Anyone got the new line of HP 900 series Inkjets? I just got the 990Cse, and it's leaving roller tracks on all my images. In fact, just running a matte finish paper through the printer without printing leaves tracks about every .75 inches vertically.

I really like the quality of the color output, but I can't live with these tracks. ... Mike

Is this happening before or after the printhead?

Both. However, after talking to HP, they said I really should exchange it before going any further. I did, and of course, the problem is gone! So is the "failure to recognize USB" port problem.

After opening the new printer (the other was only three days old), I realized that the first had been repacked... albeit very, very carefully.

The "track" problem involved the paper-feed "fork" plate, which had too shallow a tolerance between itself and the paper feeding though. The tines of the "fork" were dragging on the paper. ... Mike

Ah, I see. I was quite concerned with my color printer when I saw the metal "spike wheels" that fed the paper after it had been printed on. Thankfully, they don't cause any visual problems.

Dawg!

Just curious what led you to choose the 990 over the 1215 or 1218. I have the P1100, which the 1218 replaced, and have been quite pleased with its output quality and relatively quiet operation. :^)

Ah! Excellent question... and excellent choice on your part!

I originally wanted the 1218 (which for those who don't know includes slots for FlashMedia and Compact Flash cards from your digital camera, so you can print pictures without going through the PC, or alternatively acts as a card reader to send 'em to your PC). After extensive research (what else is new), I realized that the only difference between the 990cse and the 1218 are those two slots.

Both have double-sided printing; both have "auto paper-sensor"; both have auto-feed. They use identical engines and inks, yada yada yada.

So my decision came down to "Will I really be dumping entire chunks of digital film to paper, or will I more likely be selectively printing and retouching?

I decided that I will really have little use for direct printing, since I am using the digital camera (Canon G1) for selective photography in the first place. It is fantastic to be able to fire off as many shots as you want, and then not have to print 'em all out just to see which ones worked. And there are loads of pieces of software for organizing your photos and retouching 'em.

So, I used the leftover $100 and got a new optical Logitech cordless mouse...

The quality is stupendous, and like you say, it is sooo quiet; all I hear, really, is the sound of ink being sprayed onto paper. And your 1100 shares the same internals.

... Mike

Hmmm ... could it be, Grasshopper, that your "sound of ink being sprayed onto paper" is akin to the sound of one hand clapping? =;-b=

Which, incidentally, isn't that hard to do. :)

I've now had a chance to do some other types of printing besides just photos.... for example, I printed out a PDF booklet at Draft quality on regular paper. The 990 works so fast that the paper literally got spit out across the room. And the word "Draft" is a misnomer: the quality of the images is as good as the Best on some other printers.

When a printer says "15 pages a minute" it refers to draft mode, in fact, on photocopy paper. Even this one doesn't really achieve anything near that. At Best quality on photo paper, the specs actually say it will print at a rate of 0.3 pages per minute, which seems about right.

However, at the speed this thing does print Drafts and Bests, I'm pretty impressed. ... Mike