With today’s inkjet printers, printing top-notch photos at home is a snap. You don’t even have to turn on your computer thanks to a growing list of photo-friendly features.

One-button editing on some printers makes it easy to reduce red-eye and adjust contrast, brightness, and sharpness. More printers now have LCD viewers, some measuring up to 3.6 inches diagonally, for choosing and editing photos.

Connection options are expanding as well. A few new models offer infrared connectivity so you can transfer pictures from your cell phone to a printer. Others let you add an optional adapter for use with Bluetooth cameras and phones. Card readers, which let you print from a camera’s memory card, and PictBridge for importing images from a camera over a slim cable have become standard on most printers.

Dedicated printer or all-in-one? All inkjets can print photos, text, and graphics such as greeting cards and Web pages in color or black-and-white. All-in-ones can also make color copies, scan images and text into a computer, and sometimes fax. The two types have similar print performance. While all-in-ones cost more than a dedicated printer, they cost less than separate devices, take up less space, and require fewer connections.

Insist on top print quality. Many of the inkjet printers we’ve tested produce very good or excellent photos and text, so don’t settle for less. Consult our Ratings (available to subscribers) before buying.

Compare speed. The fastest models in our tests churned out snapshots in just over a minute, but some took 3 to 5 minutes. The differences are greater with 8x10-inch photos, ranging from a speedy 1.5 minutes to 12 with the slowpokes.

Don’t expect to achieve advertised speeds. We’ve seen claimed times as fast as 12 seconds for a 4x6-inch photo; in our tests, the printer in question took 2 minutes at the quality settings you’d probably use. Each brand figures speed differently, so use our Ratings to compare them.

Consider print costs. Don’t automatically go for the cheapest printer, because print costs add up over the long run. Over time, a higher-priced printer with a low cost per copy might cost you less than a cheaper one with a higher per-print cost.

Think about ink. Our tests have shown that extra photo inks don’t necessarily improve overall photo quality. Separate ink tanks, rather than one cartridge holding multiple colors, are becoming more common; Hewlett-Packard is the latest to jump on this bandwagon. This approach lets you replace only the color that runs out. It might save you money, but not much in our experience.

Avoid printers that don’t use a black-ink cartridge. They mix cyan, yellow, and magenta to create a process black, which can be muddy or gray-looking. A few models require you to swap the black cartridge for a special photo-ink cartridge, which can be inconvenient.

Consider connectivity. Make sure you have the connection options you need. If you want to hook up directly to an Ethernet network, you’ll have to be choosy; relatively few models have that capability. Many printers use USB 1.1, some 2.0. Though ads may hype 2.0, it won’t improve your print speed, so that shouldn’t play a part in your decision.

Look for features you’ll use. A separate paper tray for 4x6 paper is handy. On all-in-ones, a document feeder is helpful for copying or faxing multiple pages, and a built-in fax modem lets you send and receive faxes when the computer is turned off. Some all-in-one printers can scan negatives and slides, using a backlight and a film holder; look for optical resolution of at least 2400 dpi and 48-bit color depth. Note that some models, especially all-in-ones, don’t support Macs.

Consider other printer types. If all you print is black-and-white text, a laser is your best bet. For printing snapshots only, consider a compact photo printer. See CR Quick Recommendations for laser and inkjet printers (both available to subscribers).