By Sgt Justin Roberts

The all-in-one concept is not a favourite of mine – generally, packaged items only broadly meet a wide-ranging bunch of requirements, without satisfying any specific one of them.

HP has earned a reputation as one of the leading innovators in the computer industry, with products that are simple but offer the user as many options as possible.

The PSC 1350 all-in-one printer, scanner and copier is one such accessory – it offers more than the sum of its parts and the best from each one.

The PSC features ports on the front to cater for the range of cards used by modern digital cameras, including the most popular Compact Flash and Secure Digital, which means you can print your photos without loading them onto the computer first.

The copier option is handled almost entirely on the PSC itself, without the need to go through troublesome software programs.

Copying is also fast, not quite comparable to a standard office photocopier, but close for low-detail work, and still capable of producing top quality, high-resolution copies if needed.

The scanner and printer, when working separately, are at the standard you would expect for either product in stand alone form.

The scanner boasts the ability to capture detail at up to 19,200dpi if your computer can handle it, and the printer spits out photographs at a quality comparable to the local one-hour photo joint, provided your digital camera has the resolution.

Both printer and copier will produce up to 17 pages per minute in black and up to 12 pages per minute in colour.

The PSC 1350 will go through colour cartridges like any other ink-jet printer if you’re printing a lot of photos, which is a cost/benefit issue you have to consider when shifting from film to digital photography.

If you mainly intend it for lowresolution photocopies, it might be better to consider a cheap laser copier instead.

The HP PSC 1350 is a package that works.

Even if you have no need for a copier, it’ll take up half as much space on your desk as a separate printer and scanner will, and cost about the same, without the compatibility issues.