Top 10 Color Ink Jets

Your best options for daily printing chores.

Alexandra Krasne

Considering all the different things you need a printer to do, the handy dandy color ink jet printer remains the most versatile, most affordable type you can buy. Here's a look at some of the best available. For more information, see PC World's detailed rankings.

Note: The speed ratings listed below are manufacturers' claims. Be sure to click on the PC World Test Report in the detailed rankings to see how many pages per minute (ppm) these printers did in our objective lab testing.

#1 Canon i320 Color Bubble Jet Printer. Produces 10 ppm in monochrome, 6 ppm in color; 2400-by-1200-dots-per-inch maximum color resolution. This inexpensive PC World Best Buy prints clean and clear text. It produced fairly accurate skin tones, but slightly washed-out photos. Street price when ranked: $55.

#2 Canon i550 Color Bubble Jet Printer. Produces 18 ppm in monochrome, 11 ppm in color; 2400-by-1200-dpi maximum color resolution. This PC World Best Buy is an excellent all-purpose performer. Colors in photo prints looked accurate but slightly washed out. Street price when ranked: $130.

#3 Canon S330 Color Bubble Jet Printer. Produces 14 ppm in monochrome, 10 ppm in color; 2400-by-1200-dpi maximum color resolution. This low-priced, all-purpose printer handled most basic jobs well and produced good-looking photo prints. Setup was a snap. Street price when ranked: $80.

#4 Canon i850 Photo Printer. Produces 22 ppm in monochrome, 14 ppm in color; 4800-by-1200-dpi maximum color resolution. The fastest printer here is a good all-around choice, although photo prints could have been more vivid. Street price when ranked: $170.

#5 Canon i450 Color Bubble Jet Printer. Produces 18 ppm in monochrome, 12 ppm in color; 4800-by-1200-dpi maximum color resolution. Photo prints had a bluish tint, but their smooth gradients and transitions rivaled prints from high-quality, six-color printers we've tested. Street price when ranked: $100.

#6 Lexmark Z605 Color Jetprinter. Produces 14 ppm in monochrome, 8 ppm in color; 4800-by-1200-dpi maximum color resolution. Gray-scale images showed excellent detail and shades; in photo prints, overall cast was slightly blue and skin tones were a bit ashen. Street price when ranked: $50.

#7 Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 3820. Produces 6 ppm in monochrome, 4.5 ppm in color; 4800-by-1200-dpi maximum color resolution. Text was clear, but could have been more dense. Photos looked especially bright and sharp. Street price when ranked: $99.

#8 Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 5550. Produces 6 ppm in monochrome, 4 ppm in color; 4800-by-1200-dpi maximum color resolution. This HP prints beautiful photos and has advanced features to sense paper type and automatically calibrate the device. Street price when ranked: $150.

#9 Lexmark Z55se Color Jetprinter. Produces 17 ppm in monochrome, 13 ppm in color; 4800-by-1200-dpi maximum color resolution. We liked this printer's black, clear text and fast printing speeds, but skin tones looked ashen in prints of test photos. Street price when ranked: $85.

#10 Epson Stylus C62. Produces 14 ppm in monochrome, 10 ppm in color; 5670-by-720-dpi maximum color resolution. Produced impressive details and excellent transitions in photos. Skin tones appeared a little too pink, though. Street price when ranked: $80.

PC World ranks all types of computer products. To see more rankings, visit the magazine's Web site.

Alexandra Krasne is a PC World associate editor.