Labs

The Canon i-SENSYS LBP3360 is a neat-looking printer, and although it's this month's most expensive model, that money buys you some attractive features. It's one of only two printers in the group to offer a built-in duplexing unit, which allows double-sided printing without the hassle of manually feeding your document through the printer twice. That's especially handy when you consider that laser paper often jams when you re-feed it.

The LBP3360 is also unique here in providing a helpful LCD screen. This shows you the printer's status and offers a menu system that you can use to set up the printer,

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delete documents, feed paper and so on. It's not the most intuitive system in the world - we had some difficulty finding our way around the menus - but it's great to be able to see at a glance what's going on, and it makes the Canon feel like a truly professional bit of kit.

Unfortunately, this good first impression was quickly undermined by poor print quality. Text wasn't bad - letters were nice and clear, even at tiny sizes - but the LBP3360's attempts at producing images or grey shades came out horribly grainy and far too dark. When we tried to print black text on a light grey background, the results were completely illegible.

Print speeds weren't particularly impressive either. In a field of seven, the LBP3360 came fourth, producing a middling 20 pages per minute. It woke from sleep mode in 13 seconds, though, which isn't bad.

The Canon's final shame is its running costs: at 2.12p per page with standard cartridges, it's this month's most expensive printer to own (though still better than an inkjet), as well as to buy.

All of which sadly goes to make the Canon an also-ran. Its features are good, but they can't make up for poor printing and high costs.