The Epson Stylus CX7800 ($179.99 direct) is the latest printer in what may become a new category of all-in-ones (AIOs). In addition to filling the traditional AIO slot—as printer, scanner, and copier, in this case—the CX7800 is effectively a standalone photo lab, with no computer needed. It can print directly from PictBridge cameras, memory cards, and 35mm slides and film. Output quality for scanning and printing from film isn't a match for other photo lab AIOs (for lack of a better term), but the CX7800 costs less than half as much as the next least expensive choice. If you're on a tight budget, that makes it the only game in town as a home AIO and photo lab.

Setup is easy and standard fare for an ink jet–based AIO that connects by USB cable and uses four ink cartridges—one each for cyan, yellow, magenta, and black inks. All you need do is find a spot for the 7.8- by 16.6- by 17-inch (HWD) AIO on your desk, plug in the power cord, snap in the ink cartridges, load paper, run the automated installation program, and plug in the USB cable when the program tells you to.

As part of the setup, you can also store the film and slide holder, which is packed separately. The CX7800 provides a spot for it in the scanner's top cover, behind a mat that you need to remove in any case to use the transparency adapter. Having this handy storage space is a nice touch, since it makes it harder to lose the film holder.

Performance, or rather the lack of it, is the CX7800's biggest weakness. On our business applications suite (timed with QualityLogic's hardware and software), the CX7800 turned in a stunningly slow total, 33 minutes 41 seconds. That's more than twice the 15:17 total for our Editors' Choice, the similarly priced Canon Pixma MP500 Photo All-In-One (which does not scan film). And except for Epson's own Stylus CX4800, it's the slowest time we've seen for any ink jet AIO in over a year. The CX4800 and CX7800 essentially tied each other, both for the total time and for each file.

Results on our photo suite were also disappointing, with the CX7800 averaging 3 minutes 11 seconds for a 4-by-6 print and 6:55 for an 8-by-10. The MP500, in contrast, averaged 3:12 for our 8-by-10s—about the same time it takes the CX7800 to print a 4-by-6.

The CX7800 redeemed itself somewhat on text, graphics, and photo output quality, which was on a par with most other ink jets. More than half of our test fonts were easily readable at 5 points, and some were easily readable at 4 points, although two highly stylized fonts required 12 points. Unless you have an unusual need for small fonts, the output should be good enough for school or for printing out documents at home to bring into the office.

The only important problem we saw with graphics was a tendency to lose thin lines. That makes the output easily good enough for school or internal business use—and marginally good enough for output aimed at an important client or customer, as long as you're careful to avoid thin lines.

Photos, unfortunately, are not uniformly of true photo quality. About half the photos in our test suite earned that description, but the rest could pass for true photo quality only at arm's length or if given just a quick glance. The key problems were visible dithering in the form of graininess and hints of color at some gray levels in our monochrome test photo. In general, the photos were all of at least snapshot quality, but not all were good enough for framing or saving in an album. One welcome touch, however, is that they're fully waterproof, so they're less likely to be ruined by handling.

For scanning and printing slides, the CX7800 did a reasonably good job printing at 4-by-6s and a marginal job printing at 8–by-10s. One limit on quality is the scan resolution: 2,400 by 2,400 pixels per inch. Our Editors' Choice, the HP Photosmart 3310 All-In-One, offers 4,800 by 4,800 ppi—but that's one reason the 3310 is so much more expensive. The slow print performance keeps us from giving the CX7800 an enthusiastic recommendation. But if you're on a tight budget and want to scan or print from film and slides, it's certainly worth considering.

See how the Epson CX7800 measures up to other printers in our AIO printer comparison chart.