Wireless printer help please

michelefauk

Hi, looking for some basic advice (bear with me as I am not a techie!)

Currently we have a non wireless pc attached to a non-wireless printer. We have a wireless router which the pic is attached to by an Ethernet (?) cable and which we use for our wireless gadgets, 2 laptops and an ipad. We are looking to replace the printer with a wireless printer as at the moment we can only use the pc to print, which is a pain as it is rarely on. If we bought a wireless printer, is it possible to connect that so we can do both wired and wireless printing off all our sources?

Hope this makes sense!

victor2

Most wireless printers (if not all) will have an option for a cable connection as well, which will most likely be USB.
Another option is to consider a "wireless printer server", which will allow you to change your existing printer to wireless. Never used one, but I suspect that will then utilise your only cable connection to the printer, so may not be suitable.

Neil49

I have a desktop pc which is wired to the router but connects to a wireless printer without any problem.

I have an HP printer and when running the setup disc it gave various connection options for you to choose from, one of which is wireless.

The only requirement I found was in the initial printer setup where it asked me to physically connect the printer to the pc in order to finalise the setup process. To do this you will need a cable (but I can't remember which one was required). Fortunately I had one in my vast collection of cables as they didn't supply one with the printer.

victor2

Neil49 wrote: »

The only requirement I found was in the initial printer setup where it asked me to physically connect the printer to the pc in order to finalise the setup process. To do this you will need a cable (but I can't remember which one was required). Fortunately I had one in my vast collection of cables as they didn't supply one with the printer.

Good point there. If the existing printer cable is USB and you get a new wireless printer, there's a good chance it will have the same size USB port on it. Not guaranteed though!

shelly

Yes, it's possible to do what you want to do, we do it.
Our set up is that 2 pc's are wired to the wireless router but 2 tablets and a laptop are connected wirelessly (the tablets require a free app to print from them)

Our old printer recently died so we thought we would try a wireless one this time and it's brill. We have a Brother DCP-J315W which is a 3 in 1. It scans, photocopies and prints and can also read memory cards.

Compatible inks are bought cheaply from ebay costing under £6 for 2 full sets of cartridges (2 of each, black, red, yellow and blue)

Cheapest I can find at the moment is roughly £70 from amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brother-DCP-J315W-Wireless-Multifunction-Printer/dp/B0041X9NQ4

Hope that helps

santer_2

On ebay at the moment for £54 delivered.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brother-DCP-J315W-All-in-One-Inkjet-Printer-/300878672055?clk_rvr_id=461362801970

michelefauk

Many thanks for all the help so far, I had a look at the Brother printer but it isn't on the Apple AirPrint list, so wouldn't be compatible with an iPad?

phona

Neil49 wrote: »

The only requirement I found was in the initial printer setup where it asked me to physically connect the printer to the pc in order to finalise the setup process. To do this you will need a cable (but I can't remember which one was required). Fortunately I had one in my vast collection of cables as they didn't supply one with the printer.

The fashion now seems to be not supplying cables; saves the companies money I suppose.
However if your router is reasonably new, you may well be able to connect your printer to the WiFi without a cable. This is how my printer connected (I bought it a few months ago) and I was quite in awe! You'll get instructions how to do this with the printer.

As for connecting the PC, your existing USB cable should work for this.

shelly

michelefauk wrote: »

Many thanks for all the help so far, I had a look at the Brother printer but it isn't on the Apple AirPrint list, so wouldn't be compatible with an iPad?

Apologies, should have mentioned that the Brother isn't compatible with the Apple software but there's an app that fixes that. It's called Brother iPrint and scan app.
Some more info here http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public/eu/eu_ot/en/faq/faq_list.html?reg=eu&c=eu_ot&lang=en&prod=dcpj315w_eu_as&Cat=162

Hope that helps