A four-color page would cost about 16.5 cents. Its standard-size cartridges include a $15.19, 265-page black, which comes out to a middling 5.7 cents per page each $12.34, 340-page color cartridge costs an above-average 3.6 cents per page. Ink costs, depending on how much you print, will eventually nullify the Stylus NX420’s bargain purchase price. When we opted for higher-quality print modes and Epson photo paper, we got much better results. At default settings our text samples looked realistically black but fuzzy around the edges, while photos appeared washed out. The Stylus NX420’s print quality suffers on plain paper, even the nicer-quality Hammermill Laser Print stock that we use for most of our testing. A simple one-page copy took 17 seconds (about average), but a mix of full-page and partial-page color photo scans were noticeably slower than the mean. Our high-resolution, near-full-page photo printed on the Mac took over 3 minutes to print (0.3 ppm), another below-average time. Snapshot-size photos printed on the PC at a midrange 3 ppm on plain paper and a subpar 0.8 ppm on photo paper. Standard-quality text pages printed at below-average speeds of 5 pages per minute on the PC and 4.9 ppm on the Mac. The Stylus NX420 was a mediocre to slow performer in our tests. The bundled Easy Scan and Easy Photo Print applications are capable, though their utilitarian interfaces are better suited for experienced users beginners might wish for more hand-holding. However, you will find a few surprisingly advanced features, namely wireless connectivity and a 1.5-inch color LCD screen. The MFP lacks an automatic document feeder for scanning or copying multipage documents.

Paper handling consists of a low-capacity 100-sheet vertical rear paper feed and a simple, letter/A4-size flatbed scanner. The Stylus NX420 sits squarely in the home and student user category. Competitors include the Canon Pixma MP495, which costs a little less, and the HP Photosmart e-All-in-One, which costs a bit more but offers cloud-based apps. Since its ongoing ink costs are high, however, it’s not exactly a bargain, making it best for light use only. The Epson Stylus NX420 color inkjet multifunction (print/copy/scan) provides good output, decent performance, and wireless connectivity for just $100 (as of November 1, 2010).

How do i change nx420 epson ink