Epson Picturemate

The Epson Picturemate Personal Photo Lab is a mini inkjet designed to produce professional-quality prints. It measures less than 6in in height and 10in in width, and features a handle so you can carry it to and from different locations. Epson has obviously gone to great pains to ensure its portability, but some users may not be convinced about its styling because, from some angles, it looks like a toaster.

Setting it up is as easy as installing any standard printer. Simply slot the ink cartridge into place and lock into position using a sliding lever, then load the paper into the front-facing feeder tray. An assortment of control buttons at the top of the unit can be used to navigate through an LCD menu, from which all the Picturemate's functions can be controlled.

Getting your images onto the Picturemate is simple. It supports 12 types of memory card and has a USB port on the rear that can access images directly from your digital camera or USB Flash drive.

We printed several test images, each of which took around two minutes to complete. Provided your original snaps are of a high quality, the Picturemate produces borderless snaps that are on a par with professional results. These were resistant to smudging and water spills, and Epson claims they can last up to 100 years without fading.

The cost of owning the Picturemate is reasonably low. The package includes a batch of 10 x 15cm photo paper and an ink cartridge, but replacement packs of 100 sheets and an ink cartridge cost £29.99, giving a cost per photo of around 29p.

Good photo inkjet printers can produce similar results, but the simplicity of the Picturemate makes it a useful tool for any digital camera enthusiast.

Contact: Epson 0800 220 546
www.epson.com

Specifications:

• Resolution 5,760 x 1,440dpi
• Paper handling 20 sheets of 10 x 15cm
• 256 x 305 x 163mm (w x d x h)
• 2.7kg