Recommend a network-enabled printer? (1 Viewer)

Anybody recommend an inexpensive home-use inkjet or similar network enabled printer? Looking to connect it to my wireless router so I can use it with my Desktop PC running W2k and my laptop running Vista-64? It seems the basic HP deskjet that is network ready is about $80, however, looking for recommendations on a decent printer. Mostly basic B/W printouts with the occasional photo from my digital camera. I currently have an old Deskjet 952c.

I've heard that some of the other brands other than HP are better in terms of ink and costs associated with said ink...

Jay

If your HP is still working I would keep it for the occasional photo and purchase a mono laser for everything else. As for a small mono laser; HP, Lexmark, Brother and a few others all make nice home laser printers.

Just a side note, I have no idea why people print photos at home when it is far cheaper and the quality of the final product is generally always better when you get them done by a commercial outfit.

The HP is working but I can't seem to connect to it with my Vista laptop with a wireless router. I think I know why it isn't working (I talked to HP) but as it is now, if I want to print something on my laptop, I would have to turn my desktop PC on which seems silly. The Printer is USB so I could probably easily just switch the cable to my laptop when needed, however, I figured sometime in the future a network capable printer would be nice. And I can see if my father wants the HP952c so I could get some good karma out of it.

As far as printers, honestly I haven't printed a photo in years but I did use the 952c for the occasional 4x6 printed on the special photo paper tray using glossy photo stock. But I really don't anymore but ya never know. It's just convenience, more than anything else.

[edit] OK, I fixed the printer access so now I can print from my laptop to the 952c connected to my PC, but that still means my PC needs to be on for me to do that...

Jay

I bought a Brother MFC-865CW LAN Printer/Scanner/Fax last summer and it has worked really well. It uses our wireless network so we aren't tied down for location and we can print from any computer in the house. It is very versatile and photos looks good. I don't know about the ink $ per sheet printed, but the original ink just ran out 9 months after purchase. This is household use with kids in highschool.

Thanks, drobbins, birdman of the HTF . I don't really need a wireless printer, and I don't really need the scanner of fax part but I'll check them out. I have a bunch of Staples coupons coming from my toner cartridges..

Jay

I purchased mine at Staples. We have used the scanner and copier a few times, but life as we know it wouldn't have ended with out these features. We originally got it because I could not print from a Vista laptop to a XP attached printer.

Birdman

I've been using an HP LaserJet 1015n for about a month now. It's been working great and I can access it from all the computers in the house (It's actually attached to a wireless networking bridge since I didn't want to put it near all the wired networking gear).

It's a barebones B/W laser, but it got good reviews compared to some of the other networked printers I've looked at. Keep the other printer around for the occasions you want to print a photo (and turn on the desktop for that). Nothing wrong with having multiple printers for specialized uses. Those tend to last longer.

You can of course buy a print server (small box that hooks into your network) and keep using your current printer. The Netgear PS101 is one example of what I'm describing.

Hey, interesting little device, but my printer is a USB printer and I think at $70, I'd just buy a new printer that can just hook up to my router..

Jay