Cricut design studio?

[m_fancher]

Has anyone used the Cricut design studio?
Wondered how you users felt about it....I would like to hear the good and bad of it to help me make up my mind.
Of course the design studio seems a little out dated now with the new gypsy out. I just don't want to invest that much money into it. At least I do't think I do. I'm sure some of you could change my mind about that. But anyway, for now I think I will stick with the design studio. Any response would be appreciated.

 

[Lanie]

I really like that you can input all the cartridges you have on it and then search for a design on them. For example, when I scrapped my engagement I wanted a diamond ring, and I never thought I would find it on Mickey and Friends!

I also really like the welding function, although it takes me forever. It's so much faster to just cut one word and glue it on a page!

 

[mecllap]

I ordered mine online for 29.99 and then read a lot about it on cricut.com. Should have read about all the installation problems before ordering. It came yesterday, and sure enough, it won't install on my system. Make sure your computer totally fits the limited capabilities/requirements to be able to use it. Have you been able to install all the updates to your operating system (I can't on my early-version Vista system)? We're hoping it will install on my DD's old XP laptop (but won't be surprised if that fails also, after what I read). A lot of people have, of course, been able to install it and enjoy using it.

 

[Raenstoirm]

I it. It is my favorite scrapping toy. My husband bought it for me right after in came out. I use it for every layout. The welding is so easy. I also like the fact that you can plan pages. When I scrapped my Disneymoon I used all of the Disney carts and cut tons of characters. I saved myself time by combing all the pieces into color. So I had a yellow page that had mickey's shoes and Pluto's body on it and a blue one that held goofy's pants and Donald's shirt. As I cut each color I built each character on my workspace. It was a little bit like a puzzle, but saved so much time from having to load and unload colors to get one character cut at a time.

 

[mecllap]

Update: I was successful in getting CDS onto the old laptop and cutting out a welded name with my little Cricut -- so am happy about that -- fun to do. May use it on the small one mostly, at least for a while until I'm sure I want to hook it up to the E (there's some firmware change involved, and I wonder if that's a good idea).