Dell Photo All in One Printer 944

Slow colour printing, but an otherwise quality multi-function device

The Dell Photo All in One Printer 944 is one of the company's latest inkjet MFDs and is being sold from £121 for the most basic setup.

This MFD is a twin-cartidge photo printer that can print at a maximum resolution of 4,800 x 1,200 dpi. During testing, it took six minutes, 25 seconds to print an A4 borderless photo at best quality, which isn’t exactly nippy.

The resulting image was good in terms of colour but, up close, lacked the precise detail to that of photo printers we’ve seen with multiple colour cartridges.

Replacing the 944 with high-capacity colour and mono cartridges costs £44.50 and will prove more economical over standard size cartridges.

The integrated A4 flatbed scanner can scan up to 1,200 x 2,400dpi (19,200dpi interpolated) and has a 48bit colour depth.

Scan quality was as expected for an MFD of this price; detailed enough for home scanning but lacking the depth required for more professional use.

The 944 reminds us of the Dell 540 photo printer, albeit three times as big. There’s a 2.4in flip-up LCD screen on the front for viewing images from a memory card and printing photos without a PC.

The in-built software can enhance, crop, rotate, resize and re-brighten images and does this all within a straightforward menu system.

Using the buttons on top of the printer, you can also copy, print, scan and fax documents with ease, however you’ll need an Internet connected PC for the latter.

The All in One Printer 944 is large and clunky, but ultimately good at what it does and the supplied printer software is clear and simple to navigate.

It’s a little slow printing large colour photos, and the image quality won’t please those looking for perfect photo prints, but on the whole it’s a decent MFD at a good price.