Epson Stylus NX515

Fastest output speeds on any inkjet to date; outstanding print quality; compact footprint; inexpensive; robust driver options.
Design and features
The sleek design of the Epson Stylus NX515 certainly sets it apart from other all-in-ones. We like the carbon-weave pattern that runs across the entire hood of the control panel. The grainy texture makes it easy to lift up and protects the lid from unsightly fingerprints as well. Like most printers, the finish is black, which leaves the printer with a subtle elegance that should fit comfortably into any office aesthetic. The output tray and the rear-loading paper feed both fold flat into the device, which measures 17.7 inches wide, 21.3 inches deep, and 11.7 inches tall--about the average size for today's printers. The printer is also compact and easy to store, since the depth and height shrink down more than 5 inches with the trays retracted.

The buttons on the control panel are all laid out in an intuitive strip on the left side of the machine. Starting from that top, you can see the large 2.5-inch tilting LCD screen that only takes up approximately 80 percent of the display, leaving an elegant black border around the edges. Below that, there's a series of buttons including a power switch, four shortcut function buttons for copy, memory card access, photo, and scan, as well as a directional pad for menu navigation and four more buttons for setup, display/crop, stop, and start. We usually require a 10-minute learning curve to digest all of the buttons on a printer, but we were up and running on the NX515 very quickly--a testament to the intuitive layout on the control panel. epson stylus nx515