Brother DCP-6690CW multifunction photo printer and scanner

The Brother DCP-6690CW is a multifunction device so it includes a scanner, copier and printer, but its important feature is that it can do all that on A3-size paper.

The scanner and sheet feeder are at the top, while the printer feeds and outputs paper from the front. There's a large touch-sensitive colour screen on the front that can be used to preview photographs from connected cameras or memory cards.

It's a big printer, but considering the size of paper it takes it's surprisingly compact, measuring 54cm across the front. It can connect to both wired and wireless networks so you could stash it in a cupboard, rather than cluttering up other rooms.

Photo quality was excellent – colours were a little flat at standard settings, but the Vivid setting perked them up. Text was OK, but with visible ink bleed we wouldn't use it for anything more important than school reports. Speeds were impressive, though, at four pages per minute for text, or two minutes for good photos (it took 20 minutes at the best settings, but these didn’t add much).

Our only qualm is that £260 is a high price for convenience. Online shops don't cost much more for similar prints, making the DCP-6690CW less of a good deal.