Where I live we don't have a Target so it was a shot in the dark -just matched priceline and it's a solid printer. It runs thru ink fairly quickly just because it uses all of them to produce black.
Yeah it was able to function, first time printing it gave a warning but you could check off the box to never show that warning and then worked fine. I'm not too sure if over the long run it would have damaged the printer -she only printed her school work and some recipes (not exactly the heaviest computer user)

Good shot in the dark because I think that's the only one they list on their site. Thanks for the info. Hopefully this non-OEM ink works out for awhile and I won't need to replace what I have until later.

Weird little trick I picked up is to put the near empty cartridges in the fridge and then take them out and shake them. I made a black cart last me an extra week and a half after the printer started giving me warnings.

I generally label my CDs with Sharpies. Specifically the ones they sell for writing on CDs and DVDs. Unless it's years between print jobs you shouldn't be getting that. Most of the time when I had those kinds of problems I'd take the toner cart out and gently roll it lengthwise for a few minutes and it would be good as new.

It always worked with the toner that was in use in my HP Lasterjet.

The ones I had real problems with were inkjets because the inkjet itself would get clogged with gook over time and is too small to unclog manually.

I'm not new in freelancing so I am also aware of such facts. But I am very patient person (you said you are not) and maybe because of that I haven't got such situations in my past.
Also be aware that if client prints stuff for directors I can expect literally everything, not only warmer / cooler picture as most of printers in the offices are not properly calibrated and serviced.

Back on topic. I went today to some bigger photo shop. As they've got Canon/Epson partnership I was hoping to get some serious advice. But all I got was disappointment. When I got into details I am interested in, in response I've got person going back to PC and looking on internet - I can do the same at home... Even bigger problem was that I didn't get exact answers for big part of my questions. Shouldn't these salesmen be properly trained to get partnership? Meh... Back to Google. :/

I have such good marker from Pilot. I am using it to mark my own CDs. But it does not look pro enough to mark CDs for my clients. ;)

If that's the case you might consider getting a Labelflash or lightscribe burner and the appropriate discs. Combined with an appropriate label it should look pretty good.

As for your scanning, I'd recommend getting a copy of Vuescan from Hamrick Software, once you figure out how to make the most of it, it's simply the best software for scanning out there.

Print colors, you may want to think about profiling your printer, or buying a profile if you're not as particular. I know the guys over at ddisoftware can provide either. I haven't personally used those products, but I have used their other ones and they're generally pretty reliable.

I don't usually do my own prints so I can't comment too much about the accuracy of various printers, but profiling should get it close enough, at least when doing the print yourself or when done by people with good equipment.

Not in all cases. Color is a very important marketing language. :)

I've took a look at this software but can not see anything that I couldn't do with my current one/photoshop. But it could be still some good piece of software if you do not have any other - in my case I've just got used to mine ;).

They haven't gotten that to work with color yet? I though they were close years back.

Eh, it does things Photoshop can't do with regards to scanning. I should read up on Photoshop, I haven't used it lately, but the scanning was always pretty limited in terms of capability. Multisampling is something one doesn't know one wants until one uses it at which point it's like what have I been doing?

As far I know LS is B&W only.

In most of cases the problem is not 3rd party software but scanner driver and its possibilities. If you are getting high quality scanner it has already in the box most things you need. Yes you can replace this software also but if it's already good you do not need to :)

If it's working for you, that's all that really matters.

Just realize that the difference between OEM scanner software and specialized software from 3rd parties is pretty astonishing. I've spent hours and hours and hours scanning and getting something that's optimized for the purpose and regularly updated makes a huge difference. I've also spent larges amounts of time in the past working around problems that are more appropriately dealt with during scanning.

Just out of curiosity, what software did they include? I've yet to come across scanning software included with any scanner that was truly good enough. At best it's always been something I could live with.

One of examples: http://www.silverfast.com

I've "just found" this: Canon PIXMA IP4950 - it can print on CD and on paper up to 300g. It is also cheap (maybe even too cheap, what's the catch?) Any opinions? :)

I'd price check the cost of ink, often times that's where you end up being gouged. Quality is really best judged in person if possible.

Unfortunately, it can be really hard to properly gauge reliability and durability of a printer when it's still being sold.

Yes, I know.

This printer is located on "top" (=best) when looking at full range of "less than 6 ink cartridges" A4 Canon printers. It also uses the same ink cartridges as best multifunction (scanner+printer) machine. So quality "should be" quite good.

As of ink: 4 colors are like 9ml each, black has 19ml. Price is not cheapest available but in lower range as I was looking at prices of others. Also, here in Poland, ink costs almost as high as the cost of printer.
- Canon PIXMA IP4950 = ~320pln (~$100)
- 5 inks, ~50pln/ea = ~250pln (~$78)

According to Canon, black ink should be enough to print 350 pages (5% coverage), colors: 500 pages (5% coverage). That gives me costs of:
- 0.14pln ($0.04) / text page (without cost of paper)
- 0.40pln ($0.13) / color page (without cost of paper)

I would assume so, but it's easy to get lost and forget things like that.

I don't know what the other options cost over there, but around here that would be pretty good costwise. I think that's probably your answer as I don't think that you're going to be able to get a good answer for durability or reliability at this point.