Combining a scanner and printer is a neat trick, but combining high-resolution printing and scanning can be a crowd-pleaser, especially if you don't have acres of desk space for multiple peripherals.

At $180, Lexmark's X85 multifunction machine is reason enough for home-office owners to jump for a bit of joy. Its printer output is fantastic, with great photo quality (at resolutions up to 4,800-by-1,200 dots per inch) that stands up to images from some of the better photo inkjet printers on the market. The scanner surface is letter size and handles resolutions up to 600-by-1,200 dots per inch with 48-bit color depth.

Lexmark has produced some fine, inexpensive printers over the past few years, with occasional foul-ups. But, thankfully, a paper-feeding problem that we encountered with the Lexmark Z65 doesn't show up in this model.

While the X85's installation was relatively easy, the quick-install directions don't specifically say which of the two ink cartridges goes where. The instructions use color coding rather than words to say that the black cartridge goes on the right and that the color cartridge (with a yellow head) goes on the left.

The X85 connects to the computer via a Universal Serial Bus port cable. Drivers for a Macintosh can be downloaded from the Internet; drivers for Windows 98 or later are included in the box.

I was pleased with both printing and scanning. Fast and efficient (about 10 pages per minute for black-and-white documents), the X85 is a solid desktop inkjet contender for home users. Unfortunately, this machine doesn't send or receive faxes on its own. But in this day and age of computer fax programs, the X85 can pull off the physical part of the process - scanning in a document - while software can handle the sending and receiving.

Information: 800-539-6275 or www.lexmark.com.