(Above from left: CANON PIXMA MP568 Photo AIO, CANON PIXMA iP4760 Photo Printer, EPSON Stylus TX550W)

By Adli Yashir

It may be the digital age, but printers still have a place in offices and homes SURE, surfing the Web on the small screen of a smartphone looks cool and reading e-books on an e-reader ups your hip quotient.

But hard copy has not gone the way of the dodo and, for many, reading is still more pleasurable as a hard copy affair.

For these people, printers stay in business. Here is the pick of the printer crop.

CANON PIXMA MP568 Photo AIO
Price: $279 (usual price: $299)
Booth: 8101

Canon has an impressive line-up of printers at the IT Show. The Canon Pixma MP568 Photo AIO or all-in-one is one. It prints wirelessly, churns out six images per minute (ipm) in colour or 9.2 ipm in black and white. Resolution goes up to a maximum of 9,600 x 2,400 dpi, ensuring excellent quality prints. This stylish-looking printer spits out a 4R borderless photo in just 39 seconds and comes with auto duplex. Another interesting feature is the self-opening paper output tray that opens without prompting at the start of each print job, preventing paper jams in the process.

Freebies: Dolce Capsule Stereo Speakers worth $79, black ink worth $20, training worth $26 and trolley worth $13.

CANON PIXMA iP4760 Photo Printer
Price: $159 (usual price: $199)
Booth: 8101

Here is a dedicated A4 photo printer that uses five individual colour ink tanks for that high quality look. The printer spritzes microscopic, 1 picolitre ink droplets up to a print resolution of 9,600 x 2,400 dpi. Details look sharp. It is fast too, churning out 9.2 ipm in black and white and 8.1 ipm in colour. A 4R borderless image is done in just 20 seconds. Other highlights include paper-saving auto duplex feature, direct printing to CD and a two-way paper feeding system so you do not waste time loading and reloading paper of different sizes.

Freebies: Dolce Capsule Stereo Speakers worth $79, black ink worth $20, training worth $26 and trolley worth $13.

CANON LaserShot LBP3050
Price: $129 (usual price: $179)
Booth: 8101

If you deal mainly with black and white documents, here is a possible candidate for your shopping list. The LaserShot LBP3050 Monochrome Printer spits out 14 pages per minute (ppm) at the highest resolution of 2,400 x 600 dpi. An ideal document printer. It starts work quickly and the first print appears in just 8.5 seconds. Weighing just 5.4kg, it is also compact and a good choice when space is at a premium. Works with USB connectivity and comes with 2MB RAM.

Freebies: Dolce Capsule Stereo Speakers worth $79 and trolley worth $13.

EPSON Stylus TX550W
Price: $298 (usual price: $298)
Booth Number: 8115

A speedy print rate of up to 36ppm for black and white and colour is its boast. Wi-Fi connectivity makes sharing this printer a breeze. Combine the built-in multi-memory card slots and the 2.5-inch LCD, and you can use this as a standalone printer - you do not need to hook it up to your PC. The card slots can read images stored in standard memory cards while the 2.5-inch LCD lets you view before you print.

Freebie: $100 NTUC voucher

HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One Series
Price: $669 (usual price: $699)
Booth: 8150

This printer boasts professional colour documents with up to 50 per cent less cost per page and energy than competing laser printers, provided you use HP Officejet inks. The new HP Officejet pigment inks not only dry quickly, they also make printouts more durable and water-resistant - colours will not run even when the print is wet. At normal settings, it prints up to 35 ppm in black and white and up to 34 ppm in colour. If you want laser-comparable quality prints, it can produce up to 15 ppm in black and up to 11 ppm in colour.

Wireless networking means you can share this printer with colleagues without running wires from their PCs to it. Its Direct Digital Filing software allows you to capture, manage and share documents with up to 10 users. For the cost-conscious business user, this printer saves the environment with features like automatic two-sided printing and copying, a junk fax blocker and fax-to-network. The last bit means that it converts the fax to e-mail so that the recipient gets your message in the digital form.

Freebies: Free Norton anti-virus software worth $39 and an additional one-year warranty

Lexmark Prevail Pro 708
Price: $449
Booth: 6364

This AIO A4 inkjet printer is ideal for eco-conscious and budget-conscious users. Its Wireless-N muscle ensures a longer range and more reliable signals for faster file transfers. It also boasts the industry's lowest black printing cost at $7.90 for 510 pages.

Freebies: Ten per cent discount on all supplies, free gift with every purchase of one set of supplies, $100 trade-in promotion.

OKI B410d
Price: $255 (usual price: $355)
Booth: 8433

One of Oki's star products at this year's IT Show is the A4 digital LED monochrome printer. What is so great about LED printers? They have fewer moving parts and are usually faster and more reliable than conventional laser models. This one prints 28 ppm and comes with a built-in duplex. Oki promises a cycle of about 50,000 pages per month, which translates to lower running costs. The printer comes with a three-year warranty and a lifetime warranty on LED printheads.

Freebies: Free suite of productivity software which allows users to control costs, monitor and manage printers via a standard Web browser, as well as produce versatile in-house documents, free upgrade to a network-ready model.

OKI C5650n
Price: $599 (usual price: $699)
Booth: 8433

Here is a colour LED printer that boasts excellent prints. It features ProQ2400 Multilevel technology and MicroFine High Definition toners. The first is an intelligent digital image processing technology to produce prints with subtler tones and smoother gradations of colour, while the latter is a new toner made up of smaller particles compared to previous toners. Together they make nicer prints with deeper colours, finer details and a high gloss feel for that professional look. The machine prints 22ppm in colour and 32 ppm in black and white. It prints banners up to 1.2m long too. OKI also offers a lifetime warranty on its LED printheads.

Freebies: Free suite of productivity software which allows users to control costs, monitor and manage printers via a standard Web browser. Free extended one-year warranty worth $299.

Fuji Xerox Phaser 3124
Price: $129 (usual price: $159)
Booth: 8468

Fuji Xerox has the budget-conscious user in mind for this printer. Fuji Xerox Phaser 3124 is a speedy monochrome machine that churns out 24 ppm. To save costs, it offers features such as "toner save mode" and "power save mode".

Freebies: Free dining vouchers worth $50 with every purchase of the printer, and four lucky buyers stand to win a pair of air tickets from Tiger Airways to Bangkok or Phuket.