If you're on a tight budget and either running a small business or perhaps working from home as a student, the prospect of getting your hands on a cheap printer that will also treble up as a scanner and copier is likely to appeal.

To meet that need Epson has unleashed two new multi-function series; the Stylus DX3800 and the DX4800. The DX3800 is a stylish and compact, grey and white, 3-in-1 unit that is comparatively lightweight and connects handily to your computer via a USB 2.0 cable (as usual, not supplied!).

Setting it up is simplicity itself. Just plug in the cable, insert the four colour cartridges and install the supplied software and you're ready for action. Epson has introduced a new ink - DURABrite Ultra - which is designed to produce laser-like images that are water- and smudge-resistant.

Although economy is in mind with the separate cartridge system (you merely replace them individually as they run out), our tests showed that printing glossy photo images at the best setting on A4 takes well over eleven minutes each and is severely draining of ink. Even at a very reasonable £6.60 per cartridge, you may have to tailor your quality to your budget.

Having said that, the authenticity of the colour reproduction is of a very high standard, with a resolution of up to 5,760 optimised dots per inch, and this is further enhanced by Epson's Micro Piezo print head technology which allows the printer to control the size of the printed dot. Text reproduction is good without being exceptional and you can reach speeds of 18ppm on the lowest settings.

In contrast to the top-end print speeds, the scanning and copying velocity is much quicker, with a resolution of 600dpi. The operating instructions are again child's play; lay the image on the glass and hit the relevant control button on the lid, which includes a handy Fit To Page command as well as the choice between plain and glossy paper.

The enclosed CD provides the Epson Creativity Suite which allows you to manage and edit your photos, attach them to e-mails or send them to the Web, and comfortably adjust image sizes and resolutions.

If you have an extra £30 in your wallet, you might think it better to upgrade to the DX4800 as you get a slightly higher print speed (20ppm), twice the copying resolution and an increasingly vital accessory these days; five memory card slots. This is in addition to it being Pictbridge and DIRECT-PRINT compatible.

For the price this is an attractive 3-in-1 multi-tasking machine that produces well above average image reproduction, but it is severely draining on ink and lacks the memory card function that its more expensive sibling possesses.