Epson EcoTank ET-4850

Epson's EcoTank ET-4850 almost perfectly balances performance, quality and running costs

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PRICE £311 (£373 inc VAT) from amazon.co.uk

A look at the specifications for Epson's EcoTank ET-4850 suggests that it could be the perfect home/office multifunction peripheral (MFP). Able to print, scan, copy and fax, it's equipped with a 35-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) and a generous 250-sheet paper cassette. Duplex printing is standard, while there's support for both wired and wireless networks.

That's a decent set of features, but the ET-4850 costs almost three times what you might expect to pay for a competing mid-range home-office MFP. Why? Because it's equipped with refillable ink tanks and arrives with enough ink to print 5,200 black or 14,000 color pages. Do the sums and that makes it better value out of the box than competing cartridge-based devices. Even once the supplied ink runs out, you'll pay less than half a penny for every full-colour page you print. Over the long term, it's far cheaper to own than a conventional inkjet and produces less plastic waste.