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.
