Be advised about this shipping problem with this compressor.
A good compressor to get you started. - I shopped extensively for a light duty compressor based on the following criteria: price, weight, and flow rating. It features the same motor and compressor as the PC 3HP twin stack model but is $40 cheaper and about 10 pounds lighter.

Other than that what can I say - it pumps air. This gives it the reserve of a 5 gallon tank, even though it is physically 4 gal. It is fairly loud, but I haven't listened to many other models to make an educated comparison. I have used it quite a bit for high air flow operations, such as blowing off dust / debris and even running an air chisel to bust up concrete. It often runs full time for 5-10 minutes and is able to keep up with air demand. If you are going to be regularly moving the compressor around, spend the extra. I actually ran a compressed air line out to my garage, so the compressor can stay put in the basement and avoid potential damage from moving it.

*** 4-year update ***

I have owned this compressor for 4+ years now and am still completely satisfied. I was able to obtain a replacement direct from PC, for less than $20, which I thought was pretty reasonable. I used a hand held, air chisel to break up the mortar joints. The compressor was operating at 100% duty cycle for 10-15 minutes at a stretch, but couldn't quite keep up with continuous use of the air chisel. As an last ditch experiment, I bought a 10 gal portable air storage tank, some extra quick disconnect fittings and rigged up a reserve tank in parallel with the 4 gallon PC tank. (yes, I am an engineer) My thinking was that I would run the crap out of my little PC and if it bit the dust, that was my excuse to buy a new compressor. I am amazed to say the PC compressor ran flawlessly for the entire chimney demo and still works fine today.
Great Little Air Squeezer!!! - This little Porter Cable compressor is all (and more) that I expected it to be. It pumps the 4-gallon tank to 125 psi in less than a minute, and then cycles automatically as the pressure drops. The output should be more than adequate for my needs to run an air ratchet, blow nozzle, hand sandblaster and pressurize a small auxilliary portable tank. A better choice for that kind of a work environment would be the 3HP enclosed, stacked-tank model offered by Porter Cable.
Poor Engineering - There is no gauge guard that would prevent the whole gage assembly from bending (and separating) at the base where the nipple attaches to the tank. Air will leak from the threads of the nipple (as was the case for me) or worse. Pancake compressors due to their top heavy nature can and do rollover, and if this unit rolls onto the gauge side, sooner or later your going to have a major problem. I discovered this design flaw when I plugged my brand new compressor in and a rush of air shot out where the gauge nipple screws to the tank. There was no visible damage to the gages so that means to me that it doesn't take much of a blow to damage the nipple-to-tank connection. The compressor was improperly packaged. There was no extra packing foam or otherwise to prevent the compressor from banging side ways.
Great machine - The problem was, there were a couple `for' and a couple `against' this compressor which didn't help in the decision process (usually there's enough positive or negative comments to aid in making a decision). mechanical but that's completely irrelevant!) about the gage guard and the connection at the tank and yes you could easily break it off. If you want to ensure you don't have this problem, buy a compressor with a cage around it. Heck what do you want from a COMPRESSOR!

- Plenty of air to shoot my 15ga nails and recovery time on the tank is VERY quick.
Damaged Compressor due to defective design - My compressor arrived damaged due to the gauge assembly being bent during shipping resulting in the nipple to the tank splitting open. The compressor was unusable. After thinking about it for 30 seconds, I realized that this compressor can not stand up to any damage on the job and moreover may represent a situation where the gauge could unexpectedly blow out and kill/injure someone.

I recommend buying a different compressor.