After hearing about Lexmark’s new range of multi-function devices we were very keen to get our hands on the X6570, a colour inkjet printer that offers an excellent range of features for a very reasonable price.

As with most such devices, it includes a copier, scanner and printer. This one adds connectivity to wireless networks as well as two-sided printing, for convenience or to save paper.

It even includes fax capability, which is rare on home multi-function devices, but could come in useful for home workers. This wide range of features combines with a good degree of usability and some fast speeds to offer genuine appeal if you’re looking for an easy way to set up a home office.

Following the instructions in the manual, the printer is extremely easy to set up and use, and it can help configure the wireless connection, if one is required, to get the device up and running. Lexmark’s productivity studio software makes it easy to manage each of the functions of the unit from the computer, although the control pad on the front offers quick access to the fax, copier and scanning facilities as well.

One nice feature is that the printer can download a list of compatible applications from the computer over the wireless connection, so if you want to have it scan directly to your favourite image editing application or email software, or convert directly to PDF, you can.

Print, copy and scan speeds are extremely good - although we’ve seen better quality on more expensive rivals we found that the text printing speed at least was certainly more than adequate. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for photos.

Despite using the highest quality settings, some decent premium photo paper and Lexmark’s photo-enhancement software (which was supplied with the device) we weren’t particularly impressed with the results. Colours weren’t represented particularly accurately, and images weren’t very sharp, so despite the presence of a multi-card reader and Pictbridge connection, we'd have to say that anyone looking to print a lot of digital photos should really look elsewhere.

Apart from the poor photo quality, we were very impressed by the speed, usability and range of features on offer from the X6570, as well as its general printing performance for documents. Our only other qualm is that it’s not particularly efficient in terms of ink consumption, especially when it comes to photos, so if you’re looking for something to handle higher volumes expect to purchase a fair few replacement cartridges (around £20 each), or look into a laser printer.

Vista compatible: Yes