Epson Stylus Photo 2000P

The driver looks and behaves like other recent Epson drivers, with all of the expected cleaning and alignment options. The software bundle includes Adobe Photoshop 5 LE, giving you a professional photo-editing package. At a price of £680 this is to be expected, and with its market securely in the hands of the photographer this is a wise inclusion.

Ultimately, it's value for money that really lets the 2000P down. The new pigment-based technology is the main factor here, and if you're looking for that perfect and long-lasting photo finish at whatever cost, the 2000P will do it better than anything else on the market. There's no denying that the Semigloss A3+ photos are stunning.

However, at £680 it costs twice as much as the 1270, but the results are not as good. If you can forgive the slight banding and stickiness of the 1270's photo prints, the results are still impressive. At half the price, the 1270 will also print on a more diverse range of print media, and with an impressive ten-year light-fastness using Epson's media, it has a wider range of functionality including 1.75ppm black text printing and vastly superior plain paper results. The natural sheen and finish of the 2000P's photo prints were visually and physically stunning, showing the potential of pigment-based inks. It's definitely worth waiting for the technology to become cheaper and more flexible before making a purchase. In the meantime, however, the Stylus Photo 1270 is the better all-rounder.

Author: Ben Hardwidge