Wireless Printer: Advice and Information
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Wireless
Printers...
Hi, I'm Tom. If you're
looking for a new printer, you should definitely consider a wireless
printer.
I've
created this special page to advise you on what to look for in a
wireless printer, how to connect it, and also how to keep your printing
costs low no matter what type of printer you choose.. |
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Advantages of a Wireless Printer
With computer prices at all time lows and continuing to drop, many people now have multiple computers in their home. A very common situation is to have a desktop PC plus a laptop PC, especially for those of us who have children in school. | |
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The problem is, it can be a real pain in the neck to carry the laptop to the printer, which is usually connected to the desktop, unhook everything and hook it up to the laptop, all in order to print. An alternative, of course, is to buy two printers, but that is expensive and now you're maintaining two pieces of hardware.
A better choice is to buy a wireless printer. Now, imagine that all of your computers can connect to the same printer. No more carrying your laptop to where the printer is, and no more hooking and unhooking cables.
The same thing applies to having multiple desktop computers. All of them can connect to and use the same printer. Instead of buying two inexpensive, low functionality printers, for less money you can buy one high quality wireless printer that every PC can use. It's more economical and you'll gain far better functionality. Of course, you can accomplish the same thing by stringing cable all over your house, but that's cumbersome and really not necessary. You can just install a wireless interface and print from multiple locations.
There are several advantages to having a wireless printer and being able to print wirelessly:
- You eliminate the necessity of having your printer be in the same location as the computer from which you want to print. You can now place the wireless printer wherever you wish in your home or office.
- If, like many people, you have both a desktop and a laptop PC, both can access the wireless printer without being connected to it by cable. Today's laptops are almost always equiped with Wi-Fi, making it simple and easy to wirelessly connect and use your printer. Plus, wireless signals frequently reach well outside your house, so you can use your laptop while sitting in backyard and still be able to print.
- Modern network technology means that a wireless printer can print at just as fast a speed as a printer directly connected to a PC by a cable.
- Like almost all computer hardware, prices for wireless printers has dropped dramatically and there are many major brands from which to choose.
As with any sort of computer printer, you'll want to check the cost of printer cartridges for whatever brand of wireless printer you are considering, as this can substantially affect your printing costs. If you do a large volume of printing, you may want to consider a laser printer for your wireless printer needs, as it will be less expensive in the long term.
All of your well known brands, such as Canon, HP, Brother, Epson and Kodak now make wireless printers. With so many major brands available at increasingly lower costs, now is the time to consider a wireless printer and give yourself the ability to print anywhere in your home or office.
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How to Set Up a Wireless Printer
Gone are the days when you had to have a dedicated printer for each PC. One of the most useful advances in computer printing technology is the ease with which you can now set up a wireless printer that can be used from any computer in your house. | |
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There are two ways to get a wireless printer: by using the wireless network (e.g. Wi-Fi) in your home or office if you have one, or buy using a printer that is Bluetooth enabled.
With a wireless network, you can print to any printer that is within the range (about 100 feet or so) and is Wi-Fi enabled.
With Bluetooth technology, you have even more flexibility. You can print to Bluetooth enabled wireless printer from any other device that is Bluetooth enabled. This means you can print not only from a desktop or laptop computer, but also from a digital camera or cellular phone. No more having to upload the data to our computer first before printing! This simplifies the job of connecting to a wireless printer and also means you don't have to tie up your computer with print jobs.
Bluetooth to make your printer a wireless printer is available two ways. First, the printer can be Bluetooth compatible, which means you have to buy a separate Bluetooth component. Second, and the simpler way, is to purchase a Bluetooth enabled printer, which has the Bluetooth component built in so it works without anything additional needed.This is an out-of-the-box wireless printer.
For an older printer, you can buy a wireless printer server that will convert it into a wireless printer, although this can be a bit difficult to set up.
Here are the main ways to connect your printer wirelessly:
Use Printer Sharing
With this method, you set up your computer with printer sharing. Then, any computer that is on your wireless network can print to this printer, just like a wireless printer. One disadvantage is the computer connected directly to the printer must be on, as it's being used as the print server. Although low cost, this method of having a wireless printer can be hard to make work properly with older operating systems such as Windows 98 or ME (or, soon to be XP!).
Set up a Wireless Print Server
This is accomplished by buying a wireless print server device, widely available at most electronics stores. But be careful here about compatibility. Some wireless kits will only work with certain brands. They can be a bit tricky to get working but a set up program will frequently be included to help.
Use a Wireless Router
You can get a router that has a USB port. You can then connect a USB printer quickly and easily to your wireless network. If you already have a wireless router and it doesn't have a USB port, you'll need to buy another one.
The Best Solution - buy a Wireless Printer
When you're buying a new printer, simply make sure it has wireless connectivity built in, which means it's a wireless printer. You can tell by looking for a "w" at the end of the model number, which means it has wireless functionality.
In closing, be sure to buy the right wireless hardware for your computer and operating system, and be aware that you'll need to take a few extra steps, such as using password protection. |
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Best Tips for Choosing a Home Printer
Choosing the best home printer can be confusing, with the dozens of makes and models currently on the market. Here are the major things you need to consider when looking at a printer. | |
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Choosing the best home printer, either wired or a wireless printer, can be confusing, with the dozens of makes and models currently on the market. Here are the major things you need to consider when looking at a printer, regardless of the brand and whether it's a single use or an all-in-one.
First, is it reliable? Once you've narrowed down your choice, go online and read reviews from others who have owned that particular model for a while. This is especially important when looking for a wireless printer.
Should you go with a wired printer or a wireless printer? There's an easy answer to this: buy a wireless printer if you have a wireless home network. This will let you print from any computer on your network. The way printer prices have come down, a wireless printer is now not much more expensive than a wired printer.
Look at the printer's "dots per inch" (DPI) rating. The higher the number, the better the resolution - in other words, quality - at which your photos and documents will be printed. A guideline is to have a rating of at least 600 DPI for documents and 1200 DPI for photographs. This is not much of an issue with today's printer technology, as even the lowest cost home printers should meet this standard.
Look at what kind of ink cartridges the printer uses and then go online and find reviews for that cartridge. You want the one that is rated at a high number of pages compared to other cartridges. In the long run, you will spend more money on ink than you do on the printer, so be sure to pay close attention to this.
Don't pay for more print quality than you need. Before you pay a high price for a "true photo lab quality" printer, think about how many photographs you will really want to print. If you will just print a few dozen, it might be better to use a print kiosk at the local drugstore. It's not expensive and the quality will be better.
Make sure the printer cable is compatible with your system. Almost all printers today connect using a USB port. Older ones connect using a parallel port, which isn't even found on most new PCs. This isn't much of an issue, as virtually all new printers use USB connectivity, but it's something to consider if you are buying a used printer. NOTE: new printers typically do not come with a cable to connect to your computer, so be sure to buy one at the same time if you don't already have one.
Look at the warranty. All new printers of course carry the manufacturer's warranty, but this can vary anywhere from 90 days to one year. All else being equal, go with the longer warranty, especially for a wireless printer. Also, since the price of even wireless printers is now so low, it's not worth paying extra money for an "extended warranty".
Buy a major, well-known brand. There are over 30 different brands of printers, but the major ones are: HP, Canon, Brother, Epson, and Kodak. While others may be good, the biggest brands are your safest choice.
Finally, make sure the printer you're considering, be it wired or a wireless printer, has all features and capabilities you need, both now and in the future. If you only need to print documents and an occasional picture, don't pay for a photo quality printer: go to a kiosk. Many printers today are multifunction printers, so if you want to be able to scan and store images, this is the way to go.
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How to Cut Your Printer Costs
If you're in the market for a new printer, this is one universal truth: your long term costs are mostly comprised of the ink cartridges. | |
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Some time ago, I found a great price on a new color printer (not a wireless printer) - under $50. So I snapped it up. I found out later that replacement ink cartridges were $40, and with my usage I had to replace them about every four months or so. This meant I was spending more on ink that it would cost me to buy two new printers a year! Such was the cost of not paying attention up front to ink cartridge costs.
This means that before purchasing any new printer, including a wireless printer, you should compare the cost and page capacity of the ink cartridges. If you plan on doing a lot of printing, especially photo printing, you may be better off buying a more expensive printer that has ink cartridges that either cost less or print substantially more pages.
When looking at the cost of ink cartridges, pay particular attention to the number of pages the cartridge can print. What you really want to do is divide the replacement cost of the ink cartridge by the number of pages it's rated to print. This will give you the per page print cost. What you want to do is go for the printer or wireless printer that has the lowest per page print cost and the features you want, including print speed (as measured by ppm, or pages-per-minute).
You may want to consider a laser printer instead of an inkjet printer, especially that inkjet printer that came "free" with the computer you purchased. That "free" printer will usually cost you much more in the long run due to high ink replacement costs and low page count.
The cost of laser printers, like all printers, has fallen enough that it may be cheaper in the long run than an inkjet, taking into consideration that the cost of ink work out to be about one third as expensive.
Laser printers do not print as good in color as in inkjet, so many people have an inexpensive inkjet for color printing and a laser jet for higher volume black-and-white printing.
Can you save money on ink by buying a kit to refill your used cartridge? While this may look attractive, it almost always results in low quality and sometimes a leaky cartridge.
Two better choices are: "generic brand" compatible ink cartridges and remanufactured ink cartridges. These are perfectly acceptable alternatives to buying new ink cartridges, even though the printer manufactures want you to believe that the only good cartridges are new ones made by them.
Compatible cartridges are new cartridges that are designed to meet or exceed the manufacturer's original standards but are priced much lower. It's sort of like buying the store brand of canned peaches.
Remanufactured ink cartridges are recycled ink cartridges that are "rebuilt" and filled with original quality ink. This is the least expensive way to go, although they are most often available for laser printers, as laser cartridges are better engineered than inkjet cartridges. Be sure you get ones that are remanufactured and not just refilled with ink and that they offer a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the quality.
The bottom line is that you can significantly reduce your printing costs by buying the right printer and using the less expensive generic brand or remanufactured ink cartridges
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