Tall and boxy, the HP LaserJet M1120 MFP looks more like an oversized paper shredder than a fully fledged multifunction printer.

Not that the majority of the target audience (small and home businesses) will be deterred by this. Indeed, given that you get a full mono laser printer, scanner and copier for just $320, customers are likely to forgive the HP LaserJet M1120 MFP its rather basic looks.

Here we've reviewed the standard HP LaserJet M1120 MFP. However, you can buy an additional model, the M1120n, which comes with a built-in 10/100Base-T Ethernet port. The extra cost is likely to amount to just $35, so upgrading to this would seem an obvious move for the typical small business.

Otherwise though, the HP LaserJet M1120 MFP's low asking price doesn't allow for much in the way of advanced features. You don't get any fax or automatic duplexing facilities, for instance.

The HP LaserJet M1120 MFP's standard 32MB of memory can't be upgraded. Neither can you improve on the 250 and 125 input and output trays. But then, those needing to produce high volumes of documents will almost certainly feel the need to go for something with a little more clout.

The HP LaserJet M1120 MFP's text output is of a very decent quality. Prints aren't the darkest, but the letters are clearly formed and documents will typically look extremely professional.

The MFD can turn its hand to mono graphics as well, and the results here are generally clean. The HP LaserJet M1120 MFP is perhaps not the fastest mono laser available, but its rate of 16.2 pages per minute (ppm) should be adequate for most.The HP LaserJet M1120 MFP is a healthy 4.3ppm faster than the $149.00 HL-2140, for instance.

The HP LaserJet M1120 MFP's 24-bit colour scanning component is also pretty decent, churning out an A4 image at 300dpi in just under 16 seconds – 52 seconds was needed for 600dpi.

Even at 300dpi, we were impressed by the amount of colour and detail offered by the HP LaserJet M1120 MFP.

We can't be as enthusiastic about the HP LaserJet M1120 MFP's copying facilities though, and the results here are surprisingly lacklustre.