Dell 540 Photo Printer

So here we have another dedicated photo printer, this time from Dell (it's actually designed by Kodak). The 540 looks like most of the other 6 x 4in printers we saw last year, namely the Epson PictureMate and the HP Photosmart 375.

However, the 540 employs an alternative printing method called 'thermal dye transfer technology'. Instead of an ink tank, it uses a kind of ribbon cartridge that slots into the side of the device and provides enough juice for 40 borderless prints.

Because it uses thermal dye technology, it needs to make several 'passes' to add colour to photos. Put simply, the printer will take a piece of photo paper and pass it through the unit, then take it back to add the second colour.

Three passes are made in total. This means that as well as accommodating the long paper tray on the front, you also need around 15cm of room behind the printer for it to feed the paper back and forth.

The advantages of thermal printing are that it's cheaper than inkjet and photos don't need time to dry once finished. However, the big disadvantage seems to lie with image quality.

When compared to those produced with inkjet printers, the Dell 540's photos lacked contrast and looked slightly washed out. Colours (especially reds, blues and greens) were dulled, and blacks weren't as rich as they should be. This also meant that some fine detail was lost.

There is a 'vivid' mode to increase colour depth, but this made images look over-saturated. However, when all that's been said, the 540 does produce very good prints and will be quite acceptable for most people. It just doesn't offer the same richness of colour and detail as a good inkjet.

As well as printing from a PC you can use its LCD screen to print from memory cards, a USB key or directly from a PictBridge-compatible camera. Each photo takes about a minute to print and there are no confusing settings to work through before printing. Just choose your picture and hit the print button.

As we noted, thermal printing is affordable, and each Dell Photo Print Pack (40 sheets of glossy paper and a print cartridge) equates to around 30p per print. Buy a triple pack and the cost per print drops to 27p per photo. What's more, at £150 (without a USB cable), this is the cheapest 6 x 4in photo printer we've seen yet.