Thermal-dye printers aren't new. In fact the concept predates color inkjets. For years the technology was too expensive for consumer use. Now that digital photography's in full swing, however, companies like Kodak have invested heavily in the technology. Dell took Kodak's engine and combined it with some smart printing features to come up with the 540.

The 540 prints individual 4x6 sheets by laying color in four passes — one each for cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The thermal dye fuses to the paper so you can't even scrape it off with your fingernail. The oil on your fingers does nothing to the image, and the same goes for water. Even accidentally tearing a picture is unlikely, since the paper is coated with durable plastic. In short, it's an ideal printer for baby pictures, especially if there's a chance baby hands will be all over them.

You can print pictures from several sources and in several ways. If you want to be old fashioned, the old plug-it-into-the-PC-and-hit-"Print" method is perfectly acceptable. If your digital camera is PictBridge-enabled — and if you bought it this year and spent more than $300, it probably is — you can plug it directly into the 540, pull up your shots and send them on through.

The 540 also has card slots on the front and a color LCD screen for selecting shots. The card slots mean you can use the printer to save shots on your PC, without having to plug in your camera, but it's also pretty slow, owing to the fact that it uses the relatively pokey USB connection, instead of the high-speed version. CompactFlash, SD, Memory Stick, MMC and SmartMedia memory cards are supported; the xD format from Fujifilm and Olympus is not.

The question that most people have when it comes to photo printing is, how economical is it? The paper and ink cartridges are bundled together, and you can buy in 40, 80 or 120 sheet packs (for $20 to $47). So, after you sink the initial $180 on the printer, which includes the first 40 sheets plus ink, you're looking at between 39 cents and 50 cents per print, depending on how big refill packs you buy. Compared to Wal-MartŐs advertised 24 cents per print, that may seem a little rich, but 540 gives you durable photomat-type prints at home.