Epson Expression Photo XP-960
A COMPACT MFP WHICH CAN PRODUCE HIGHLY PROFESSIONAL RESULTS.
THERE ARE PLENTY of all-in-one inkjet printers on the market, but not so many capable of handling A3 paper. Epson’s relatively affordable ($399) lozenge-shaped XP-960 takes up minimal desk space, uses an extra colour in its six ink system, can scan at 4,800dpi, and has three document trays for dedicated media, making it a machine suitable for a home office or a mediumsized business.
The rounded sides of Epson’s Expression Photo XP-960 reduce physical bulk as much as possible, so although it has the capacity to handle A3 paper, it’s small enough to share an average-sized desk with a computer and still have room to spare. The glossy black finish is an absolute magnet for dust, but because all the trays and flaps automatically fold neatly away, it’s very easy to wipe it down with a duster.
The colour display is a generously sized 4.3-inch touchscreen, making it quite easy to print directly from an SD card (or myriad other flash memory cards) without any need to access a computer, as well as making the setup process a breeze.
The ability to handle A3 paper is, as we’ve mentioned, what really sets the XP-960 apart from your average all-in-one photo printer, but besides that, you have a fairly full feature set, too. Duplex printing is possible with A4 plain paper, for example, and in this mode, the print speed accelerates from 8 to 28 pages per minute.
Having two paper in-trays is an advantage as well, because it means you can load one with plain A4 and the other with photo paper, envelopes or printable blank CD-sized discs, and not have to empty the tray each time you switch media.
The scanner, meanwhile, can capture very high-resolution scans of 4,800 x 4,800dpi, which is good news for designers who can save the scanned documents onto a USB thumb drive, or a mobile device via the app — or have it emailed to a PC.
Epson’s Claria Photo HD ink system uses six, instead of the usual five, colour cartridges (magenta, light magenta, cyan, light cyan, yellow and black) to achieve superior colour fidelity.
The Expression Photo XP-960 achieved average results after its print heads were cleaned and realigned — the print speed is a little slow at less than nine pages per minute, but text looks sharp enough. Characters lack the light touch of a laser and look a little heavy-handed by comparison, but they’re perfectly acceptable for an inkjet.
Colour documents benefit from the six-ink cartridge system and show good separation and consistency. When it comes to printing photos on photo paper, the Expression Photo XP-960 really shines. There’s no unwanted ink mixing or smearing here either, meaning you’re rewarded with a real boldness to the colour palette. Thanks to this accurate six-ink cartridge system, the Expression Photo XP-960 turned out professional production quality prints every time in our full colour tests, marking us rather impressed.
For use with plain text documents only and at the usual A4 size, this machine begins to look a little expensive to buy and run, but its wide feature set and ease of use, in our humble opinion, justify the costs if you plan to do any kind of A3 printing as well.