I thought I'd report back for people who are still looking. I ended up getting the Canon Pixma MX850 (after seeing the review at pcmag.com which suggested that there were substantial improvements over the earlier model (they were not directly comparing it to the mx700, but rather a recent MP??? model. Nevertheless, it sounded like this 850 was better than what came before (the details about how skip my mind, but I know in readin it, it seemed worthwhile). I had someone set up the Canon on Friday. It is big (and as Jane said, it's attractive and seems commercial in quality). I LOVE IT. The software is not bulky like HP, and it was easy to connect the printer to my desktop, my daughter's, my husband's laptop and my laptop. I can scan documents and the wonderful lcd display will walk me through simple steps. It asks if I'm scanning from the platen or document feeder, if it should be saved to a pc or faxed or emailed (I believe those were the choices). Then you can choose which computer to receive the scan (that computer must be on to receive it - otherwise I think it could be sent as an email attachment to be loaded on the computer later), and whether it should be saved as a pdf file or jpg. There are other formats for saving it in as well but I haven't tried that yet. There's also a way to optically capture the text and turn it into a text document which I think can be edited (for those without the expensive Acrobat Writer which allows editing of PDF files but costs a few hundred dollars). I know some of the above is very simple and naive, but I've included for folks like myself who have no idea what they were looking for. It easily prints in color or black. It has a duplexer. I'm not sure I'll care that much about printing two-sided documents, but I love the either of feeding 2-sided documents in the ADF (auto document feeder) and being able to copy or scan them without standing there and changing pages. That was a huge factor for me in getting this over the MX700 which doesn't have a duplexer. At first I hadn't considered the convenience of copying and scanning 2-sided documents by loading the sheets in the ADF, pressing a button and walking away. That's convenient. This printer is also remarkably quiet. I was used to loud functioning from my HP PSC 950 and didn't realize printers could be so quiet. I could even carry on a business call without interference. I'm thrilled with this machine (which Dell has for $239 - best price I found). Even my husband who saw no reason for obsessing about this choice is amazed at how much functionality and ease of use is packed into a $240 machine. When he saw what it did, he assumed I'd paid over $500. Lynn.

Gee, I sorry if I was feeling "too good" about my purchase. But, I say if you haven't put your hands on one your experience with his machine is less than mine. At least you have spared me from someone buying one of these because "Jerry said" is worth $400. My reference to that number is what I recall reading in the add, recalling how much these machines costs just a couple of years ago. This machine came without any reference to Windows 8, has the good old fashioned glossy documentation makes me think it was "designed for" sale in a higher priced market.. If one has a home network and want to share a printer, they might be happier (at an additional cost of at least $50) if the printer is accessed off of Ethernet or WiFi. On the W8, I moved forward first on my W8 notebook to access that printer. With the great help from this site I used the information to set the printer as "shared" on the XP host computer. I then followed the directions to use the W8 Control Panel to open the network (hey, this was all looking familiar) and bingo there I found my XP machine and thus the Printer. I doubled clicked the Canon printer and W8 started to look for a driver.... I'll estimate 3 or 4 minutes later I got a failure to find a driver. The next step upon this type failure indicated to try to install the printer in W8 (W7 really specified) and that failed too. I went to the Canon web site and downloaded a driver for W8. Now ready I went back to the W8 Control Panel and opened the network and this time I couldn't find even the XP machine, never mind the printer. It was after 11 PM by that time so I decided to try again in the morning -yet to be accomplished. But, before bed I decided to look at the DVD that came with the printer. it has no indication of what OS systems it supported, but I put it in the W8 and loaded both the driver and the software to operate the scanner (which by the way is a low resolution color scanner.. low resolution for B&W too, not a picture quality scanner which is the case for all home machines I have owned). I'm yet to try again to gain access from the W8 and W7 computers. Now on my second cup of coffee, and will try to access the XP machine when I get energetic enough to go to the other room and turn it on.

Hi Barb, There are a couple different technologies in use for photo printers. Most consumer grade printers are inkjet printers. The secondary technology which you see particularly in some of the smaller format printers is dye-sublimation. What you need to consider is: 1. Picture quality. 2. Qperating costs. 3. Image stability. The image stability of some of these materials falls into the "don't blink" category -- in other words the prints fade really fast. There are printers out there that make prints that fade in less than a year. At any cost these are a waste of money. So let's start here. Henry Wilhelm is THE authority on the fade resistance of inks, dyes, etc. used in the art world. Avoid buying any printer from a manufacturer that does not cooperate with Wilhelm Research (see link below) in determining the durability of their materials. Look over Henry's site for detailed info on this topic. When you buy a printer you should know what Henry has determined is the life expectancy of prints from that printer. If Henry hasn't determined it you should assume the worst. I've paid attention to Henry's work for years and can give you this quick synopsis: Most of the smaller dye-sub printers available now do a poor job when it comes to image stability. A few years ago Canon was not fully cooperating with Henry, but they have been recently and their newest inks are getting good marks. Epson has taken this issue most seriously and done the most to create fade resistant materials. Many of the re-fill inks available out there fall into the "don't blink" category. Among the inkjets Canon, Epson and HP are competitive in the quality category and lead the industry. All three make beautiful prints. I've been using Epson for years now -- my decision was made earlier on and fade resistance was the tipping point for me. A secondary quality issue is B&W. Most of these printers are designed for color and make gosh awful B&W prints. If you think you want to do any B&W you're going to want to look at the higher end Epson or Canon printers that are designed for B&W. One of my friends (professional photographer) just bought the new Canon printer and is very happy with both it's color and B&W results. Given item 2 above the purchase cost of the printer can be a minor consideration. At $10-12 each for a photo printer that takes 8 ink cartridges we're talking about $90.00 to load it with small quantities of ink. So once you get past quality and stability you want to look hard at the operating cost of the printer. The loser in this category is Epson with the edge to Canon and HP. They all cost too much to run and you need to look at this hard because there's no sense buying a printer you can't afford to buy ink for. Good luck shopping. Joe Here is a link that might be useful: wilhelm research

DA, I have on many occasion had cartridges dry out. All Three Times were on HP Printers. 1. HP 2000c Professional Series, 2. HP 1100c Professional Series 3. HP 1115p Photosmart. On the Professional Series Printers the Ink Cartridges weren't cheap either! I no longer use HP Products but that goes deeper then Dried Ink Cartridges. Been using Brother Before (Had a Brother HL-1440 B&W Laser) and Since the release of Windows Vista! I use my Brother Printers on a Wireless Network. My Color Lasers aren't wireless but do have LAN Connections. I have 1 at a time wired directly to my Router (other Color Laser is a Backup). My Inkjet is Wireless and no need to be hooked up.