HP Officejet J4680

If you want a multifunction inkjet printer with an integrated fax modem, reviews say the HP Officejet J4680 is the cheapest name-brand offering you'll find. Reviewers say it's pretty slow, though, so if you're looking for an office printer, it had better be a very small office. Experts do say print quality is good for the price, but with four inks it obviously can't match a six-ink model on photos and graphics. There is also Wi-Fi capability, but some owner reviews express frustration with trying to get it to work. Some owners also say the scanner on the HP Officejet J4680 is not especially good. The HP Photosmart Premium Fax C309 (*Est. $250) gets better reviews and also has a fax, but it costs significantly more. The Photosmart Premium Fax also has duplex printing (which prints on both sides of the page automatically), unlike the HP Officejet J4680.

If you have a subscription, ConsumerReports.org has the most convenient coverage, including a handy ratings chart of about 40 printers with links to individual reviews. Otherwise, there is good free coverage based on thorough testing at Macworld and PC World, HardwareCentral.com and ComputerShopper.com. We also found more than 60 owner reviews at Amazon.com, and a little more than half of them say they are dissatisfied, citing a litany of issues.