

There's a little burring around the edges of the characters, and a little smudging at low point sizes. Text printing is vivid and stands out well, but lacks the precision of the best-in-class inkjets. Given its incredibly low price, you wouldn't expect – and don't get – an output to match the best printers in HP's Officejet or Photosmart ranges. When it comes to print quality, the HP Deskjet 2540 could best be described as 'good enough'. Indeed, paper handling as a whole is very basic, with no automatic Duplex and a rear sheet feeder as the only input source – there's no internal paper tray. The HP Deskjet 2540 All-in-One's display and lack of media printing aren't the only reason it's not ideal for photographers. It also means you have to connect through USB and then switch to wireless printing using the Setup Assistant, but it's easy to do and it's a task you only have to complete once.

Naturally, lack of a colour screen only really matters if you're printing images from media such as SD cards or USB sticks, and the HP Deskjet 2540 All-in-One lacks ports for such removable media anyway. There are only two ink tanks a black, and a tri-colour cartridge offering cyan, magenta and yellow inks. Given the price tag, the HP Deskjet 2540 All-in-One inevitably makes a few compromises, though thankfully none of them are likely to be deal-breakers for those looking for a printer in this price range. This also means although the scanner is A4 in size, at the bottom the HP Deskjet 2540 All-in-One is just 18cm deep just the thing if you've a suitably robust shelf you want to use it on.

The front sweeps back from top to base, making it look like the bow of a ship. Its ivory white finish and relatively small footprint make it ideal for home use. The HP Deskjet 2540 All-in-One is reasonably well built, but lacks the heavy-duty robustness associated with the company's Officejet printers. There's no Ethernet, so network connections must be wireless. Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets and smartphones are catered for too.

Unusually for a printer of this price, it's Apple AirPrint compatible, so you can print directly from your Mac or iOS devices, quickly and easily.
