Wireless network printing Christmas gift (CostCo) for my sister

Big unanswered question here is, is money no object? Because the network-enabled printers are all going to be MUCH more expensive than any parallel/USB printer. Network-enabled printers are by far the easiest solution, but you'll pay dearly for that convenience.

That really only leaves either a wired or wireless print server as an option. And then you get into compatibility issues. So unfortunately, your printer choices may be driven more by compatible, reliable, quality printer servers than the features you desire in the printer. IOW, you may need to investigate the printer server options FIRST before even considering which printer. I've seen some pretty cheap print servers offered at CompUSA lately ($10 after rebate), some wired, some wireless. There may even be dual-mode models so she has more flexibility.

Jim

What are today's wireless home network printing today?

I wish to give my sister in Texas a gift by buying online (probably at

Assuming the printer will remain stationary but the laptop PC will be used with encryption around house - are these our printer options?

1. Buy a fully wireless networked printer and set it up anywhere in the house sans wires (excluding the power cord). Then print to it via the laptop PCMCIA wireless card.

1. Buy an ethernet wired network printer and set it up next to the existing wireless router via a cat5 ethernet cable to one of the wired ports on the wireless router.

2. Buy a USB printer (no innate network capability) and buy a special box (dunno what it is called) that converts ethernet to USB so that she can print to that special box via the laptop PCMCIA wireless card and that special box will convert the signal to USB into the printer.

Are these our basic options today (assuming CostCo 300 to 500 dollar printers)?

Tony Susa

Do that one and be done with it.

Duane :)

One other thing, you should keep it simple as your sister might hate you and spit in your face in the long run for this if it's to complicated or toublesome. :)

Duane :)

The only time I would recommend wireless printers is if running the CAT5 cable is impossible. In general, wired connections are better, faster, more reliable, less trouble, and easier to setup than wireless.

Yeah, that will work. I setup an HP 5850 wireless injet printer a few weeks ago. The customer had given up due to the complexities of the installation and dragged me in to do the job. It took a while to figure out and get it working. Of course, they had a 2.4Ghz cordless phone next to the printer. When the phone was active, the printer would disconnect and stay disconnected for about 3 minutes until after the call was done. I could tell from the huge blue LED on the top that it had switched from wireless connectivity to ethernet wired connectivity and took its time going back to wireless. I eventually arranged the access point, printer, and cordless phone in a configuration that would not cause disconnects.

Incidentally, some wireless printers call themselves "Print servers". This is not exactly true. It's actually a "print client" in that the wireless part of the printer connects to the wireless access point. In this mode (infrstructure) printing is done from the laptop to the access point and then to the printer, not directly.

The HP 5850 has the ability to go directly from the laptop to the printer using the ad-hoc mode. That works nicely but causes a big problem. Her laptop cannot simultaneously be in infrastructure mode so that it can browse the internet, and in ad-hoc mode so it can print. It's one or the other, one at a time.

Since the HP 5850 has both a wireless and a wired ethernet connection, one would presume that both can be connected simultaneously to an access point or computer. Nope. It's one at a time with only one IP address for the machine (not one for each interface).

That would be what I would recommend. Note that there are external print servers that talk to USB printers that are usually cheaper than the built in ethernet adapters.

It's called a "USB Print Server". Watch out for multifunction printers that have fax, scanning, and printing, in one package. Many of them don't support all these functions over a network. With one of these, it's usually best to purchase the internal ethernet adapter that is made to work with the multifunction printer.

Examples of some USB print servers: |

Other people have listed some other options. I don't know exactly what she will be doing with this printer. It could be photo quality or run as a printing press. The requirements are different. In large print quantities, a laser printer is more economical.

This is why your wired printer suggestion is the only one that the OP should select. Troubleshooting wireless and print servers is terribly difficult over the phone unless both parties have the required expertise.

Anthony Susa said the following on 12/14/2005 19:00:

I was sorta in your position last year, but I was looking for a printer for myself. I didn't want to leave my computer running all the time so others on my home network could use my shared printer. I started looking for something that could be our stand-alone home network printer.

Consider the HP6840 because it come with all the interfaces you're wondering about - wired, wireless, USB, even Pictbridge for cameras. That way your sister can figure out what's best for her. Even comes with full-capacity cartridges in the box, not those half-full ones that most printers come with.

I'm happy with mine. It's fast, not too noisy, does a good job with photo printing with the standard cartridges. Also has a built-in web page interface for configuration. List price is $180. Unless things have changed, that's the cheapest printer you'll find with a wired network interface.

I agree with the others about plugging the printer into a router. Wireless, with all the problems you read about here, is just too much bother for most people.

Lance

The HP6840 comes with BOTH wireless and wired ports so it could do either 1. or 2.

I don't recommend that. Many people report problems with third party printer servers. Frequently they will allow printing but won't send any status info back to the PCs (eg ink level monitoring or paper out doesn't work). If you go this route you need ti check that the printer server supports the printer AND how well it supports the printer (eg does it support the status info).

It is not that much difference, and is probably cheaper to get a networked printer than a printer with a separate print server. For example, see the DeskJet 6840 with wireless or wired networking for $169 at

Regards, Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

Assuming that you want to get a color inkjet printer ...

The hp 5850 mentioned by some of the other posters is no longer available. It's been replaced by the hp 6840, which until lists for $169 direct from hp + s/h (at least until this Saturday

This printer can be connected either by wireless b/g or by cat5 cable (but not both simultaneously) or usb. I have one at home which connects in wireless infrastructure mode to my Linksys wrt54g router and one in my wife's office to which she connects in wireless ad hoc mode. Setup of each was quite easy (and my wife -- who has almost zero interest in the details of computer technology

-- easily uses the same laptop to print to both printers without the need to re-configure anything).

However, if I were going to get one of these as a long-distance gift, I'd first download and read the user manual, network guide, and setup guide

If you get one of these printers, and opt to have it connected via wireless, you should know that (at least on mine) the setup "wizard" only allows you to setup WEP security, even though the printer supports WPA-AES. I found it easier -- for the infrastructure mode connection, where I wanted the highest possible security -- to set it up with no security and then use the printer's "embedded web server" to configure the security appropriately.

I believe the 6840 is also the cheapest Ethernet-capable printer that hp sells. Thus, if you run into interference from 2.4gHz phones or microwave ovens, etc, use your option 2.

As far as I'm aware, network adaptors for printers, either wireless to usb, ethernet to usb, or something like hp's plug-in JetDirect adapters, are in the $80 (and up, sometimes up a lot) range, so take that into consideration when pricing out your potential setup.

Keep it simple, for your sake and for hers, especially if she has to set it all up herself.

Netgear, Linksys, and others all make little boxes that make a printer into a network device. HP and Lexmark make them, too, but overpriced. If the printer is a USB printer, you need a box with USB on one side and Ethernet on the other. If the printer is a parallel printer, then you need a box with a 25-pin parallel connection and an Ethernet port. The modern ones are pretty easy to set up. (I've used a couple of Netgear Ethernet adapters for parallel port printers, and they work acceptably.)

Of course, you could always spring for a printer with networking built-in (altho the cheap HP "networked" printers simply come with a little USB-Ethernet box). Networked printers are typically mid-range laser printers and higher quality inkjet printers, both sturdier business class devices with higher duty cycles.

I took the liberty of putting all the options quoted in this thread in one reply without any prejusice or features, only price if available and where to buy. They are grouped by mfg and in no particular order.

HP 5850 - compusa -older model- hp 6840

The printer we use was $80 but is now discontinued. It is a 5850. It has USB and ethernet wired and ethernet wireless.

We use the wireless so the printer and the router don't have to be close together and no cables to run. It is only 802.11b but that is faster than the printer.

We had to wire it for initial configuration and you just point a web browser to it. The wireless connection has been trouble free.

Buy.com has ip4000R for $150ish and $30 rebate if you pick up thei Visa card. It's a great printer. I have it in both USB and wireless modes and it works great. Fast, good quality, very easy to refill (one of the last Canon printers that are like this) and even text on plain paper is perfectly acceptable.

Highly recommended.

DK

Yes, I know as I have been on the phone with family members too many times trying to fix computer problems. It's very painful at times when the person on the other end is non technical.

Duane :)

If you go this route you need to check that the printer server not only supports the printer but also how WELL it supports the printer (eg does it support the ink status info?).

Agreed. That's why it is generally best to match the brand of the print server with the brand of the computer. AFAIK, HP and Lexmark sell their own brand of print server. Don't know if Epson does. I don't see a lot of Epsons.

.... Ben Myers

On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 04:34:29 +0000, Jeff Liebermann wrote (in article ):

of course, in infrastructure mode you can access internet while printing simultaneously, so this is the obvious solution. I have a wireless hp 1320 bw laser in one room which talks to my wireless access point in another flawlessly, as do all my computers/laptops about the house, so all can print and access the printer simultaneously by wireless (and I can drive music from any computer to three different sets of speakers in different rooms as well).

so I would suggest option 1, provided the wireless network is managed.