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The unit is 46x40x22cm and weights 11.9kilos. The figures include the paper tray and even the control panel and TFT screen when tilted.

It is possible to store both A4 and 15x10cm photo paper in the multi use tray at the same time and you can direct both Windows and the control panel to use your choice.

My printing figures for text files do not get close to those claimed but even in the 'fast draft' mode the print is black something a lot of other manufacturers cannot produce. Printing the nonsensical 200 word document I got 15PPM and the 1500 word document spread over four pages I got 12PPM. Look on the website to see the claims.

See also: Multifunction printers

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This is a six ink offering with two shades of magenta, two of blue, one yellow and a larger black. Their design makes fitting them incorrectly all but impossible.

After installation a test page is printed, I then placed this on the scanner and copied it, placing the original and copy side by side it was very hard to tell them apart. As always when I have an All In One I tend to catch up on my copying and I was more than happy with the output produced from a range of books and magazines.

If you get a good copy it is almost certain you will have a good scan and providing the OCR software provided is good - as that provided by HP is - then provided you give it a good clear page to work with there will be few if any errors. However I would always recommend proof reading the result. The scanning engine supports 4800DPI.

Of course I printed a whole range of photographic images both at A4 and 15x10 as well as multiple images on a single A4 sheet. A4 images tended to print in around 200 seconds and while to me speed is not that important - this was rapid - quality is and to me it could take 600 seconds providing the output quality is there. With this unit the quality is there the only minor gripe is that the back edge is a little tacky but put it somewhere for a few minutes and it's then quite dry.

I liked the control panel - an area at the front of the unit - the dimensions are 27x5cm with a TFT of 6.5x4 in the centre and 30 buttons surrounding it. When working above the unit it makes controlling images so easy, lift it to any angle up to 45degrees from the bottom. The amount of choice you have is vast not just which images to print but much more including basic manipulation of images even things like automatic red eye removal and other things often only available when printing from a PC.

I printed from a range of 'card types' and also from USB sticks, being able to view images on the TFT screen makes life a lot easier and for the photo enthusiast the PC becomes far less important. Unlike a lot of recent software and hardware this unit is happy to work with Windows 98 or later and can work with as little at 128MB or RAM and with a Pentium II processor, you will need close to 900MB or hard disc space for a full install but this does include some excellent easy to use software.

Doing my Internet searches found several people at or near £150, best priced link below.

PC World have this product for £159.99

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/ho/WF06a/5043-5527-7369133-7369133-12229140-12229166.html