The word “quick” doesn’t spring to mind when you think of photo printing, but that’s changing--welcome news for anyone frustrated by the snail-like pace of most inkjet printers.

In fact, some inkjet printers in our latest tests were downright speedy at spitting out photos. Many produced a typical 8x10 image in about 2 to 4 minutes and a 4x6 in a minute or two. That’s half the time it took in our 2005 tests.

Printer makers haven’t cut corners on image quality to boost speed. Most new inkjets can deliver excellent or very good prints, comparable to what you’d get from a lab. (Printer testing was done in partnership with International Consumer Research & Testing, a worldwide association of 37 consumer groups, including Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.)

Speed isn’t the only development that will please digital photographers. A number of features make it easier to print photos at home, including bigger LCD viewers--up to 3.5 inches--for choosing and cropping images, and secondary trays that you can load with 4x6 paper.

There are also more ways to get images to the printer. PictBridge, now widely available at all price levels, lets you connect a printer to a camera with a thin cable. Alternatively, you can take the memory card from a camera and slide it into the card reader on many printers, even some selling for less than $100.

If you prefer to print on the fly, you can use the newer wireless connectivity features showing up on more printers, usually as an extra-cost option. Wi-Fi lets you print from your laptop with no physical connection. Infrared connectivity, sometimes called IrDA, and Bluetooth enable you to grab pictures from compatible camera phones and cameras.

Other improvements address long-standing gripes about inkjet prints. Advances in ink and paper technology have made photos more water-resistant and less likely to fade over time, even when exposed to light. Faster-drying ink has minimized the risk that you’ll smear a print by touching it too soon.