Need advice on photo-printers

[toughboy]

I'm on the market for photo-printers but I have 2 questions..

I have a desktop PC and a surecom wireless router for wireless connection, but after I'll buy the printer, I'll connect it to my airport express from its usb port, so that me and mom can print stuff from our powerbooks.. Does the printer require mac-compatibility for this kind of networking?

secondly, I liked the Canon's Pixma iP4000 (since I have a Canon PowerShot S50, I prefer Canon-branded printers because of direct connecting the devices) but I read that it has problems in networking with macs, any iP4000 user friend here, that can tell us if it is true or not??? I may go with iP5000 too, which one would you recommend???

Thanks in advance..

 

[bousozoku]

What I've read is that none of the Canon Pixma (or earlier lines) printers are guaranteed to operate over a wireless connection. I believe that those drivers are not included at all.

 

[rasp]

I've started to consider printing services... printing pictures at home is actually more expensive than something like costco. The advantage to printing at home is if you want total control of the whole process and/or convenience.

Now, I've heard good things about canon printers, I have an epson and get excellent results. The paper makes a big difference, also doing even a quick and dirty calibration makes a huge difference.

As for networking... depends upon the printer and what sort of drivers it's using. There are more specific forums dedicated to photography and printing out there, one such is dpreview.. http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1003

 

[mcgarry]

I will not speak to the performance/quality of the iP4000 I currently own-- it's a long story and I don't want to get into it just right now, sorry-- but I have had no problems networking it.

It is currently connected via USB to a Mac connecteed via Ethernet to my wireless router. With printer sharing activated, I can print from either of the wirelessly networked Macs in my place without a problem. Setup was easy, I just loaded the driver software onto each of the three Macs.

 

[toughboy]

I will not speak to the performance/quality of the iP4000 I currently own-- it's a long story and I don't want to get into it just right now, sorry-- but I have had no problems networking it.

So, you say that you face problems about quality, or what?