If you purchase a Kodak or other digital camera that offers a printer dock, should you spend the extra money for one? The answer is, as it usually is, it depends.

Do you already have a photo quality printer that can accurately reproduce images? Every new camera that you can purchase comes with software allowing you to print on your existing printer. The BIG question is, how big a print do you want to make? You can produce up to 8" x 10" prints on most photo printers. The printer docks will limit you to 4" x 6" and smaller. You must either download the memory card into your computer or place the card in an appropriate slot on the printer itself, if it is so equiped, to print on the photo quality printer. On the Kodak printer docks, you simply place the camera on the dock and you can select the image you wish to print. You have the added advantage of the battery automatically being recharged as the camera sits on the dock. They also come with USB cables to attach the dock to your computer to download images, though I cannot see any advantage to doing this over simply connecting the camera directly to the computer or using a card reader as they are very inexpensive. 

The quality of the paper is about the same, although you have a much greater selection of textures and weights for a photo printer. It takes about 60 seconds to generate a print on the dock. Its kind of cool to watch the process on the dock as the print goes in and out of the cartridge area receiving each layer of color. It usually takes less time on a printer unit. There are also docks that do not print but simply charge the battery and/or transfer images to the computer. I don't see much value in these. They usually come as "throw-ins" when you buy a kit with the camera.

If you want to obtain 4"x 6" prints quickly, the printer dock is a useful item. Its certainly faster than sending your images to a printer and waitng for prints to return by mail. The cost is about the same if you buy the paper/cartridge units in bulk, otherwise you pay more for this time savings. If you are interested in larger prints, use your money to purchase a good quality photo printer such as a HP, Canon or Lexmark. I personally have both a printer dock and a printer so I can quickly turn out 4x6's and print the larger ones at leisure