Wireless Printers

[porkchop]

What is the point of spending £15/20 more for a wireless 3 in 1 printer over the same model which connects with a USB cable? Any view welcome and any ideas which is the best budget 3 in 1 printer for home use. Thanks.

[woofgang]

If you share a printer among the family and have more than one computer, or even if there is only one of you and you want to be able to sit and work with your laptop in the living room but have your printer elsewhere, then a wireless one is a good choice.

[Buenchico]

If you've got several devices which need to access the printer (such as a desktop, a laptop, a tablet, etc) then having wireless access [rather than continually unplugging one device and plugging in another] makes sense. Indeed, some devices which are capable of connecting to printers don't even have USB ports.

These days it's becoming increasingly hard to find printers which don't offer wireless connectivity. Those that are still 'USB only' are often no cheaper anyway.

I bought a new printer last year and did a LOT of research before making my final choice, which was a Canon Pixma MG5350. While you might find that a little expensive and/or hard to find, I note that it's 'little brother', the MG4250 is currently the number one recommendation from Computer Active magazine. (Quote: "This budget multifunction printer (MFP) isn't the fastest available, but it's cheap to buy and inexpensive to run. Just as importantly, both prints and scans look great. Unless you need faster print speeds, this is the one to buy").

Computer Active's assessment of that printer was based upon a price of £70 but it's currently £20 cheaper in Argos, at just £49.99:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9114337.htm
(Click on '59 customer reviews' to see what people who bought it from Argos think of it).

[Gizmonster]

As Buenchico says ..... plus it depends where the printer is to be located. We have 2 laptops (usually used downstairs) connected to our printer (located in the loft) .... plus there's a desktop PC connected to it, through the USB cable.

[Old_Geezer]

I don't have recommendations and in your shoes would trawl the Web recommendations from previous buyers.

I'm certain the reasons given are fair enough. However I've given up on trying to get a wireless printer to connect in the past. They don't seem to make it as simple as press a button and it does it. And if you only have the one PC which you are putting a printer next to, then the advantages are not so convincing. However as mentioned many come with the wireless facility as well, few, if any, will come without a cable connection facility.

[Hymie]

My Epson printer gave up last week – so I searched for a replacement.

My primary criteria is that cheap compatible ink cartridges are ready available (I refuse to pay vintage champagne prices for printer ink)

This was the most competitively priced model I could find.

http://www.ebuyer.com/396976-epson-workforce-wf-2010w-scan-copy-and-fax-ultra-compact-and-reliable-printer-c11cc40301

It has wi-fi which I don’t use, and at £10 more (but without wi-fi) I went for this unit:-

http://www.ebuyer.com/399298-epson-workforce-wf-2520nf-all-in-one-inkjet-printer-c11cc38301

Sellers on ebay are offering the cartridges at just over 50p each (fee p&p).

If you want to connect more than one device (wired) to the printer, you could use the ethernet option – thereby avoiding unplugging each time.