The $300 HP Photosmart C6180 is a photo printer by name but has office-printer tendencies by function. The inclusion of an automatic document feeder, built-in networking (including wireless), and fax functionality make it attractive as an office printer, but its task speeds are too slow for all but the smallest offices. It offers great print quality, but it lacks photo features. While it excels in neither role, it’s a decent all-around all-in-one for a home user who wants a machine that can do everything. If your needs tend to the office functions and you have to have faster task speeds, the comparably priced Canon Pixma MP830 is a good choice, though you lose fax functionality and a bit of print quality. If you’re leaning toward a truly photocentric all-in-one, check out the $200 Canon Pixma MP600.

All-in-one office machines are all the rage at the moment, as they hold out the promise (especially for small businesses) of combining many tasks at a high standard for remarkably low costs. HP is one of the leaders in this area and has been eagerly trumpeting the virtues of the Photosmart 6180, especially for its supposed ‘ultimate’ printing speeds of 32ppm for mono documents and 31ppm for colour.

Well, it certainly won’t take up too much space as it’s a conveniently compact 17.5 x 15.2 x 9.2 inches, weighs a comparatively featherlight 10.6kg and unites the roles of fax, copier, scanner and printer. The optical scanner has a top resolution of 4,800 x 4,800dpi and directly above the scanner lid is an automatic document feeder (ADF) which will hold 50 sheets of A4 or Letter and up to 35 Legal length sheets. The scanner itself cannot duplicate any greater size than A4.

The C6180 is not only chock full of special features and options, it helps save you time and money by working quickly to accommodate different jobs and paper types. First, the intuitive control panel and convenient one-touch buttons are easy to use, so you’ll never struggle to program a job. And thanks to the automated 4 x 6-inch tray for dedicated photo printing, you can effortlessly print landscapes or other panoramic images with HP panorama photo printing in any size up to 8.5 x 24 inches, with or without borders. At the same time, you can make the most of your new prints by taking advantage of the HP Document Viewer to easily view, manage, and annotate photos and documents. When it comes to copying, the HP auto paper-type sensor optimizes print and copy quality by adjusting to various papers, which means you won’t have to worry about wasted paper and poor-quality copies costing you money.