At Best Buy yesterday it so happened that an HP sales rep was there to answer questions about their printers. I had one question for the woman: Can I print a 5x7 borderless on 5x7 photo paper? After the HP rep wasted 45 minutes playing with the 7960 trying to determine if and how to do so, she finally concluded that you cannot. You have to print on a 8x10 sheet (centered nonetheless) and crop the whole thing. Plus, I was amazed on how little this HP rep knew about her own product.

I then went to the i900D. The Best Buy clerk had a photo printed borderless on 5x7 paper in less than a minute. Piece of cake. Bottom line, the Canon allows for quick and easy borderless printing on any standard photo size - no centering/cropping needed. Simply tell the printer or its printing software which size you want and it automatically does it. At home last night, I was interchanging between 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10 prints with ease.

i900D photo print quality is excellent from my 5.1 megapix camera (have not tried older 3.1 pictures). The b&w and sepia prints were nothing short of amazing. I found it close to impossible to tell that they were not professional photos. The install was a breeze. I was printing directly from my Sony Memory Stick Duo (if you have a duo card, make sure you have an adapter) even while the driver/software install was going on. The Easy Print software that came with it is excellent for simply printing your photos. Both the software and on-printer "software" are so user-friendly that a monkey could figure out how to print photos in the size wanted.

This previous HP user has been converted.

Phenomenal photo / regular color printer from Canon! (Rating: 5.00)
Review : The Canon i900D is a remarkable color photo printer. Since receiving it, I have had no issues with the setup, instructions, print head or ink cartridges. I'm VERY impressed by this machine and strongly recommend it to anyone who wants professional quality print jobs from a medium- to higher-end color inkjet photo printer.

The six (6) individual color cartridges (included) are fantastic. I love the fact there are multiple cartridges. Instead of running out of yellow -- and having to replace an uber cartridge (which may have semi-full reserves of red and blue), I simply replace the yellow cartridge. No wasted ink cartridges. Canon offers quality, professional-grade ink, too. And the price has been reasonable when compared against other print manufacturers and their wares.

Despite large print runs, I haven't drained them quickly, like the prior HP color photo printer I owned (which also had individual cartridges), even with the same print output settings. And whether using Canon's Pro paper ($$$$) or plain white paper, I'm very impressed with the results.

I would offer this advise to Canon in the design of their future printers, though: 1.) Better paper tray capacity; 2.) memory card slot(s) on the front, akin to HP's design; 3.) networking capabilities; 4.) Linux print drivers/software; and 5.) include a USB connection cable, please!

I wanted the paper tray to hold more paper. As this is a photo printer, and not an office printer, I can understand the limited space.

While there aren't any memory card slots on the printer, there is a USB 2.0 A port on the front side, which my Kodak digital camera base connects to. (There is also a USB 2.0 B port on the printer's backside which can be used, depending on how you're connecting from the printer to your computer.) And I can use both the digital camera's LCD and the printer's LCD to preview/select the picture I want to print without downloading to the computer first. (If you prefer to run large print jobs, I would recommend downloading to the computer first and printing from there.) I would like to see Canon adopt memory card slots for the front of the machine, akin to what HP has been offering. I'd prefer to pull the memory card from my digital camera, insert into the printer and print that way.

I wish Canon (and other companies) would consider networking solutions within their printers. Yes, one computer on the network can serve as a print server (and if necessary, the USB cable can be simply moved from one machine to the other). I'd like to see either USB-based networking enabled, or wireless networking added to the next generation, though.

Linux drivers and software: Bring 'em on! 'Nuff said.

Proof you don't have to spend a lot of $$ ... (Rating: 5.00)
Review : This printer is by far the least amount of money I've ever spent on a printer ... and it's absolutely the best printer I've ever owned! Canon makes the best digital cameras and now, I'm convinced, they make the best printers too. I own an Epson Photo printer and an HP photo printer/scannner/copier. I spent over $300 for each of those and the prints are much better on this Canon than either of those 2 printers. I have a lot of experience on both the HP and Epson printers and I will point out why (...)this is far superior than anything anyone else puts out in this price range or even much higher.

** The ink system in this printer is fantastic! Anyone who has an Epson printer knows that the ink cartridges have a plastic coating over the hole where the ink comes out and when the printer "charges" the ink, it has to kinda drill a hole through it to get the ink to come out. Many times with those cartridges, it takes 2 or 3 times for it to get it right and print correctly. And Epsons drink ink a whole lot faster than this printer does. The HP ink system is just a joke when photo printing with the tri-colored cartridges. (...) With the Canon ink system, you just break off the bottom plug and insert it into the print head. That's it! No ink charging, no print alignment (except for the first time you use the printer and put all the ink cartridges in), nothing. Just close the cover and start printing. They also last much longer than the Epson inks.

** The printer driver is very user friendly. I have my Epson 960 well over a year and still find it very diffucult to get a good print because of all the confusing menus and options in the driver. With the Canon, there's a "print advisor" that kinda walks you through the process of printing a photo without confusing menus. It also has many extra options for printing such as an Image Optimizer and Vivid Color, to name a few. Much better driver in the Canon than in the HP or Epson.

** Print quality ... amazing! I wrote a review about my Epson 960 when I got it about how great the pictures were (when I got it to print right) and I never thought it could get better. Well I printed out a few images from the same CF card and the Canon images came out even better. More contrast, richer colors, and much less "noise" even on lesser quality images. I even printed out 5 of these images on one of those new Kodak kiosks they have at a lot of retail chains now. Not really a fair comparison considering the paper and dye based ink they use but I have to honestly say, the Canon images were absolutely identical to the ones I printed on the kiosk.

Some other nice things about this printer are:

* The built in card reader is a lot faster than the card reader on my computer or my HP all in one.
* It's whisper quiet printing and to even further that, there is an option in the printer driver for "quiet mode" printing which I haven't tried yet, but would almost have to be silent to get any quieter.
* The print speed is slower than the comparable i960 because it has about half the nozzles (about 1500 compared to the roughly 3000 on the i960), but that can be a good thing. Cheaper photo paper absorbs ink slower than better photo paper so if you're using cheaper paper on a faster printer, you run the risk of blotching if the ink isn't absorbed faster than the paper is going through the printer feeder. This just leaves more options open with this printer than a faster one.

All in all I have to say that overall, this is one of the best purchases I've made in a long time. (...). And when (...) Bottom line ... buying this printer is a no-brainer. (...) Even though the ink that is used in that printer is supposed to preserve the photos colors much longer, if you do as I do and save all my images on to CD's, even if the picture does fade after 20 years you can just print another one.

You just can't go wrong with this printer!

Outstanding Product!! (Rating: 5.00)
Review : I have used my new Cannon i960 for 60 days and I am very happy with the product. I have printed over 75 4X6 and 12 8X10 prints and have been completely satisfied with the product when using Cannon glossy paper. When I have used paper from a competitor there is a marked difference. When I show my prints to my friends they cannot believe that the pictures came from a printer. Photo lab quality.

Greatest Printer Yet (Rating: 5.00)
Review : I just upgraded from an HP 970 Cxi and couldn't be happier. My i900D makes top quality prints on Canon Glossy Photo Pro and Ilford Classic Glossy papers - better than the digital film processors I used. And, its ink is much cheaper than the HP's. And, it has a built in card reader that can be used by the PC and to print picures. And, it includes an LCD for printer status and picture preview (so so quality for picures). And it integrates very well with the great bundled software. And it includes a dedicated 4x6 feeder. And there was a...rebate when I bought it with my Canon S400.

The fact that it is slower than the i960 is actually a benefit. The i960's high speed causes some ink pooling on glossy papers like Ilford Classic Glossy - the i900D actually winds up with betters pics because its slower speed prevents pooling (based on what I have seen.)

Overall I've found excellent quality and all the features I could have wanted in a printer at a great price.