Pros & Cons
-
- Three-function AIO (prints, scans, copies)
- Borderless photo printing up to 11 by 17 inches
- Connection options include Ethernet, as well as USB, Wi-Fi, and mobile printing support
- Prints from and scans to USB flash drives and SD cards
- Can print on printable-surface optical discs
-
- No automatic document feeder
- Scans up to letter and A4 size only
- Holds only one sheet of 11-by-17-inch paper
Epson Expression Photo XP-980 Specs
| Color or Monochrome | Color |
| Connection Type | Ethernet |
| Connection Type | USB |
| Connection Type | Wi-Fi |
| Connection Type | Wi-Fi Direct |
| Cost Per Page (Color) | 18 cents |
| Cost Per Page (Monochrome) | 4.6 cents |
| Direct Printing From Media Cards | |
| Direct Printing From USB Thumb Drives | |
| LCD Preview Screen | |
| Maximum Scan Area | 8.5" x 11.7" |
| Maximum Standard Paper Size | Tabloid |
| Monthly Duty Cycle (Maximum) | Not rated |
| Monthly Duty Cycle (Recommended) | Not rated |
| Number of Ink Cartridges/Tanks | 6 |
| Number of Ink Colors | 6 |
| Print Duplexing | |
| Printer Input Capacity | 100+1+20 (photo paper only); 1 disc |
| Printing Technology | Inkjet |
| Rated Speed at Default Settings (Color) | 8 ppm |
| Rated Speed at Default Settings (Mono) | 8.5 ppm |
| Scanner Optical Resolution | 1,200 by 1,200 pixels per inch |
| Scanner Type | Flatbed |
| Standalone Copier and Fax | Copier |
| Type | All-in-one |
The Epson Expression Photo XP-980 has a lot in common with the Epson XP-8800, one of our Editors' Choice picks for a photocentric all-in-one (AIO) printer. Among the features both share are a six-color ink system, a 4.3-inch color touch-screen control panel, and conveniences such as an output tray that automatically extends from its closed position when you start a print job. However, the XP-980 differs from its close cousin in two important ways: adding an Ethernet jack, and offering a larger maximum print size. It's also a little more expensive, at $379.99 list. The good news is that the extra features justify the price. They also make the XP-980 our Editors' Choice for a photocentric home AIO for those who need to print at a larger size than the XP-8800 can handle.
Design: A Big Boy for Bigger Paper
Because the XP-980 is designed to hold larger paper than the XP-8800's letter- and legal-size stock, it's also bigger. With the trays closed, it measures 5.8 by 18.9 by 14 inches (HWD).
(Credit: M. David Stone)Extending the output tray in front and the one tabloid-size input tray in back increases the depth to 26.3 inches and doubles the height to 11.6 inches. However, the printer weighs only 19.4 pounds, making it easy for one person to move it into place.
Setup Process: A Straightforward Six-Shooter
Except for having six ink cartridges—which makes it easier to produce subtle color gradations than printers with just four—setup is standard. Download the software from Epson's website, and run through the automated steps, which include picking the connection to use.
For my tests using our standard testbed, I connected by Ethernet. USB, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct are also available, however. Note that Arm support is available in drivers for Windows 11 24H2 or later with full functionality, according to Epson.
(Credit: M. David Stone)Printhead alignment is automatic, a relatively new feature in Epson printers, and highly welcome for a printer with six ink colors. The automated setup routine guides you through printing an alignment page and placing it on the flatbed. The printer scans the image, then analyzes the results and adjusts the printhead settings as appropriate.
Epson also offers apps for both iOS and Android, with support for AirPrint, Android printing, and Mopria for both printing and scanning. You can also scan to an assortment of cloud services—including Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote, and OneDrive—and can both print from and scan to USB memory keys and SD cards.
The USB port is conveniently located at the bottom corner of the front panel, on the left side as you face the printer. The SD card slot is hidden behind a small door just above that.
(Credit: M. David Stone)Paper Handling: We Do Discs, Too
One feature that's easy to miss if you don't know to look for it is the tray for printable optical discs. It ships and is meant to be stored when not in use in a slot on the underside of the main paper tray. Designing labels and printing on the discs is easy, thanks to Epson's Photo+ app. But be sure to read the manual for details before trying it.
The general paper handling is suitable for only light-duty home use, but it's surprisingly flexible. The main tray at the bottom front can hold up to 100 sheets of paper, up to legal-size. It supports auto duplexing (two-sided printing), which worked as promised in my tests with letter-size paper. However, it doesn't support automatic duplexing for legal-size paper.
A second tray just above it lets you load up to 20 sheets of Epson's Premium Photo Paper Glossy. It accepts only limited paper sizes—from 3.5 by 5 inches to 5 by 7 inches, as well as wide-format 4 by 7.1 inches (for printing at 16:9 aspect ratio)—but it lets you keep both that photo paper and your plain paper loaded at all times.
Finally, a rear tray at the back of the top panel accepts only one page at a time but can handle sizes up to tabloid (11 by 17 inches) or A3 (11.7 by 16.5 inches). Note that the XP-980 can print borderless photos at either size. Both the main tray and rear tray can handle either plain paper or photo paper.
Similar Products
Our Current Picks for The Best Inkjet Printers for 2026
(Credit: M. David Stone)Epson doesn't suggest a recommended maximum monthly page count for the XP-980. Assuming you want to keep refills to once a week or less, the 100-page capacity would translate to as many as 400 pages per month, which easily should be enough for most home use. For scanning, there's no automatic document feeder. You can scan only one letter- or A4-size page at a time on the 8.5-by-11.7-inch flatbed.
As with most cartridge-based inkjets, the XP-980's running costs are relatively high. Based on prices and rated yields as given on Epson's website, the cost per page (CPP) for the high-capacity cartridges (the most economical) is 4.6 cents per standard mono page and 18 cents per standard color page. Keep in mind that these running costs are largely irrelevant to the cost of photo prints, since they're based on a standard set of text and graphics pages.
Performance Testing: Speeds on Par for a Photo Printer
To put the XP-980's results in context, I compared it with a photocentric single-function wide-format printer—the Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000—and two other photocentric AIOs aimed at home users: the Epson XP-8800 mentioned up top, and the Canon Pixma TS9521C. (This specific Canon model, as tested, is discontinued, but Canon says the current Pixma TS9521Ca is identical except for the absence of Bluetooth Low Energy support, which was used strictly as one option for initial setup when PCMag tested the first model.)
Briefly, as the chart above shows, the TS9521C was the fastest of the four for printing our Microsoft Word text file, both for first-page-out (FPO) time and for printing the pages after the first. As the chart below shows, the XP-980 was the fastest in the group for printing our full business applications suite, which adds Excel, PDF, and PowerPoint files. However, each of the printers came in first or tied for first on at least one of the Excel files, the XP-15000 and XP-8800 were tied for first on the PDF file, and the XP-980 came in first for the PowerPoint file. In short, which printer will be fastest in real-world use depends largely on what you print.
Given the photocentric nature of all these models, the results of our photo printing tests with photo paper are likely more interesting than the speeds of our business suite using plain paper. In the photo tests, the TS9521C was again first, averaging just 23 seconds for 4-by-6-inch photos. Second place went to the XP-8800 at 29 seconds, and third place to the XP-980 at 35 seconds, leaving the XP-15000 in last place, at 37 seconds.
Keep in mind that the actual print speed will vary depending on the paper type you're using, the quality setting, and the tray you use. However, these results give a good sense of the relative speeds of the printers. More important, even the slowest in the group is well within an acceptable range.
Output Quality: Impressive Photos, Satisfactory Text
Photo output quality for the XP-980, using Epson Photo Paper Glossy, was excellent overall across all the issues I typically look for. Contrast, shadow detail, and color quality were all top-tier, and I didn't see any hint of dithering or posterization (sudden changes in shading where it should change gradually).
(Credit: M. David Stone)Scanning a photo and then printing it showed a slight color shift, along with a minor loss of shadow detail and a similar loss of the subtle shading that gives rounded objects a sense of three-dimensionality. But even those reprints were at the high end of drugstore quality rather than the professional photo lab quality of the originals. Copied photos—as opposed to the ones I scanned and then printed—were closer to the low end of drugstore quality. So if you want to reproduce photos on the XP-980, it's worth taking the time to scan them first, then print them, in two steps.
Graphics output in our official tests was good, using default settings and plain paper. Thin lines held nicely, and I saw no visible dithering, posterization, or banding. However, the overall impression left by the graphics was a step down from the photo quality, primarily because the colors were closer to pastels than to vibrant, saturated hues. Some informal tests confirmed that using either presentation matte or photo paper improved the color quality of graphics to superb. However, you have to be willing to pay the extra cost for the high-quality paper.
(Credit: Epson/PCMag)Text quality on plain paper is easily good enough for most purposes. All the fonts in our test suite that you'd use in a business document were easily readable at 6 points, and more than half were easily readable even at 4 points. However, edges were a touch less than laser-sharp, even at 10 and 12 points. In our tests, one of the two stylized fonts with heavy strokes we use was readable at 12 points but not well-formed. The one that's easier to render well earned the same description at 8 points.
On our ink smudge tests using plain paper, black text didn't smudge at all from a highlighter and showed only minor smudging with water, so it was still readable. Color inks in graphics on plain paper resisted smudging from water, but the pages were left with water stains, resulting in lower color saturation and, in some cases, color changes. For photos and graphics on the supplied photo paper, much the same was true, except that the water stains didn't affect color saturation or hue.
Final Thoughts
(M. David Stone)
Epson Expression Photo XP-980
Top-tier borderless photo prints up to 11 by 17 inches—plus scanning, copying, and even printable-disc support—make the Epson Expression Photo XP-980 a standout photo-centric home printer.