Well, once again Kodak has surprised me.

They have come out with their 5000 series of All In One printers.

I have the middle one, the 5300. It is a scanner, and I can plug in my memory card and print without the computer. This is in line with Kodak's mission of eliminating the computer, but the printer will function without a computer as copier and photo printer. The little screen comes in handy, it makes it nice and easy.

The nicest thing is the ink. The cartridges are smallish, but they print a respectable number pages. The even better thing is that I bought 2 black ink cartridges for $15, and you can buy color cartridges for under $15. It will print a 4X6 for about 10 cents according to Kodak.

One drawback is that it mottles the colors a bit, they aren't as "photo perfect" as I'd expect. I'm not sure if that is the printer or my paper. I'll report back later when I know for sure. But I am impressed that the machine cost about $200 and the ink costs less than $20. As I said, it won't produce amazing knock your socks off prints, but it will allow you to become a prodigious printer without breaking the bank.

I've printed an enormous number of photos for my office cubicle, and I am impressed. It means that I can print respectable letter sized photos and not have to treat them like gold because of all the money in ink I spent. A letter sized print would cost in the neighborhood of 30 cents if I'm estimating correctly.

If I were to frame something to hang on the wall for posterity I probably would get it professionally done, but for printing 4X6 prints, or even letter sized prints to pass around, it can't be beat. And its scanning and copying features are nice too.

The software package is helpful (in Kodak's usual way which may or may not be a good thing depending on how you feel) without feeling oppressive like HP's software sometimes can.

On the whole, I like it. If you want to make good quality prints for not a whole lot, this line of printers is for you, but if you are looking for a printer that makes spotless museum quality prints, keep looking.