Of the printers in the $100 or just under price range, the S330 has one of the best speed/ quality/ cost per page ratios. Designed for lower outputs than the S520, its pages work out at exactly twice the price of the bigger version. This printer is only to be considered for outputs of under 25 pages a month.

Epson Stylus Photo 830: 5760 Dpi Photo Quality

The Stylus Photo 830 works in six colors for the unbeatable price of $US99 or 149 euros. Better still, it also has an unbeatable resolution of 5760 dpi versus the 4800 dpi of its Canon and HP rivals. So, will Epson take the lead in photo printing?

In terms of figures, Epson is way ahead in the resolution race. The Stylus Photo 830 can do 5760 dpi, or more accurately, 5760x720 dpi, which in theory means something like 2 million dots per square inch of paper. The record is reached in horizontal resolution, but not vertical.

Another attractive thing about the SP 830 is its price. This photo printer (so-called because it works in hexachrome) is the cheapest on the market. To get six colors you pay US$99 for the SP 820, or 149 euros for the SP 830. We do find it hard to understand what can justify this difference of $50 from one continent to the other. So Mr. Epson, please try harder in Europe. Taxes and duty can never add up to enough to justify your pricing policy.

As for the rest, the characteristics are average: 12 pages per minute, paper feeder for 100 sheets of draft or 20 sheets of photo paper, 32 kB of buffer memory, etc. Nothing exceptional.