Labs

At £172, Canon's Pixma MP750 is the most expensive multifunction device in this test. Fortunately, it's easy to see where all this money has been spent. The MP750 is large, but feels solidly made and looks very stylish considering its size. It could easily take up half of a small desk, but it wouldn't look out of place in a home office. It's one of only two devices in the group to include an automatic document feeder, or ADF. This device automatically feeds sheets of paper through the scanner, making photocopying a bundle of pages a breeze.

Inside the MP750 is an unusual arrangement of five ink cartridges. These include four individual colour ink tanks for cyan, magenta, yellow and black, alongside a second, larger black ink tank. The four colour tanks are used for printing photos and graphics, while the larger black ink tank takes care of producing black and white documents quickly. Having all the colours in separate tanks saves on waste and money, as you only replace the ones you have used up.

The MP750 excelled in our print

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tests, producing the best results in every test bar one. It's fast, too - printing our A4 borderless photo test in just 3 minutes 18 seconds, and the result was even better than the Epson's which took almost ten times as long. It printed the best five-page black text document in just 1 minute 11 seconds. With two paper inputs, the MP750 is ideal for printing both photos and documents - you can load photo paper in the drawer and plain A4 in the rear input tray, selecting the correct one on your computer when you print.

With its document feeder on top, the MP750 is ideal for use as a copier in a small office or home business. It produced superb copies in both black and white and colour, and it's quick. The first copy of our text document appeared in just over 20 seconds, with a second copy only 9 seconds behind it. The backlit LCD display on its control panel makes it incredibly easy to choose options like copy quality.

The MP750 also produced the best scans in the group. We tested it with both a document, scanned at a reasonable quality setting of 600 dots per inch (dpi), and a photo. The MP750 produced the best result in both, with a clear, accurate image in the 600dpi test and an accurately coloured photograph.

If you want the best multifunction device and are prepared to pay for it, the MP750 is the one to choose. It's well built, easy to use and produces the best results whether you're scanning, copying or printing. If you run a home business or want a versatile device for your office, this is the one to pick. A version with an integrated 33.6Kbps fax machine, the MP780, is available for around £30 more.