Until, recently I had an Epson Stylus Photo 950 (960 in the US), and it was the biggest pile of cr*p ever.

If you were a Windows user, then all of the advertised features worked just fine. Try and print borderless with a Mac or Linux, and you were stuffed. Epson simply don't have a clue when it comes to plaforms other than Windows.

In addition, any time I left the printer for more than a few days, the head would dry out, and I'd spend about half an hour running cleaning cycles.

As for the cost of the ink......just don't get me started.

I've recently purchased a Canon Pixma 4000, and it's the best printer I've ever owned. It's great at text and graphics, and also fantastic for photos. It has a duplex capability for double sided printing, two paper trays (so you can have your A4/letter and photo paper loaded at the same time) and CD/DVD printing (in the UK, anyway. I believe the US models, don't have this.). I was a bit sceptical about the quality with only 5 inks (cyan, yellow, magenta, black and photo black), but it's brilliant. It easily produces prints that match my old Epson (which had 7 inks).

Best of all, it uses the same ink tank system that most Canon printers from the last 5 years have featured. This means that the cartridges are very reasonable. If you use non-OEM ink, you can buy a whole set for about $5!!!!!

There is a new version of this printer (IP4200), which is supposed to deliver even better results. The only downside is a new ink tank system, which means the existing cartridges aren't compatible.

If you are in the market for a great all round printer, you can't go wrong with the Pixma.

Andy.