If you want a colour multifunction device but favor a laser engine to an inkjet, there are an ever-increasing number of devices on offer. Dell's entry-level offering is the 1235cn, a machine which propose print, copy, scan, and fax along with photo print in one compact, all-black component.

A quick look from top to base discloses a 15-sheet Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) for scanning or else photocopying multi-page documents, being assembled on top of an A4, flatbed scanner. The visibly laid-out control panel contains a number pad for fax dialing (but no quick-dial buttons) with a 2-line, 16-character backlit LCD screen, which is sufficient for displaying toner status as well as menu navigation but a bit overcrowded for working your way around the folders on a USB drive.

We state the drive as a socket presently below the control panel doubles up for mutually USB drives with PictBridge cameras. It's strange to have a PictBridge socket on a colour laser machine, but helpful for producing fast prints from a camera. A 150-sheet paper tray protrudes from the base of the machine plus has no single-sheet feed for exceptional media. At the back of the machine are both USB as well as Ethernet sockets: it's more and more helpful to have network connection even on a machine aimed at the home market.

One preceding point is that the 1235cn is extremely comparable in appearance to Samsung's series of small colour multifunction units (we suppose Samsung makes them for Dell). Samsung's CLX-3175FN, which costs around £30 more than the 1235cn, offers extremely similar functions but significantly cheaper consumables, bringing the page costs down.

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