As people replace their ageing computer equipment we are finding that more and more people are buying laptops. There are advantages in replacing your old PC with a laptop i.e. the flexibility of being able to use your computer where and when you want, the space you get back by getting rid of that big tower, monitor and 100’s of cables that take up the space in the spare bedroom, and the fact that you can easily take it back and forth on trips around the world.
One of the problems with moving from a PC to a laptop is deciding what to do with the printer that was sitting next to your PC, connected via a cable. Well, many people simply leave it there and walk their laptop to it every time they need to print boarding passes etc. However some are finding that moving to a wireless printer is the answer.
As long as you have a wireless router (which anyone who wants to get the most out of their wireless laptop would have) then you can integrate a wireless printer quite easily into your home network.
The advantage of a wireless printer, of course, is that it doesn’t have to sit in a convenient location for connection to a computer, it can sit inside a cupboard or on a shelf out of the way – as long as its plugged in you can print away to your heart’s content and usually by the time you get to the printer, your print jobs are sitting waiting for you to collect them.
One common misconception with wireless printing is that by buying a wireless printer you will automatically be able to print from your tablet, iPad or iPhone. I’m afraid that this is not necessarily correct. In terms of “native” wireless printing from an Apple device, you will need to purchase an AirPrint compatible printer. Be careful about your printer choice as, in our experience, many companies will tell you that their printer is AirPrint compatible, when it is not. Look for the AirPrint logo to be certain that it is compatible with your Apple device.
Most printer manufacturers have now created apps for mobile devices that allow you to connect in some way with their printers. Epson have the iPrint app for Android or Apple devices, HP have their ePrint app and Brother have their own iPrint app – each one of these apps is a free download from either the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
The other thing to take into account when thinking about a new printer is the type and cost of the ink cartridges. In general we find that the cheaper printers tend to have the more expensive ink cartridges. Look for a printer that has 4 (or more) cartridges opposed to the printers that take only 2 cartridges – the colour cartridge in this type of printers (known usually as tri-colour) has all 3 prime colours inside the one cartridge and once you run out of just one of the colours you have to replace the whole cartridge! Obviously with the printers that take separate cartridges, if you run out of yellow for example, you only need to replace that yellow cartridge making the whole process so much more cost effective – which is great!
Talking about printers and inks www.spanishink.com is a great website to go to for printer inks. If you can’t find what you’re looking for then just drop them an email and they will research the best priced cartridge for you. Drop them an email if you are not sure which printer to buy – they can tell you which printers have the cheaper priced inks so it is best to contact them before you buy a printer to ensure that you make the best choice that will save you money on inks in the future, and you don´t need to take out a mortgage each time you replace your cartridges!