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AirPrint Question

S

swindmiller

macrumors member
Original poster
My parents both have iPads and iPhones and a Brother printer that is not AirPrint capable. Their main gripe is they cannot print easily to their printer. I was just going to buy them a new printer for Christmas that supported AirPrint but, to put it bluntly, they are old, do not like change and like their printer 🙂
What would be the easiest and most reliable way to add AirPrint to their current printer without having a computer in between and it would be mandatory that they be able to print natively through IOS (without a printer specific App) .
Will a print server help? If so what is a good recommendation?

Thanks,
Scott
 
Brother makes a lot of AirPrint capable printers, perhaps find one that is close to their existing printer in terms of functionality and maybe even cartridges, and they may never know the difference. I think some Brother printers are capable of adding a wireless adapter, and many offer Scan\Print multi-functionality which might be a nice addition.

There are AirPrint enabled adapters (Print Servers), but the prices of these are probably close to the price of an AirPrint capable printer and one more device to maintain. Apple sells a Lantronix Print Server for $199, and Amazon has the same for $144. Some routers have USB ports for printer sharing, but whether or not they support AirPrint is uncertain.

I understand the resistance to change, but in the end, a little change that makes it easier to print will be welcomed, even if it means learning a new printer. An adapter is one more thing they need to think about if printing fails, where an AirPrint capable printer just needs to be turned on to work.
 
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Yeah, I think that adding AirPrint capabilities is going to be more kludging and difficult than simply buying an AirPrint capable printer. techwarrior is right - find a similar Brother printer, which is probably less than $300 (if not $200) and set them up with that. I just bought a new one and AirPrint works brilliantly with no meaningful setup necessary (even my highly locked down work iphone can print to it).

BTW, what is it your parents "like" about their printer if they have a hard time printing to it? A printer has one job - if it can't do that, what's to like?
 
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Thanks for the help guys! All of this makes sense, and they are not "tied" to the printer but if there was another way to accomplish this without change on their part that would have been ideal. I now agree that a new printer seems like the best option as I dont want any other failure points added to the mix.
Thanks Again!
 
I use the “brothers iPrint&Scan”. You can download it in the App Store for free. I have my printer connected to my router. It’s a Brothers HL-2170w.
Works great.
 
tobefirst said:
What about installing an Airport Express and connecting their existing printer to it? You could get a refurb or a used one pretty cheap.
Click to expand...

Does that actually add AirPrint capability? I know you can use it to print from a Mac, but I didn't think it worked from iOS devices. (Of course, I haven't look at it since I replaced my setup with an AirPrint printer years ago.)
 
I added a AirPrint color laser brother printer for $200 in my house and it works great. Nice upgrade from the traditional ink printers.
 
swindmiller said:
My parents both have iPads and iPhones and a Brother printer that is not AirPrint capable. Their main gripe is they cannot print easily to their printer. I was just going to buy them a new printer for Christmas that supported AirPrint but, to put it bluntly, they are old, do not like change and like their printer 🙂
What would be the easiest and most reliable way to add AirPrint to their current printer without having a computer in between and it would be mandatory that they be able to print natively through IOS (without a printer specific App) .
Will a print server help? If so what is a good recommendation?

Thanks,
Scott
Click to expand...
As everyone has mentioned, purchase a similar printer from this list:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201311
 
tobefirst said:
Oops. My mistake.
Click to expand...

Got me thinking. So, I pulled up Help in AP Utility:

You can connect one or more AirPrint, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB, or WPS-compatible printers to your Wi-Fi network.
AirPrint, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or USB-compatible printer: After connecting the printer to the base station or Time Capsule, all computers on the network can print to the printer. If the printer is AirPrint-compatible, iOS devices can also print to it.

Too bad, that would be a nice extra feature!
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960design said:
As everyone has mentioned, purchase a similar printer from this list:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201311
Click to expand...

Brother has a boatload of AirPrint capable printers! Surely there is one in the list that is similar to the current printer, so they don't have to learn too much.

As I recall, many Brother printers use the same ink cartridges, which would seem to be a bonus for change-averse older folks.

A couple years ago, we upgraded my parents with a Canon MFP. They are change-averse but loved the AirPrint capability. And, with their MacBook Pro, they are even able to scan wirelessly. Needless to say, with a little coaching, they were ecstatic to be able to print from their iPads.
 
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