Justin Yu here, Associate Editor for CNET.com.
Today, I'm taking a first look at the Epson WorkForce 645 Multifunction Printer.
So for a $150 bucks the 645 is a capable performer that's for small offices, thanks to it do-it-all features.
It's an all-in-one which means you get a printer, scanner, and a fax machine along with a copier with the control panel in the front that amidst the complications of a touch screen and lieu of real buttons.
Despite all those features inside, Epson manages to keep it's footprint relatively manageable.
All of the trays do close from the 30 sheet document feeder on top, that's for hands free scanning, all the way down to the 250 sheet paper input tray on the bottom and the only part of the printer that gets bulky is the rear mounted auto duplexer but that's a worth while sacrifice for a tool that automatically will flip over your sheets for economic double sided printing.
Looking back to the control panel in the front, you get a host of buttons for one-touch copy settings as well as a list of speed dial buttons for the fax machine.
You'll also notice a media card reader on the left hand side.
That's a port compact flash cards, XD and SD cards from your digital cameras, as well as a pick bridge USB port for saving and printing pictures directly off a thumb drive.
So you can connect the printer to a computer using one of 2 ways, a hard wired USB connection or using the built-in 802.11 BG wireless print server.
It's really easy to connect and it only took me about 2 minutes to input my network information and I was up and printing without cords.
There's also an ethernet port on the back if you want multiple people to use it in an office.
If this printer is just for you though, WiFi really is the best way for connectivity 'cause I love to use Epson's free mobile Printing Suite.
Those apps let you output photos taken on smart phones directly to the printer.
Epson also recently launch compatibility with it's connect e-mail print apps that let you send jobs directly to the printer's e-mail address.
Anyone can use that idea to print through the cloud and actually it's also mentioned that the 645 works with Google Cloud Print and Apple Air Print.
You can read all the details including a speed and quality performance scores in our full review on CNET.com but that's gonna do it for me.
I'm Justin Yu.
You just took a first look at the Epson WorkForce 645 Multifunction Printer.
Thanks for watching.
