one problem with the 780 is that you can't print directly from a memory
card. or is that a problem? i will be using the machine for scanning
occassionally, printing every now and then, and faxing rarely, if at all.
the main reason I want it is b/c my scanner is awful and i like hte space
savings. my hp 712c is fine but it is five years or so old. No, wait, six
years old. time to move up. is hp good or bad now?
I understand where you are comming from, I upgraded from a psc 950.
This was kinda a printer out of the Carly years... thought the scanner
was failing and franky wanted something cheaper to operate and printing
on cds was a major bonus.
If you plan to only fax occassionaly why consider an AIO with fax...
and go with a fax modem. The canon doesn't offer direct software
faxing by default... but the scan software like other comapnies
supports can to pdf, and windows can handle the actual faxing. This
might not be what you want... too many keystrokes to do a simple task
other units do via a button press or two.
The Canon mp780 as far as i'm aware doesn't offer memory card slots...
only the mp760 (older model) mp800 (current model) mp500 and others I
can't remember off the top of my head. Pictbridge is supported but
that's a normal feature.
I'm not going to say HP is good now... I will say that the vivera inks
are slow drying but on the right papers are pretty much archival...
where the canon simply isn't but are reasonably waterfast on the right
papers. You have the photosmart which as the name says photo printers
and the PSC printers which are more office oriented. The HP models
your more likely to find features like networking onboard. And
honestly I don't know if the new print system provides better quality
than their old style cartridge/head combo. HP typicaly wins out in
terms of software and ease of use where the canon.. being fair and
owning one of that series.. is a tad immature in this area.
http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/200504082/multifunction_printers-03.html#hp_photosmart_2710
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16828104334
I'm not sure how old style vs the new style compair to eachother yet.
If it wasn't for cd printing i'd look at a new photosmart and at least
consider it. I'm pretty pleased with my canons, but since HP switched
to inktanks vs cartridges one of the reasons for not going HP this time
around is now moot.