Epson Stylus Photo 1400

The Stylus Photo 1400, since it lists for $150 less than the Stylus Photo R1800, which is the next step up in Epson's 13 inch line. However, photographers looking for more neutral black and white prints should take a look at Epson's Stylus Photo R2400, which earned high scores for its mastery of monochromatic printing.When I was in grade school, printers were massive, ugly, heavy behemoths clad in industrial looking tan plastic.

Color wasn't an option, and the dot matrix print engine sounded as if it was etching your words into a wood plaque instead of churning out a book report. Thankfully, that has changed. Sleek silver and black styling keeps the Stylus Photo 1400 from becoming an eyesore in your home office. Despite that, it's still a bit large, measuring 24.2x12.4x8.8 inches when it's all closed up.

Once you open it fully to print, the machine grows to 24.2x31.6x16.3 inches. Fans of PictBridge printing, which lets you print directly from your camera by connecting it to the printer via USB, will appreciate the convenience of the 1400's front panel USB jack.

But, unlike some of its competitors, this Epson doesn't include a card reader, so you can't print directly from a memory card.

Epson probably thinks that the market for this printer is too advanced for that feature, but it does come in handy from time to time.

Epson does include the ability to print onto CDs and DVDs, both full size and their smaller 8cm cousins used in camcorders. Just be sure you get the ones with the special white surface on top. As usual with the Stylus Photo line, the inks load from the top. In this case, that means six ink cartridges cyan, magenta, yellow, black, light cyan, and light magenta.

Like most home printers, paper loads from the top of the back and emerges, after printing, onto the tray that extends from the front of the unit. The input tray can hold as many as 120 sheets of plain paper or up to 20 sheets of Epson photo paper, depending on paper size and type. Epson says the printer can accept media up to 0.11mm thick in sizes ranging from 4x6 to 13x44 inches. There's no roll feed option though, so you'll have to find fulfillment with cut sheet media.