Labs

There's lots to like about this Lexmark, but let's start with speed. In our tests it was hands-down this month's fastest printer, averaging a blazing 26 pages per minute. It gets going quickly, too: from the moment we hit Print, the E250d took just 13 seconds to throw off its duvet and start churning out pages.

Print quality was good, if not quite so stellar. Text was very readable, with nice solid blacks, but edges and fine details weren't quite so crisp as from the HP or the Brother. Images looked lovely and clean, though gradients and areas

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of solid grey did suffer from faint horizontal stripes. For handouts and proofs, it's more than up to scratch.

The Lexmark is strong on features, too, with a built-in duplexing module for effortless double-sided printing, and a single-page feed for envelopes, cards and whatever else you fancy feeding it. If you print a lot, you can add a 550 sheet input tray. It doesn't have an LCD screen, like the Canon, but you can't have everything.

What's really good about the E250d is that, not content with being one of this group's most capable printers, it also managed to be one of the cheapest. At just £113 it undercuts every competitor except the absurdly affordable Brother. Running costs are only average, with Lexmark's 3500 page cartridges working out at 1.76p per page, but it's still great value overall unless you plan to print tens of thousands of pages, which isn't the intention with this class of printer.

In short, Lexmark has produced an excellent all-rounder. You get high-quality results at top speed for a bargain price, and the duplexer is the icing on the cake. It's this month's best reason for buying a laser.