The big star to stand out from this bunch is the Epson Stylus Color 870 Photo. If you can provide it with good enough images to print, you will get results almost indistinguishable from 'real' photos. Plus, it's a very competent office printer as well. To have beaten the impressive Canon BJC-8200 Photo in almost all departments is testament enough.

If you don't want a printer which depends on a PC and you're happy with 4 inch wide prints, the Canon CD-300 is the best bet. However, we have heard that Epson is to release a card reader-equipped version of the 870 later in the year. This could mark the end for dye-sub printers in the consumer arena.

HP's Photosmart P1100 deserves a mention. It's a superb plain paper office printer with double-sided printing capability. It's marketed as a top of the range photo printer, but really it's an office printer, par excellence, which can print photos too. It's beaten easily by both Canon and Epson inkjet models previously mentioned on photo quality alone, but as an all-rounder it's worth considering.