overall, the print speeds are fine and the text print quality is average, but the good photo images boosts the C20's score.

Contact
Epson: 0845 6074747 www.epson.co.uk

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Reviewed in Computeractive, Issue 89