WIFi printers

[Packard]

It turns out, that if you only use your inkjet printer once every 6 months, the cartridges require maintenance with each use. The nozzles get clogged.

So I bought a laser printer. But this came with a WiFi connection. After about 1-1/2 hours of fiddling with the IPad and the printer, I finally got it to work.

How is the preferable to plugging in a cord? And being in business in 5 minutes?

My one hope is that it will not forget the WiFi code.

In any case, if you are retired, like I am, and rarely need a printer, get a laser printer. They won’t clog up like the inkjet printers.

 

[cpw]

I am very happy with my Brother laser printer, every one I've had has been durable and they don't play shenanigans with ink/toner like some of the other brands.

I do need a printer fairly often; and it also has a built-in scanner with automatic page feeding. I sometimes wish I sprung for the duplex scanner; but duplex printing is helpful.

Wifi printing is great. I don't need to connect it to any of the 4 computers in the house; it just works from all of them after installing the driver. It is automatically discovered from my iPhone, which makes printing things from the phone super simple. For me this is much simpler than having to plug it into a PC then share it to other devices.

 

[peter halle]

I have had a Brother laser (black & white) for years that is fairly quick, scans both sides, copies both sides, prints both sides. Real workhorse. Have had to replace the drum (consumable) once. Also have a HP Color Laser Print on both sides. I learned my lesson on using rebuilt toner cartridges and only use OEM now. I hated the waste of ink and lack of waterproof prints. Will never go back to an inkjet unless I need a large format printer.

All of mine connect to my iPhones and iPads.

I keep my WEP key in my contacts app so that I can look it up and copy and paste as needed in case of a electronic brain fart.

Peter

 

[mwolczko]

I am very happy with my Brother laser printer, every one I've had has been durable and they don't play shenanigans with ink/toner like some of the other brands.

I’m not so sure. I’ve had a Brother color laser for ~5y and noticed that it would say the toners are empty when the prints were just fine. Also the toner levels for the 4 cartridges would always be the same which is dubious, since we print a lot of b&w. On the web I found the secret method for resetting the levels to full and since then I’ve found I can do that TWICE when levels get low before the prints actually start to suffer.

 

[luvmytoolz]

I’m not so sure. I’ve had a Brother color laser for ~5y and noticed that it would say the toners are empty when the prints were just fine. Also the toner levels for the 4 cartridges would always be the same which is dubious, since we print a lot of b&w. On the web I found the secret method for resetting the levels to full and since then I’ve found I can do that TWICE when levels get low before the prints actually start to suffer.

Gotta love printer hacks to save money and ink!

I recall the drama years back when Epson started putting IC's into the cartridges to lock you into their refills! There was at least one class action and/or anti-competitive rulings.

 

[kevinculle]

We have a Brother B&W Laser printer that is 12 years old and sits patiently in the basement for the few prints a month I run. It has been totally reliable, needing only a few cartridges and paper over the years. I got tired of dealing with clogged inkjets.

 

[mino]

It turns out, that if you only use your inkjet printer once every 6 months, the cartridges require maintenance with each use. The nozzles get clogged.

So I bought a laser printer. But this came with a WiFi connection. After about 1-1/2 hours of fiddling with the IPad and the printer, I finally got it to work.

How is the preferable to plugging in a cord? And being in business in 5 minutes?

My one hope is that it will not forget the WiFi code.

In any case, if you are retired, like I am, and rarely need a printer, get a laser printer. They won’t clog up like the inkjet printers.

That is strange. Most printers include a USB cable option, even if Wifi-only on the network side.

It is not preferable, but it is cheaper as the market expects it ... many homes and offices do not have wired networks these days.

Wired network is a luxury these days. Most are not willing to pay /both money and inconvenience/ for the security and reliability it inherently provides so skip it .. nothing more to it.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I have two Brother b&w laser printers. One is very old and still works fine, even with generic cartridges/drums.

I only bought the second one for the convenience of WiFi (or Air Print or whatever). It’s great to be able to print something from wherever I and my iPad happen to be.

 

[Packard]

I have a laptop that I rarely use and an IPad that I use daily. The last time I used my printer was to print out my tax documents last year. They used to mail me copies, but not they only email me attachments. When I tried to print them out, the screen said to clean cartridges. I fussed with it for a while and then gave up because I would have the same issue when I used it again months from now.

I bought a Brother laser printer. After the initial (and tedious) setup it seems to work fine. But given the use cycle, it is likely that it will forget the WiFi password, which was the tedious part of the setup.

I any case, I was able to mail off my tax documents to my accountant yesterday, so I won’t have to think about this for a while. The cable option seems easier. But most of the printers at Best Buy were all WiFi.

 

[onocoffee]

I've never been a fan of inkjet printers. Mainly because the ink runs if wet, the cartridges dry and they're expensive. Since my switch from dot matrix, I've mainly had laser printers - and everytime I've added an inkjet, I've hated it.