Somehow my "new" printer is four years old. I'm not sure how that happened. I can't recall where I heard it, but someone said, "Time passes slowly, but the years go by so fast."
The 120 postings (121 counting this one!) in this blog are a record of the joys and frustrations experienced in real-world use, four years of life with a 7900.
I feel fortunate in having avoided the serious, costly problems some 7900 owners have reported. My machine makes lovely prints and has provided a decent percentage of my income, although sometimes at the expense of a great deal of time and annoyance. I've had plenty of occasion to ask myself if, knowing what I know now, I'd buy the same printer. Some days the answer is, "Not a chance in hell." But other days, you bet I would. If forced to decide right now, forced to buy another printer today, I'd say, "Probably not." But to be fair, there are more options today, and I know a lot more now than I did four years ago.
As mentioned in several postings here, I've settled into a comfortable routine and workflow that allows me to get the best out of my 7900. As would anyone after four years' experience, I know what to expect. When there are problems I've so far been able to work them out and get the job done. There's always the chance of a surprise, but life with the 7900 is quite stable at the moment. That's the main reason new postings here are fairly infrequent: there's simply not much to report. But the blog lives on; I'll continue to post here whenever something interesting happens.
I can offer no advice if you're shopping for a printer, but I offer this blog as a history of my own experiences. I hope you find it useful.
--Jay
