Wireless printer help

[Pembo]

We have an awesome all in one printer, a canon mp610. But it is not wireless and dh just a got a laptop for work and now I'm getting one, we need wireless.

Any suggestions for a decent all in one, wireless and ink that doesn't break the bank? We use our printer mainly for documents and making quick copies. Sometimes I print pics.

Edited to add I love two-sided printing too

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

We got a great deal on one at Best Buy and the promotion is still going on this week, too.

It is for that Kodak ESP 2710 wireless printer, it is not supposed to use as much ink as othe printers (the black cartridge is $9.99 and they give 20% off on Wednesdays). Well, if you take in your old printer to customer service, they give you a $50 off coupon for the purchase of this printer which is $99, making it $49.

I had $35 in Rewards, so I got it for $16.04. But, the deal is great to begin with for an all in one unit.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I have a Canon MG6120. I haven't had it very long so I'm still figuring it out, but so far I like it and it had good reviews on Amazon (but I bought it at Office Max).

 

[plutolovr]

We have an HP Photosmart that's wireless. While the ink is not super cheap, it does take individual cartridges for each color so you only have to replace the ones that run out. There are colors that run out more than others. I also use the extra large cartridges for those colors.

The print quality is great, even for photos.

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

I don't really have good suggestions, but we've had terrible luck with the Kodak ESP310. The quality of printed pictures or images is just terrible. We even had the printhead replaced, but have the same problem. The reason dh chose this was because the box claimed it uses less ink. Well...I have never gone through as much ink as I do now. I will not use it to print pictures or images of any kind because I might get 5 printed (if I was lucky) before it told me to replace the ink. The black printing is fine.

I'll be watching for better suggestions because I am seriously considering replacing it already (got it in May). The price of a couple ink cartridge refills (done weekly/biweekly at this point) would add up to the price of a new printer!

 

[prncess674]

If you only print a few photos, then just upload them to walgreens.com and pick them up the next time you are out and about. You don't pay shipping of you use the ship to store option. I would just look for a good scan/copy wireless. Since colleges are starting there are plenty of good options at the big box office supply stores.

 

[FLAngie]

What about a wireless printserver? Might be a better option than buying a new printer when you love the one you have.

 

[formill]

What about a wireless printserver? Might be a better option than buying a new printer when you love the one you have.

If you will still have a desktop you can just keep the printer hooked up to it and all can print to it or if your lap top sits on a desk all the time you can install the printer on it and still all in the house can share it. We have one printer hooked up to one desktop and all our laptops and other desktops in house print to it. My son bought a Canon MP560 wireless printer last year for school though and really likes it- I like that it will print both sides of paper automatically if you want it to. Our printer is a Brother MFC 685CW and I do not recommend it-jams any sort of special paper drives me crazy-also is a wireless printer but would not print well was hit or miss if you could connect to it so I just hooked it up to the computer.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

I don't really have good suggestions, but we've had terrible luck with the Kodak ESP310. The quality of printed pictures or images is just terrible. We even had the printhead replaced, but have the same problem. The reason dh chose this was because the box claimed it uses less ink. Well...I have never gone through as much ink as I do now. I will not use it to print pictures or images of any kind because I might get 5 printed (if I was lucky) before it told me to replace the ink. The black printing is fine.

I'll be watching for better suggestions because I am seriously considering replacing it already (got it in May). The price of a couple ink cartridge refills (done weekly/biweekly at this point) would add up to the price of a new printer!

I see ours is a different model than yours, but we only bought it to print off stuff mainly with black ink anyway, like coupons. I probably won't ever print off pictures. I just got it because it was such a great deal. I hope to get it set up this weekend.

 

[timmac]

I'll be watching for better suggestions because I am seriously considering replacing it already (got it in May). The price of a couple ink cartridge refills (done weekly/biweekly at this point) would add up to the price of a new printer!

That's the way the industry works... not so much a function of exactly what printer you have (until you start to get to higher end ones). Often times, the printers themselves are sold near cost or even at a bit of a loss, which is then more than made up on the consumables.

If you do a lot of printing, I'd highly recommend looking for a printer for which you can get a continuous ink system. (Basically, a third-party jerry-rigged cartridge which hooks up to larger, external, ink wells)

 

[Lewisc]

Can you put the printer in the same room as your router? A computer with wireless network can print to a print which is connected to your router with wired ethernet.

 

[Pembo]

Can you put the printer in the same room as your router? A computer with wireless network can print to a print which is connected to your router with wired ethernet.

The router is very close to the printer. The desktop is hardwired to the router and the printer is wired to the desktop. So what do I need to print from a laptop?

 

[gr8tdame]

We have an HP Photosmart that's wireless. While the ink is not super cheap, it does take individual cartridges for each color so you only have to replace the ones that run out. There are colors that run out more than others. I also use the extra large cartridges for those colors.

The print quality is great, even for photos.

I have an HP wireless Photosmart PSC all in one. The cartridges say they are good for so many pages but they are always running out and I spend a fortune on ink. Also you cannot refill the cartridges or buy any other brand or the printer won't run.
Afte Hp's fiasco with the touchpad I would stay clear of HP.

 

[elgerber]

All the computers in my house, desktops and wireless laptops, print to the hard wired printers that are attached to my desktop. We have a home network setup and we all share the printers and external drives ( and each others music folders) through our network.

 

[SandrA9810]

Before you pick a printer, look at the ml of each cartridge.

With an HP printer, sometimes it's one cartridge for each color, sometimes it's one cartridge for 3 colors. However when you're printing pictures, there's a separate color cartridge that has the lighter variations. So you use two color inks, rather than a color and black.

A lot of home printers use a much much smaller ink, any where from 4-10ml. A business class printer is usually going to have a much larger ink. Ours has a 56ml cartridge. Of course, the price is about $25 for black, $40 for color. So even if you can find a color for cheap, look at the size of the ink.

My suggestion, is to get a wireless laserjet printer (brother has a decent wireless line), for the quick printing in black. If you need to print photos and colored documents, then go to your old printer to do that stuff. Laserjets get a much higher print count than ink jets, so it costs pennies for a print, rather than 10-15 cents a print.

New HPs can't be refilled, the quality just doesn't work. Older HP inks (without a chip) can be indefinitely refilled. Any printer that has a indicator on your computer (one that tells you the ink is low) can not be refilled.

 

[Lewisc]

The router is very close to the printer. The desktop is hardwired to the router and the printer is wired to the desktop. So what do I need to print from a laptop?

I misread your post. I thought your printer had wired internet but just not wireless.

You should be able to configure your printer for "sharing" Other computers can use it but your desktop computer has to be on.

 

[fab5friend99]

I have a Canon MP620 which is wireless. I got it a walmart about 2 years ago for $99. I've got 3 laptops set up to print to it and haven't had any problems except when I moved and had to reset every laptop to work with the new network and then that was just because my brain wasn't working that day.

 

[taylor3297]

We have a Lexmark Pinnacle Pro901 and we love it. Even though we just bought it last month, I don't know how much I paid for it. I do remember Office Depot allowed us to bring in a really old printer and we were able to get $50 off.

 

[Pembo]

OP here, after 2 hours I was able to configure the laptop to print to our existing printer through the network. Yay! I couldn't get dh's laptop to work though. I need to download the driver from the Canon website and the site wouldn't open on his computer. I have no idea why. It worked on the other 2 computers in the house just not his laptop. I haven't given up yet....

Thanks Dis Friends, once again I learned something new.