Survey - What wireless printer and what Printer App work best with the iPad

Question

Level 2

363 points

Survey - What wireless printer and what Printer App work best with the iPad

Bought my Mom a new iPad for her birthday.

Wondering what existing iPad users would recommend for a good wireless printer. Looked at HP and Cannon so far.

Also, which printing app works best?

Thanks much.

M.

Mac Book Pro (Nov 2008), Mac OS X (10.6.4), 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo,7200 rpm HD, 4GB SDRAM, 6Mb cache, 160GB Ipod Classic

Posted on Jul 8, 2010 8:29 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 9, 2010 3:34 PM in response to marconiusrex

marconiusrex wrote:
Bought my Mom a new iPad for her birthday.

Wondering what existing iPad users would recommend for a good wireless printer. Looked at HP and Cannon so far.

Also, which printing app works best?

Thanks much.

M.

I'm not sure how many people will answer, because I don't think there's a huge demand for it. Most of the apps require a client program on your Mac or PC, which actually controls the printing. HP and Canon have free apps that can be used on your iPad or iPhone, but they get really bad reviews, and can only print screenshots and photos. They don't seem to be very useful.

In the 3 months of using my iPad, never once, seriously, have I needed to print anything from it. But I have a MBP to do all of my heavy lifting.

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Answer 2

Jul 9, 2010 5:06 PM in response to marconiusrex

I have the "Print n Share" app installed, and it does work with my brother wireless printer with or without using a computer. There is a client app that you can install on your computer to enable print sharing, but it's not required. I've only tried it a couple of times because it's easier to transfer the files to a computer and print from there anyway.

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Answer 3

Jul 10, 2010 12:28 AM in response to Craig Baron

Does it work without a computer being switched on somewhere in your wi-fi network?
I thought the only hope for that is the new HP e-Print series.

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Answer 4

Jul 10, 2010 6:35 AM in response to igmackenzie

Yes, it will print directly; check out the description in the app store.

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Answer 5

Jul 10, 2010 7:48 AM in response to Craig Baron

Hmmm. On the Eurosmartz website it says 'iPad or iPhone printing with “Print & Share” lets you print information from your iPad/iPhone/iPod touch to a printer connected to your computer, via network or local'.
Doesn't suggest that you can print to a standalone printer.
Have you actually managed to print to a printer with absolutely no computers connected to the network?

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Answer 6

marconiusrex Author

Level 2

363 points

Jul 10, 2010 12:43 PM in response to igmackenzie

It says "Prints direct to most WiFi printers" in the app description in the apple app store. It would be interesting to know what constitutes "most wifi printers" I wonder if they have a list of "approved" wifi printers?

M.

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Answer 7

Jul 10, 2010 12:56 PM in response to marconiusrex

Well, I've had a series of emails with the excellent support from EuroSmartz and they highly recommend HP. They say the 6500 is recommended and that the F4580 and the Photosmart Wireless will almost certainly work as they have incorporated the whole of the HP developer kit in the app.
BTW, my Lexmark Z2490 is not supported.

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Answer 8

Jul 10, 2010 1:21 PM in response to igmackenzie

Well, I always have some computers on my network and I'm not about to disconnect them all; but I did print directly from my iPad to my brother wireless printer before even installing their software on one of my macs. It did print, but the format appeared to be "generic" like it was just sending a plain test file to the printer.

Message was edited by: Craig Baron

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Answer 9

Jul 10, 2010 1:24 PM in response to Craig Baron

I need it to work on a network with no computers, so I'm going to stick with EuroSmartz recommendations and go with HP.

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Answer 10

Jul 10, 2010 1:33 PM in response to igmackenzie

I just tried another document (in word format) and my brother printer gave me a large pile of junk, so I would say that the results are inconsistent.

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Answer 11

marconiusrex Author

Level 2

363 points

Jul 10, 2010 2:22 PM in response to igmackenzie

Thanks for the recommendations. If it were for myself it would be no problem going through a Mac, but it's for my Mom's new iPad so want to be able to let her print simple documents, photos, webpages, etc. directly to the WiFi printer.

I'll look into the HP and I might contact the developer to get a list of current wi fi printers that work direct.

M.

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Answer 12

Jul 10, 2010 2:33 PM in response to marconiusrex

That sounds like a good plan, there are probably some reasonable printers that will work well.

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Answer 13

Jul 10, 2010 4:58 PM in response to marconiusrex

marconiusrex wrote:
I'll look into the HP and I might contact the developer to get a list of current wi fi printers that work direct.

M.

You might be disappointed. I only got a 'it'll probably work' response about certain printers. If you do get a list, then let us know.

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Answer 14

marconiusrex Author

Level 2

363 points

Jul 10, 2010 5:49 PM in response to igmackenzie

Did you call or email the app developer?

I saw this on their website:

"If your printer supports WiFi printing or you have printer sharing enabled, you should be able to print text, photos and certain documents without installing WePrint on your computer. However this method may deliver varying quality and results depending on your printer's capability."

Their way of making sure they are not held responsible if certain WiFi printers deliver different levels of results in printing quality/layout, etc.

I sent them an email to see if they can provide a comprehensive list of WiFi printers that work with their software.

M.

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Answer 15

Jul 11, 2010 1:20 AM in response to marconiusrex

Yes, I saw that on their site. However, as I said before, I got the impression after quite a few emails from them, that it'll only work with HP wireless printers.
When (if) you get a list from them, I'd love to see it.
Thanks.

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