Frontier Mom Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I ordered a new desktop and two new laptops. I just got a new router and we have a two story house. Our "learning room" is upstairs and I keep my IMAC and the desktop up there. I need to have a printer for the laptops downstairs. What would you set up, a wireless printer or connect with USB? I need some suggestions and advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alte Veste Academy Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Well, I'll bump you. I personally connect with a USB. It can be a drag when I am working in another room because I have to move into the other room to do it and leave the computer connected until it's finished printing. That's really only if something is urgently needed though. I usually try to save all my printing to do at one time. It works well if I'm on the ball and doing lots of planning in advance. Doing the actual plug-in of the USB is a no-brainer, of course. I just leaved it hooked up to the printer 24/7 so it's always at the ready. On a scale of 1-10, it only bothers me a 3 though, so I'm not going to upgrade to a wireless printer anytime soon. I'm just happy to be wireless enough to have my laptop anywhere in my house or on my swing outside. Kristina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeanestMomInMidwest Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I have two e-mail addresses. I just e-mail things from my laptop (I connect to the internet via wireless router) to myself and then print off the house computer. It is rather cumbersome, but it is the only free solution for printing I could come up with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceyS/FL Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I"ve had a USB printer hanging off my Apple Extreme router - worked pretty darn easy and didn't require a computer to be turned on. Currently, my new Officejet Pro printer is ethernet, so i just have it plugged into the back of the router. All the computers in the house can scan and print from/to it (you can send a scan to a turned on computer from the front panel - you don't need to be at the computer). After having this set up - well, i couldn't change! LOL!! (and i think both windows (XP and Vista), and Mac does, has printer sharing - but you will need to have the computer attached to the printer on to use it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 We have the printer connected to a USB to my laptop. dh's laptop is set up so he can print wirelessly, however my computer has to on and open for him to print. I'd love to have my set up wireless but one of them has be hardwired to be the hub. I rarely need to print when I'm dragging the laptop around the house, but I sure love my laptop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athena1277 Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 I would set it up wirelessly. Dh and I both have laptops and he bought something that made it so that we can both print from our laptops. I wish I could tell you exactly how to do it, but I'm not that tech-savy. Of course either way, you have to get up and get the paper from the printer. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frontier Mom Posted January 11, 2009 Author Share Posted January 11, 2009 Thanks for the suggestions. I am waiting for my new "system" and then I am going to move some things around. I looked up wireless printers and they really aren't too expensive anymore. I may try that route. Now I need to decide what to put our desktop in the learning room on. Right now I have a computer desk but there is no space to lay a book on the desk with the monitor. They use this for science, math, etc. so they need to be able to lay their books down and follow along on the screen. I'm thinking about getting rid of the computer desk and just using a rectangular table instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet in Toronto Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 We have a wifi-enabled printer which is a godsend in our house of three laptops (1 mac, two pcs) and a desktop. Prior to the wireless printer, I had a wireless print server (something like this) attached to our old printer that allowed us to send jobs to that printer wirelessly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 You do not need a wireless printer (or even a networked printer) to print wirelessly on your own network. No need to replace what you already have. You can simply use the USB to plug into one of the computers already up there (which are presumably on the network) and share the printer through that computer. The only caveat is that the connected computer will have to be on in order to print from elsewhere. (I can only speak to the sharing arrangement in PCs, not Macs.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 I would set it up wirelessly. Dh and I both have laptops and he bought something that made it so that we can both print from our laptops. I wish I could tell you exactly how to do it, but I'm not that tech-savy. Of course either way, you have to get up and get the paper from the printer. :D ...wired to the desktop, but also set up so that the other desktop & our laptops print wirelessly. I would have to ask dh how he set it up because I have NO idea. He is my favorite IT man. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 We have an HP wireless printer and it's been great!! But I can't tell you how to set it up because DH did all of that. So nice to have a tech guy in the house. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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