Apple Reviews

I needed a scanner that worked in Windows 2000, and decided to take a chance - based on other reviews posted here - with the Epson Perfection 1200U. The short of it is, the scanner worked right out of the box. Setup was easy, the Windows 2000 drivers I downloaded from Epson's web site installed without a glitch, and the software bundled with the scanner can't be beat. I was especially delight to find included the Presto PageManager, which is a kind of ACDSee thumbnail browser (with myriad other functions), and with it's Presto!Wrapper utility, which saves your image in a self-executing file to send to friends who might not have imaging software. Very cool.

The scanner is also the fastest I've owned, and the Twain software for scanning is multi-configurable for auto-sizing, exposing, et al of your image. Very very nice.

I'm very very pleased with this scanner, especially after I had bought an Acer 620U on the sole basis of its supposedly being Windows 2000 ready - only to find (to my horror and frustration) that the drivers for the Acer were bug-ridden and conflicted with my USB Iomega Zip Drive. I also had a Mustek 600II-CD, but had to give it the boot when Mustek said they weren't planning on supporting Windows 2000. So you can imagine my delight when the Epson Perfection 1200U not only worked right off the bat, but proved to be an unbeatlable value for the money considering the superior bundled software (Presto! PageManager, Adobe PhotoDeluxe, Broderbund Print Shop Press Writer, and ArcSoft's PhotoPrinter). Further, the scanner is fast, quiet, the quality of the image output is excellent, and there are other features I haven't even begun to explore. Easy and simple for home use, powerful and multi-layered enough for business use (I do both). An excellent product!

Just bought one of these a few days ago for a big photo scanning project. After having a few installation problems (the plug and play detected that the scanner was a new device, but it couldn't find the installation files on the CD for some reasion, so I had to install it through the "Add Hardware" control panel. Not a big deal, though.)

I was a little worried about the quality of the TWAIN driver before I started using it - I've owned an Epson Stylus Photo printer before, and while the quality of the harware is second to none, the software is some of the buggiest and unreliable I've ever used. I must say, however, that the Epson software team did a great job on the TWAIN software - no problems whatsoever, and the automatic pre-scan function when you first connect via TWAIN is a nice little timesaver.

As for the scanner itself, I am extremely impressed by the quality and quickness of this thing. Compared to my old UMAX Astra scanner (a great product, by the way), this thing just blows the UMAX away! I am continually amazed how quickly it scans, and I've noticed no problems with the scans themselves (except for matte finish photos, which my other scanner had an even bigger problem with - I guess the light from the scanner reflects in a haphazard pattern, which causes the photos to look like they have a lot of dust on them. The descreening function helps a lot with this, though).

Overall a great scanner, and well worth the money.

I'm not a professional user, but I tried three different scanners in the Epson's price range and only the Epson provided me with essentially perfect scans right out of the box. I detected no color bias, excellent contrast range and the ability to duplicate (or improve) the original. Other reviews on the 'net bear this out.

This is my second Logitech TrackMan, the other being the "TrackMan Marble +". I decided to test this unit by hooking it up to a laptop via USB and to use the native Windows 98 drivers. The "plug and play" worked without incident. Although I don't have the degree of function control I would have with the Logitech software, the TrackMan works; and I believe the computer is less prone to lockups and crashes without the "Mouseware" installed. I found the thumb marble easy to adapt to. The only thing I could wish for is the more precise cursor control offered by the TrackMan F/X (which Logitech says is not forthcoming in a USB version). If you're like me and prefer the feel of a trackball to a mouse or have limited desktop real estate, give the "TrackMan Marble Wheel" a try. You should be pleased.

I have been using the Logitech TrackMan Marble Wheel (formerly known as the TrackMan Marble Plus) since 1999. Prior to my use of this trackball I was a mouse user. Some people will always be mouse users while others will move beyond that. ;-) The advantages of this trackball are evident to me while I struggle to find negatives. The only negative that comes to mind is that it is a corded device.

This design has two buttons, an wheel, and an optical (yes, I said optical) trackball. The wheel serves as the third button and I have found it very useful as such, binding it to hook/grapple in Quake 2 and later to my secondary fire mode in Unreal Tournament. This design is a derivative of Logitech's older design from before the middle button became a wheel (Logitech TrackMan Marble), and it is given equal space as the middle button was given before it, which allows you to place your first three fingers on the buttons, allowing for quicker response times in games and such.

I've read several of the reviews on this site for this pointing device and there are several points I wish to make clear. This *is* an optical trackball, as all the Logitech TrackMan Marble series are (TrackMan Marble, TrackMan Marble Wheel, TrackMan Marble F/X, TrackMan MarbleMouse). Taken directly from the packaging (I have a spare still in the packaging):

"Patented Marble optical technology delivers superior precision, reduced wear, and smooth tracking, even if the trackball gets dirty. Because it records motion optically, instead of using mechanical parts, there's no need for regular cleaning."

Yes, it is optical, this is true. Yes, it still works smoothly when full of dirt. Yes, it works better if you clean the bearings on which the ball rolls every six months or so.

This trackball (which I may accidently slip and call a 'mouse' if I'm not careful) is a very good thumb-operated design that neatly, comfortably, and functionally fits an adult hand, and it has been discontinued by Logitech for their newer model, the Logitech TrackMan Wheel. (They dropped 'marble' from the title of the new version? Yep.) The new version lacks the additional space around the wheel button, which makes pressing the wheel-button cumbersome. This was not an issue with the version seen here, and it is one of the reasons why I can't easily move to another wheel device. (Nor do I want to, but when I must it is a nuisance.)

As I stated previously, I have been using this device for two years. My wheel still clicks with every roll as it did the day it was bought but after a little use all stiffness was worked out of it and those little clicks just become an extension of measuring how far I've travelled down a page.

Previous reviewers have complained that this mouse doesn't allow for precision movement while others have said it is an excellent device, and I obviously agree with the latter. Two actions to take upon installing any mouse are to run the software and define the speed and the orientation (which way is up). Every user moves his or her pointer in a slightly different fashion. Defining the orientation of the mouse immediately insures it will behave how you like it. Your 'up' is its 'up', your 'left' is its left, and so on. As for speed, I have my trackball adjusted so that with a single roll or my thumb from the left edge of the ball to the other my cursor moves exactly from the left edge of the screen to the right. With games this sensitivity can be increased in-game for a quick 180 degree spin at the flick of the thumb. I'm playing through Serious Sam now and all is right with the world of pointing devices. Speed sensitivity adjustment makes the difference between a barely tolerable device and one mean gaming/productivity pointing device.

Unfortunately, as I said earlier, Logitech has discontinued this trackball design, so as a safety precaution I ordered myself a spare. Nothing is wrong with mine but I got a spare so I'll have it if they become hard to find.

My closing thoughts? If you buy any trackball buy this one. Plain and simple. If you like a mouse? If you're happy with your mouse? Why are you looking at trackballs anyway? When you're ready for a trackball come back to Logitech TrackMan Marble Wheel.

I was in tears when I first started using this mouse as it felt
so right! I immediately went out and bought six of them (1 each
for my laptops and desktops) and this is 5 years ago. My wife who
had incipient carpal tunnel syndrome on her right wrist started
using it at work causing an immediate improvement in her condition.
I will say this about Logitech - they did something right with this
terrific product.

I owned the original 5GB and the bought the 10GB version when available, I had been a minidisc user for many years. I have a 2000 cd collection and was carrying 20-30 discs every time I travelled; now I carry none, just a 'fits in my shirt pocket' IPod.

Transferring songs is a snip with Firewire. I use the device as a hard drive and just drag and drop songs onto it, very easy, takes just seconds.

The quality is excellent, the sound is excellent, especially through the superb Endymion headphones ER6's - I rarely have to have the volume full up even when listening on the subway, the interface is excellent, in fact the IPod is just ...excellent.
I use it nearly every day and rarely have a probem. The only one being that every now and then (very rarely) it 'locks up', easily solved by pressing the Menu+Play button for a few seconds.

Most of the cons have now been addressed by Apple, ie Remote Control, Windows compatibility, loadness(?) and its cheaper, (but not cheap). I have been using 'walkmans' for nearly 20 years none have even come close to this.

The iPod is a fantastic MP3 player. From a design standpoint, there is no competition - nowhere an MP3 player as cool. I swear, if there is one piece of electronics that will get you girls this is it (seriously).

You can transfer 10 gigs in under 15 minutes (note that 10 gigs with a USB connection will take hours upon hours). I often visit friends and download their entire iTunes music library onto the iPod in minutes. You can't, by the way, copy iPod music to a computer - only computer to an iPod, for copyright reasons of course.

The iPod has a very intuitive and easy-to-use interface - just 5 buttons and a scroll wheel control the whole thing. I happen to really like the new touch-sensitive scroll wheel. The quickest way to get a feel for the interface is to actually go to the Apple site, where they demo the interface very nicely: ...<

My only complaints with the interface is that long song names will be cutoff (except in play mode, where the song title scrolls across the screen) - this makes it sometimes tricky to view items in the iPod by song title.

In terms of sound-quality, I now import my CDs at 128kbs (to maximize space)... and on the iPod it sounds fine (no hissing, or problems of any kind that I can notice). The iPod will play very loud, which is an improvement over the old model, I have heard.

I listen to my iPod with headphones, in the car (with a audio tape adaptor), and at home connected to our receiver. Again, no complains with volume and sound quality. You might, however, have a number of MP3s that play at different volumes - and this can either startle you or make you think nothing is playing. The "Sound Check" feature of the iPod supposedly addresses this issue - however, it doesn't seem to make to much of a difference in my opinion.

Battery life for me has been at about 5 hours (I think)... but I keep the iPod volume very high on the unit when in the car.

My only real complaint is with how easily the unit scratches, but really, if you take good care of it, scratches will be minimal.

This is the best! Superior audio quality. Excellent battery life (8-10 hours). Super fast transfer using Firewire. Very intuitive and easy to use menus. Great feature set including contact lists, calendar, games and more. If you know a music lover, this would make a great gift! I take this thing everywhere. I would recommend the Sennheiser PX 100 headphones (available on Amazon for under 40 dollars) as a must have accessory for this. I also like the ability to use this as a firewire hard drive which allows backup of important files from my hard drive. It costs more than the competition but is worth EVERY bit of it.

I got this mouse while Microsoft was offering a ...rebate, so my cost through Amazon was [low] after the rebate. For that amount, you might expect this to be a low quality product. And you'd be wrong.

This is the best mouse I've ever owned. I've always been annoyed with traditional roller ball mice, with how they quickly pick up gunk, become inaccurate, and require constant cleaning.

Those days are over! The other reviews talk about how accurate this mouse is, and how it never requires cleaning; quite true. What I didn't see mentioned was how light it is compared to traditional mice. I never thought of an old-style mouse as being heavy, but this is noticeably lighter. This was an unexpected, but much-appreciated benefit.

Another big plus for me is that it isn't loaded with a zillion buttons that I'd never use. I just wanted a basic mouse, and that's what this is.

If you're a lefty like me, you'll also like the fact that this mouse is symmetrical. Most of the more expensive Microsoft mice are shaped specifically to fit the right hand. I can't say whether those feel more comfortable for right-handed people; all I can say is that the shape and size of this mouse is just about perfect for me.

Even at its normal Amazon price ...this mouse is an excellent value. If you can get it at its rebate-assisted price ...it's a no-brainer. I'm going to buy a few as gifts!

Microsoft comes up big with their optical wheel mouse. It is a simple and easy to use mouse that doesn't have any of the extra bull that a lot of mice are coming with these days. The optical sensor works flawlessly and really changes the way you look at mice. The design is nice looking and comfortable to use for right or left handed users. Overall, a great mouse at a great price. No skipping or getting stuck with those crappy balls...it's all about precision with the optical mouse. Upgrade today!

If your looking to take the leap from roller mouse to optical this is the cheapest way in. The microsoft mouse is lighter than a roller mouse and moves easily over a desk top. Mine has been working without a problem for some time and no need to remove the built up goo off the rollers and ball any more. For the price you can't beat it. If you alread have a PS/2 mouse installed you can plug this in to a USB port and use both mice. I can use my old MS PS/2 roller mouse, the new optical mouse and the touchpad on my laptop at the same time. Mouse comes with software to customize nearly everything on the mouse and wheel feature is nice. For the current sale price and rebate you can not go wrong.

This is an outstanding monitor with fantastic image quality. I've used 19" flat screen Trinitron CRT's exclusively for the past few years, and was skeptical about flat panel displays, but this one changed my mind. Beyond the superior image quality, it's also great to have a viewable image that equates to a 21" CRT but with 1/2 the footprint. I checked out flat panels by Sony, Samsung, HP, Compaq, etc., but this one blew them away. It's a bargain to boot, with a price that compares to competitors' 18" and 17" models. I'd intended to buy a 17" myself, but when I saw the image quality and price of the VX900, I was hooked.

I am beside myself with the quality of this monitor. Excellent contrast and color reproduction along both VGA and DVI input all for a great price made this my choice. I don't use the built in speakers (I have a separate speaker system) but I did plug in my PC just to listen to them and they weren't that bad considering their small size. The only drawbacks I've seen so far (I've had it for 5 months) are the lack of pivot technology (being able to turn the screen to a full page format), lack of Viewsonic releasing a screen protector for the 19" model (it's avail for the 17 only).

It is an attrative unit with good fit and finish, has an excellent warranty including the backlight and my unit had NO dead pixels which can often be a problem in LCD monitors.

I would recommend this monitor to anyone looking to save deskspace.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to compare this monitor next to my sony 19" crt, at the same time. I run a g4 ti4600 with twin view. I must say this monitor is impressive for an LCD. It will run neck and neck with the trinitron in sharpness and color reproduction. It's only problem is in gaming. It just can't respond fast enough in action games. I fly combat sims and the ghosting is noticable. In first person shooters it's less noticable. With that said I still give it a 5 for it's outstanding sharpness and good looks. One of the best LCD's I've used.
I will also add that viewsonics tech support is verygood. When I contacted them about a driver update question, they were quick to respond and very helpfull.

I have been using this product for about two years and finally got one for my home computer as well. If you are like me, and find yourself chasing the regular mouse all over your desk, give this a try. After two years of very busy use in a very dusty library (where I work), it has never needed a single cleaning and works like the first day I got it. The buttons are set up beautifully so that it feels very natural in the hand. It is extremely responsive, and the scroll feature works great. The cursor movement is smooth as glass. No more mouse pad taking up a nice chunk of my desk! No more bouncing, jerky cursor due to a slight bit of gunk. No more popping off the bottom the mouse and cleaning the wheels with a pen knife! I highly recommend this product. --Mykal Banta

The Logitech Marble Mouse Trackball is possibly THE most intelligently designed pointing device for PCs and Macintosh personal computers. First of all, in spite of its name, it's a trackball, the superior successor to the computer mouse. Unlike a mouse, it sits in one place and your fingers guide the pointer. You click on menu selections, icons and such with your thumb. It takes mere minutes to get used to this method of moving around the screen but after you do, using a mouse will seem cumbersome and quaint (which it is).

Beneath that black-dotted burgundy ball lies the secret of the Marble Mouse's responsiveness, longevity and reliability. An infrared emitter and optical pickup track the movement of the ball, not mechanical rollers which quickly become gunked up with skin oils and dust. You'd have to let a really thick layer of crud accumulate on the ball before you'll see an impact on the Marble Mouse's performance. Small enough to tuck into your notebook, laptop or PowerBook's carrying case, the Marble Mouse is pure computing bliss compared to jittery trackpads, wobbly finger sticks and erratic rollerballs.

PC users running Windows XP and earlier can simply install the PS/2 adapter and plug the Marble Mouse into the PS/2 mouse port without installing any software. With Windows 98 and later, you can pop off the PS/2 adapter and plug the Marble Mouse into a USB port. Macintosh owners running Mac OS 8.6 or higher will need to install MouseWare from the included CD-ROM and disable the Macintosh Mouse control panel in the Mac OS Extension Manager.

Unlike its more expensive TrackMan siblings, the Marble Mouse is fully ambidextrous, with equal-sized buttons on both sides. The included Logitech MouseWare (also downloadable at www.logitech.com) makes the Marble Mouse behave like a 3-button mouse on PCs (you press BOTH buttons together to access the functions of a third button) while giving Macintosh users one-finger, one-click access to content menus (shades of Windows, eh? :) ). Windows users also benefit from the new page up/page down buttons located just above the main buttons.

Finally, though the price might seem steep compared to a $5 mouse you could pick up at Best Buy or CompUSA, recall how many of those cheap little rodents you've owned and thrown away in the course of a single year.

I loved my Marble Mouse by Logitech. I bought the older version with only the two large buttons. I think a standard mouse is better for playing games but for everything else on the computer it is the only way to go. I have recently upgraded to the Logitech cordless mouse....it too is nice. But if the Optical Marble Mouse came cordless I would plunk my money down and buy it again in a second. I now use my Marble mouse at work and have the cordless at home.

I bought the iPod from Amazon and it was delivered about a week ago. I also bought the Apple Care Protection plan. The product seems to work fine except I am having minor but irksom problems 'navigating' using the buttons and wheel thing. I am using it for an Audible book which is supposed to start where you left off. Well, after 7 hours it decided to start at beginning again. I try fast forward and the thing goes to the next book. I want to just finish the last hour of the one that is being played.

So, I call what they call Customer Service and find that they won't give me any advice whatever until I FAX in a copy of my shipping document from Amazon and another sheet with a magic number on it from within the extended service package. They say that Amazon is not an authorized reseller and that they cannot check my order and date of sale from Amazon.

I explain that I do not have a FAX machine, and that I will go send the stuff in a few days when I feel like walking that far using my crutches.

I think that it is probably a good product, but if you are in any way handicapped and it is not convenient for you to run around to get their service, I recommend not buying it.

When the iPod first came out, I wanted one, but hesitated. The hard drive on my old iMac didn't have much free space for mp3 files. Then I decided to get the latest iMac (17" monitor), and it had a nice 80 GB hard drive. That meant plenty of space to store my mp3s, so I bought the 20GB iPod as well. Within two days, I was hooked on this perfect little device, and it IS perfect.

FEATURES:

The touch wheel is so smooth and intuitive that I got used to it in about 20 seconds.

The menus are clear, straightforward and, again, intuitive. You can browse by artist, genre, composer, song title, album. You can have playlists of songs. You can repeat one song, or a group of songs. You can shuffle. And you don't need a reference book for how to do any of it. It's all right there, at the touch of your finger.

The sound is absolutely amazing--Equalizer settings are extensive. If you know how to play with iTunes, you can create your own settings, too, and they'll load into your iPod.

The download speed is fricking unbelievable--When I finally had a "few" songs loaded into my new iMac (about 140), it took less than 2 minutes to download all of them, including the playlists I'd set up. iTunes made the download process itself so easy--all I did was plug in the iPod and iTunes took care of the rest for me. Thank goodness for iTunes. I can't imagine handling mp3s without this nifty (and FREE) program! Oh--and while I was downloading my mp3s that first time, the iPod used my network clock to set the date and time on the player.

I haven't used the iPod as an alternate hard drive yet, but I definitely plan to. My husband has a PowerBook, and there are some files from my iMac that I'll want to bring with me when we travel. The iPod will be the perfect device for that.

I've looked at the calendar/contact features, but I don't really need them. My husband definitely plans to use both, though, in his work as a consultant.

I have one complaint about the headphones that come with the iPod: The earbuds are too big for my ears, and hurt after prolonged listening. This is most annoying, because the headphones are very, very good. The audio quality is wonderful--my husband considers the trade of his Sony earbuds for the iPod buds a great trade in HIS favor.

The remote control is great--I use it all the time, and it keeps me from having to pull the iPod out of my pocket or case to adjust the volume, pause, or skip a song (or part of a song--hold down the forward/backward button to fast-forward/rewind the current song).

The battery really does last 8 -10 hours, depending on how you use the iPod. Some battery drainers are excessive scrolling and backlighting, but, even then, the iPod lasts a LONG time without a recharge. This makes the iPod perfect for me, since I work in a factory and have my headphones on most of the time. Apple doesn't tell you that, yes, you can charge the iPod through your computer, BUT it doesn't charge as quickly as with the provided AC adapter. You also don't get as much info about the charging process when the iPod is plugged into the computer. A third party manufacturer makes a car charger for iPod. I bought one and it works great.

INTANGIBLES:

As always, Apple makes you feel good about spending so much money for one of their products, with the little things that make your ownership a delight. Providing nice headphones, a belt clip case, a remote control, a FireWire cable and an AC adapter are great touches [...] . The belt clip is well-made and the iPod won't fall out of it under most circumstances, but the clip isn't 100% safe. I was lucky to catch my iPod before it hit the floor when the cord caught on something once, and I don't know that I would feel safe doing strenuous exercise with it; I eventually bought a more secure case from a third party.

The convenience factor alone makes iPod worth every penny. Through audible.com, I can download books, and, thanks to my old portable CD car adapter, I'm able to listen to the iPod in my car. This means no more lugging around pre-recorded audio books and huge CD wallets of music. No more switching CDs while I'm driving. No more agonizing over which CDs to keep in my 6 + 1 player. I can record the songs I like off a CD (or the entire CD), and put the disc away, which means less wear and tear on the disk itself. I can put the iPod in my purse, rather than leaving all those listening goodies in my car, where they can get stolen or exposed to intense heat that destroys them (a serious problem here in Texas).

The mirror finish on the case and remote is beautiful, but it shows fingerprints very badly. I keep a polishing cloth handy and use it at least once a day. I don't remember if Apple mentioned it in their documentation, but the cover needs special cleaners. Alcohol and acetone-based cleaners will ruin the lucite layer on the front of the iPod. I've found that the iKlear polish kits work best for cleaning the iPod.

I didn't quite understand an earlier complaint about the lack of options for naming the iPod. Maybe on the Windows version this is a problem, but, on the Mac version, renaming the iPod is as easy as clicking on the name field when you first plug the iPod into your computer, and typing a new name for your new baby.

To be honest, the iPod has so many wonderful features that it's just about impossible to list them all here, and the potential uses for it are mindboggling. This is THE Mp3 player to have; no other comes close. BUY IT.

It's true - Apple's flair for design (certain models of iMac excepted) comes through again, albeit at a price (but that's always true for Apple).

I previously had an old USB Nomad Jukebox, with the drive upgraded to 30GB. My purchase of an iPod was prompted by an attempt to sync the 10GB or so of MP3s I'd ripped into iTunes to it. After 30 minutes, it was about 10% done - then it crashed for no reason. I'd previously ruled out the iPod as having too little capacity. Then along came the 20GB model. Technically speaking, it's still too small - I think I'd need at least 80GB to get my entire CD collection stored at reasonable quality - but the speed of the iPod's Firewire connection makes it so easy to drag music around that, once I get to the point where I've got over 20GB ripped, I can just sync particular playlists, rather than the entire iTunes collection.

Syncing is very fast indeed. The collection that caused my Nomad Jukebox to choke transferred in under ten minutes, automatically, the very first time I hooked the iPod to my PC. The only human intervention required in the entire process was to select English as my language when I first switched it on, plug it into a free Firewire socket and accept the default name it gave my iPod (the rather unimaginative "Alan Crawford's iPod").

The menus are easy to navigate (the circular dial for scrolling up and down is great once you grasp the idea of going round and round instead of linearly), the earbuds are comfy (as earbuds go - at home I still use my big honking Sony headphones), you can either charge it via the computer while it's connected or use the separate AC charger, there's a keylock to prevent sudden unexpected bursts of music, and there's a nice little belt holster to keep it in. Oh, and a little inline remote control gizmo that I haven't really had cause to use yet.

It's all packaged in that typical Apple style that makes just opening the box an event, the design is attractive (although I believe it's prone to scratches - maybe the holster will reduce that problem).

I really can't find anything wrong with it. I think that's a first.

For those wondering about the fate of the Nomad Jukebox - the drive went into a miniature Firewire enclosure for my wife's laptop, and the discarded husk is now a rather aerodynamically-poor frisbee.

I use a Brother HL-1240 laser printer for its speed and economy (two and a half years without having to change toner), plus I use an Olympus P-400 for printing superb photographs and graphics. When the need arrived to print on CDs and DVDs, it did not take long to find that we have limited choices; to pay a thousand bucks or more for a decent CD printer, or try to save a little money and buy a lower quality printer with dubious dependability. Neither choice was appealing.

The arrival of Epson's 900 and 960 printers were an instant success for my needs. A quality brand with factory backing, plus pricing that is reasonable. Although the 900 is about a hundred dollars less expensive, I chose the 960 for its better features of having separate ink cartridges (we all know how expensive ink cartridges can be), plus the 960 has a much higher photo quality rating. I estimate that with as much ink as I will be using, the 960's long-term cost will be about equal to that of the 900's.

In actual use, the 960 is less than half as fast as an inexpensive laser printer, but the graphic quality is noticably better. While the laser printer's graphics are 300 dpi and look good, the Epson's output is smoother and better detailed even when on the minimal quality setting. If you are not concerned about speed and do not need more than a few copies of any one page, the Epson will do a fine job. For those of us with laser printers without an envelope tray, the Epson's tray is very much appreciated and allows for printing large quantities of envelopes in a much shorter time.

For photographs, nothing I have found even comes close to the Olympus P-400, but the Epson 960 still produces very nice quality prints with excellent color tones. As with all bubble jets, lines will be noticeable which lessen the photo's quality, so be aware that even though your prints will be very nice looking, they will not have a photo-quality finish. Now that the price of the Olympus P-400 has dropped and is not much more expensive than the Epson 960, if your main goal is printing serious photographs, go with the Olympus.

Now, for the main reason I bought the 960, for printing on CDs, it's great! Beautiful! Yes, for everyone who wants to make CDs and DVDs with a professional finish, the 960 is *the* way to go. Two thumbs up for CD printing!

All in all, just like all printers, each will have its own advantages and disadvantages. The 960 is not real fast, but it's good, better than most bubble jets, and while photo printing isn't the best, it's much better than almost all others I have seen. The 960's strength is in its versitility of being able to do many different types of printing, and do them all very well. Just as with all products, no printer is perfect, there will always be little things to annoy different people, but overall the 960 is pretty decent. After shopping numerous different retailers, I ordered mine from Amazon simply because all of my past experiences with Amazon have always been trouble-free.

If I had to settle for just one printer, I would keep the 960.

This is not a technical opinion. I am an amateur photographer with an expesive hobby. I have spent several thousand dollars on a Nikon D100 DSLR camera, lenses, accesories, and software. I normally use a high quality photo lab for my prints because I care about the color quality. I bought the printer to use it for proof before sending it to the lab, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the quality of the Epson 960 when compared to the lab prints. Now, I am thinking of saving myself from going to the lab for my regular 8x10 or smaller prints. In a couple of words, I LOVE THIS LITTLE PRINTER!

I replaced my Epson 785 DCS with this printer and all I can say is...WOW. Right out of the box with no color tweaking/color matching/ICC profiles, etc. it is printing almost exactly what I see on the screen. Once I get a chance to fine tune the colors it should be excellent. I recently had two digital prints done at my local pro photo finishing lab and side-by-side I can't tell the difference between them...in fact I think I like the ones I printed a tad better.

The only thing I don't like about it is that it can't print wider than 8.5 inches because it certainly has the quality to do so. I wish I could afford the 2200 which can print wider...but this is great for "normal" size prints.

I recetly bought a new Canon i550 printer and I put it to work immediately. First, I was impressed by its quietness and the capability of closing both trays, input & output. But I'm using my printers only for making brochures and booklets for my patients in 3 different languages, not for photographs or pictures...For my purpose, this printer is very disapointing product: the print is faint (not CRISPY, as most other reviewers stated), even in its highest quality--it can't much even the "draft" mode of Canon S600 inkjet printer, which i'm using successfully for better than 8 months. I thought Canon is improving their line of products progressively (they stopped manufacturing the EXCELLENT S600), but it seems I'm wrong! Of course, I'm still going to look at Canon printers because of their economical "Think Tank", but I'll first try them and than buy.

I bought this printer for basic home use because it was highly rated by PC Magazine. A lot of internet research was performed as well (about 2 weeks worth). I debated between the Canon i850 and the i550...The only discernable difference between the two was print speed. This was confirmed on Canon's website. I am very impressed with its photo printing. Since we went all digital photography at our house, my wife kept complaining about not being able to get a good quality print. PROBLEM SOLVED!! It prints a beautiful, 4x6 borderless photo in no time at all! It would take a magnifying glass to distinguish it from a professionally developed photo. 4x6 glossy photo paper is only 15-20 cents a sheet. The individual tanks, and ink cost was the deciding factor as well. The cost of the Canon ink replacements vs. the other leading brands is a no-brainer. I had my last Canon for 4 years before I decided to upgrade to the newer technology. Bottom line - great printer, great photos, great price.

PS-The text printed by the i550 is laser quality, just in case you need to actually use it as a "regular" printer:)

With a baby on the way I wanted a more convient way to take pictures and share multiple copies of them with the family. I bought a 4 megapixal camera and needed a great printer to make hard copies. This printer makes photo lab quality 4x6" photos in under a minute. I see no difference between ones taken with a 35mm and developed at a store then the ones I printed out. It is much quieter then my previous Canon BJ-4300 and light years ahead in quality. The individual tanks are very cost effective too. The software included even made a low resolution digital print (about 20 kb) come out very nice at 4x6". You can see all your photos and send multiple copies to the printer. It also does regular printing of letters very quickly. Highly recommend!!

I have been using a touchpad for the past 2 years. I bought this mouse for my wife and tried it for the first few days. On Windows XP, the install is clean. But I was surprised to see that this mouse does not ship with a mousepad. An Optical mouse by virtue of it's technology should be used on a specific surface otherwise it results in a jerky movement. Also there was no instructions whatsoever to suggest the kind of surface to be used on.

It is very sensitive and people used to traditional mice or touchpads will take time to adjust.

What a relief to have a mouse which I don't have to clean the dirt out of! I got tired of having to occasionally clean the dirt (lint, dust) out of my old mouse so it can work properly again. This mouse is built differently underneath so it doesn't collect any dirt. The only thing you have to worry about is if the battery is running low. Your computer will notify you when the battery is running low, or you can simply click an icon on your desktop to check the battery level. The batteries seem to last a month or up to two months, depending on your computer usage. You might want to invest in a battery charger and rechargeable batteries so you don't have to keep buying batteries so much (you most likely use batteries for other items in your home too) throughout the year.

Of course the best feature for this mouse is that it's cordless. That's one less wire on your desk to get cluttered, entagled with. The equipment and software is fairly easy to install/use on your computer. I've noticed that the price for this item has dropped a bit since I bought it so this a better buy than ever.

1) It's made by Logitech, who make the best mice on the market. They always have current device drivers and most of the time you can just plug the mouse in to whatever system you are installing it on and have it work. They are the reference standard for my money.
2) It's cordless. Doug Englebart is a genius, but corded mice can sometimes be a pain in the.... You're always having to move the cord, or pick the mouse up and relocate it or, depending upon where your computer is you may not have enough cord. This is never a problem with the Logitech mice, the range is about six feet and the mouse will work if the transmitter is under a wooden desk.
3) It's optical. Optical mice are the only mice worth having. You don't have to worry about your mouse ball getting all gunked up or have a mouse pad to use the mouse. You never have that annoying behavior where the mouse ball isn't rotating properly, causing your cursor to skitter all over the screen. The sensitivity is fantastic.
In short you should buy one of these for every single one of your computers. Don't worry about conflicts though, the Logitech wireless system is smart enough to deal with having multiple cordless devices on the desktop.