All-in-one printers (or multi-function devices, if you prefer), have all but killed off the desktop scanner for home users. HP's latest creation, the Photosmart C6380, sits at the top end of the all-in-one market and promises not only decent scans and copies, but high quality photo prints too.

Wireless is becoming more and more common in printers these days, and the Photosmart C6380 follows the trend with built-in 802.11g Wi-fi. Somewhat unusually, it also features an Ethernet port, which is something those who suffer from poor wireless signals will appreciate since it means you can connect the printer via powerline networking over the mains, for example.

With rounded edges and a stylish white and silver design, the Photosmart C6380 certainly looks impressive. Various buttons are dotted along the front, while a colour 2-inch display sits on the left and lets you preview and perform basic editing on photos loaded via the multi-format card reader. However, the screen's small size makes this tricky, and we suspect most people will stick with editing images on a PC.

The Photosmart C6380 didn't throw up any problems during setup and, unlike many wireless printers, neither did it require to be first connected via USB in order to configure the wireless settings. Instead, wireless configuration takes place on the printer itself via the built-in display: it scans for nearby networks, you pick the one you're after and then enter the WEP/WPA key.

As its name suggests, the Photosmart C6380 handles photo prints with aplomb. Our A4 colour photos looked stunning, with its five-ink system (Photo Black, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow, along with a separate Black ink for text) producing deep, rich colours and an excellent level of detail.

Admittedly, HP provided us with its top-of-the-range Premium Plus Photo A4 paper to test it on (which isn't cheap at £15 for a 20-sheet pack), but even on cheaper, un-branded photo paper results were still impressive.

In terms of speed the Photosmart C6380 is about average, with A4 colour prints at the highest quality settings taking around four minutes. After printing 30 colour A4 photos a warning popped up that the Photo Black ink was getting low. The Cyan, Magenta and Yellow inks all still had a fair amount of ink remaining, and had HP opted for a combined colour ink cartridge this ink would have to be binned. Thankfully, though, each ink can be replaced separately; standard-capacity colour cartridges will set you back £8 each, while the black ink costs £10.

We've no complaints about the quality of text prints and you'd be hard pushed to distinguish the results from that of a laser printer. It's also pretty fast, churning out our test pages at a rate of 15ppm. However, if you haven't used the printer for a while you may have to first endure a painfully slow warm-up routine that can take up to a minute.

As a scanner, the Photosmart C6380 performs reasonably well. A 300dpi A4 colour scan takes just under 17 seconds to materialise and, although by no means spectacular, the quality will be good enough for most home users. Meanwhile, mono photocopies are pretty speedy at 15 seconds each, although once again if the printer decides a warm-up procedure is in order you may end up having to wait a while longer.

Verdict
With an RRP of £249, the Photosmart C6380 is a little on the expensive side, and noticeable omissions include a fax module and auto-document feeder (ADF). However, those interested in bagging a bargain should take advantage of HP's current offer, which sees the C6380 drop to a mouth-watering £99. A high-quality printer, scanner and copier with built-in wired and wireless networking for under £100 certainly isn't to be sniffed at.

Company: HP

Contact: 0845 270 4142

Tags: multifunction printer hewlett-packard universal serial bus ink printers hp photosmart ink cartridge hardware