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Epson Stylus Photo RX500: a first look

Robert Vamosi CNET

Published: 29 Jan 2004

The Epson Stylus Photo RX500 is the industry's first photo-quality multifunction printer that offers a built-in filmstrip reader for scanning slides, negatives and microfiche documents. The unit also offers basic scanning and copying capabilities with scan-to-email and scan-to-memory-card options. The RX500 print engine is rated at 17 pages per minute (ppm) for monochrome pages and 16ppm for colour pages, which is fast for a multifunction printer.

The RX500 includes Epson's Easy PhotoFix technology -- a combination of hardware and software designed to restore old, discoloured or faded photographs at the touch of a button. The RX500 uses six individual ink cartridges (two more than most other multifunction printers we've seen), meaning you'll need to replace only the inks that run out, lowering your cost of operation. The printer also offers several computer-free, digital-camera printing options. Unfortunately, the RX500 lacks a preview LCD.

Finally, the RX500 works with Windows 98 and newer OSs and Macintosh OS X -- rare versatility for a consumer-oriented printer.

At £249 (inc. VAT), this multifunction photo printer's many features sound promising; it certainly looks good value for home users and students. Check back for our final analysis in our full review.

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