Quantcast

Top 5 Photo Printers

Four newcomers offer outstanding photo print quality at very affordable prices.

Eric Butterfield

Compare ProductsCheck boxes to
Canon i960 Photo Printer PCW Rating: 84.0PCW Rating: 84.0PCW Rating: 84.0

Last Rated: June 22, 2004

1. Canon i960 Photo Printer

4800-by-1200-dpi maximum color resolution, Letter-size paper, maximum, Five color cartridges, USB 1.1, USB 2.0, and direct-print ports, Street price when ranked: $200,

Bottom Line: The i960 produced very detailed color glossy prints with realistic colors. Gray-scale images showed smooth textures. Text appeared sharp even at small sizes. No control panel.

Full ReviewTest ReportCheck latest prices
Check Latest Prices
HP Photosmart 7760 Photo Printer PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0

Last Rated: June 22, 2004

2. HP Photosmart 7760 Photo Printer

4800-by-1200-dpi maximum color resolution, Legal-size paper, maximum, Two color cartridges, Two USB 2.0 ports, Street price when ranked: $200,

Bottom Line: Unit printed very detailed photos. Print quality of text and gray-scale photos was on a par with that of printouts from the more expensive Photosmart 7960. Unfortunately, line art was marred by banding.

Full ReviewTest ReportCheck latest prices
Check Latest Prices
HP Photosmart 7960 Photo Printer PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0

Last Rated:

3. HP Photosmart 7960 Photo Printer

4800-by-1200-dpi maximum color resolution, Legal-size paper, maximum, Two color cartridges, Two USB 2.0 ports, Street price when ranked: $300,

Bottom Line: Color glossies looked very detailed, and skin tones appeared natural. Gray-scale photos lacked contras. Text looked grayish at large sizes and fuzzy along the edges.

Full ReviewTest ReportCheck latest prices
Check Latest Prices
Epson Stylus Photo R300M PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0

Last Rated: February 27, 2004

4. Epson Stylus Photo R300M

5760-by-1440-dpi maximum color resolution, Banner-size paper, maximum, Five color cartridges, USB 2.0 and USB 1.1/direct-print ports, Street price when ranked: $229,

Bottom Line: Color photos showed excellent detail. Faint yellow bands marred gray-scale photos. Text looked slightly blurred at small sizes.

Full ReviewTest ReportCheck latest prices
Check Latest Prices
Canon i560 Desktop Photo Printer PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0

Last Rated: December 19, 2003

5. Canon i560 Desktop Photo Printer

4800-by-1200-dpi maximum color resolution, Banner-size paper, maximum, Three color cartridges, USB 2.0, parallel, and direct-print ports, Street price when ranked: $130,

Bottom Line: Fastest printer here for text and color graphics on plain paper.Glossy photos showed smooth textures, but colors looked yellowish; inks tended to smear.

Full ReviewTest ReportCheck latest prices
Check Latest Prices

The PC World Test Center runs time tests for each printer from a 1.6-GHz Pentium 4-based PC equipped with 256MB of RAM and running Windows XP Home. All the printers were connected to the test PC via a USB 2.0 adapter. The Test Center printed out monochrome text, line art, and color and gray-scale photo samples for each printer. For photo printing, we used each manufacturer's recommended paper, settings, and inks. We used plain white paper and default settings for all nonphoto tests. A panel of judges rated the image quality of output samples. The overall rating we assign to each photo printer is based on speed (10 percent), output (37 percent), price (5 percent), ease of use (14 percent), features (20 percent), support policies (7 percent), and cost of ink (7 percent). Data based on tests designed and conducted by the PC World Test Center. All rights reserved.

  • Recommend this story?
  • 0 Yes
    0 No

Today's Special Offers

Name City
Address 1 State Zip
Address 2 E-mail (optional)