After editing the tech section of Wired UK magazine, he is currently specialising in IT and voyaging in his VW camper van. Though more expensive initially, the Epson EcoTank ET-7750 and Canon Pixma G4510 are superior machines that will save money in running costs in the long term. You can print photos directly from your phone or the Photos/Gallery app, or even from social networks and cloud services, including Dropbox, Instagram, Facebook, Google Drive and Google Photos.

Of course, printing photos might seem like something nobody does anymore, but it’s still a big thing for homework, filling non-digital photoframes and sending snaps to those who aren’t au-fait with photo-sharing services and apps.

The Envy Photo 7830 doesn’t make a great first impression, just because it’s unusually big by home printer standards. It’s not hard to find other inkjets that beat the 7830 in specific areas, with our recommended mid-range all-in-one, the Epson Expression Premium XP-6100, beating it for both scans and photos. Detail and colour accuracy were fine, but if you’re using scans for any serious design work, this isn’t really going to cut the mustard. The Envy Photo 7830 turns out to be a great all-rounder, pumping out everyday black-and-white or colour prints at decent speeds and delivering consistently good output.

Credit where credit’s due, though; HP does have one of the best smartphone printer companion apps in the business. There’s an SD card slot and a USB port in the front panel and separate feeder trays for photos and plain paper. It’s a similar story when printing; you have to dive quite deep to find the options to set resolution to maximum and make sure you’re getting the best quality.

Windows Server support is provided via the command line installer and supports Win Server 2008 R2 and higher. We also calculate running costs, compare functionality and consider each product’s versatility, design and build quality. Typing in a wi-fi password on a tiny onscreen keyboard is no picnic while swiping through the icons left to right can be frustrating. Windows XP SP3 or higher (32-bit only): any Intel Pentium II, Celeron or 233 MHz compatible processor, 850 MB available hard disk space, CD-ROM/DVD drive or Internet connection, USB port, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.

It turns out pages at an unhurried pace, somewhat below the quoted speed of 15 per minute for black and white single-sided and considerable slower when printing on both sides, or in colour. As a photo printer it’s more above average than awesome, but the prints still look good enough for quick snaps, filling photo frames and general family use. With the latter, HP has prioritised ease-of-use over all else, with the result that you can’t set the resolution or colour depth of a scan, only the type of scan, which left a 10 x 8in photo scanning at just 200dpi. A total of 125 sheets can be preloaded, but the out tray can only handle one or two pages at a time.Windows XP SP3 or higher (32-bit only): any Intel Pentium II, Celeron or 233 MHz compatible processor, 850 MB available hard disk space, CD-ROM/DVD drive or Internet connection, USB port, Internet Explorer 8. The Envy takes up more space on your desk than it needs to and doesn’t make enough room for loading paper, or collecting printed pages. The chunky auto-document feeder at the top of our review sample fell off at one point during testing when we opened the lid, and while said review sample appears to have been all around the houses, this still doesn’t inspire confidence overall. What’s more, it’s a printer that’s at home with smartphone printing, with Bluetooth and NFC pairing plus photo printing direct from the cloud or HP’s smartphone app. capacitive screen on the Envy Photo is a lot easier to use and more responsive than the old-school resistive horrors you used to find on HP’s all-in-ones, but it’s still not great.