Wifi Printing

I just set up a Canon MP620 (wireless all-in-one), and although I used it with a router the manual also had instructions for setting it up "stand alone", which I assume allows the computer to connect directly to it.

You could alternately set your Mac to act as a wireless base station and have the printer connect to that.

So while I can't say I've done it, I can say I'm pretty sure you can, at least with a Canon (which is what I'd get anyway, based on print quality and cost of ink).

 

I have three computers that are printing to/scanning from it and an existing network that's well-secured, so I saw no advantage of trying to run it standalone when I could just get it on the existing network.

Can't say I'm sure. The directions are thorough, though, so I assume unless something goes wrong it should be straightforward enough. If anything, I'd guess it'd be a little easier depending on how well secured your network is.

I've been a vocal fan of Canon inkjets since a while ago, as I said on account of the combination of good print quality and being thrifty with ink. The ink tanks are also relatively "inexpensive" since they don't have much electronics on them (and you can actually see the ink level visually, so you know they're not ripping you off when it says it's empty). Not as big a fan in general of Canon's scanners, but it's an all-in-one so you're probably not buying it for fine art scanning.

As for this specific one, as a printer I have been VERY happy thus far. It takes an unusually long time to warm up after being turned on, but once it gets going its quite fast and the photo print quality was actually good enough to surprise me--VERY smooth colors, even on medium-quality inkjet paper. Rivals my dad's 7-ink-tank lower-end pro photo printer, I'd say.

The network scanning works fine as well, and the quality is acceptable as far as I've tested it. I don't use the bundled software, but Canon's scanner driver is decent and their print drivers are very good in my opinion.

My only complaints are that it doesn't seem to have an auto-on or auto-off feature, but that's relatively minor if you usually leave it closed since you need to walk over physically to open the front to print anyway, and you can turn it off when you grab your prints. I assume this is because it's a network model. Other complaint is the lack of automatic two-sided printing, which my older Canon printer had. I haven't checked if it can be hacked to do direct printing on CDRs yet (many of Canon's printers have this capability, but it's disabled in the US-release firmware and they don't include the tray with US models).

 

I bought an HP All-In-One a few months back (can’t find the model number though, sorry) and it’s worked great. It was also one you could connect through the network or stand-alone, I choose the latter, and hook up was easy. It also has worked like a champ for both my Mac and my wife’s PC.

 

I have an HP J6480 wi-fi printer and it's very easy to set up as a wireless printer. You just go into the setup and choose the network you want to connect to. If it has a password, it allows you to type in a password, and you're ready to go.

I've only used it with one Mac, and it works pretty well. As far as why I'd choose having it as a stand alone rather than connected to my router, I now have the option to put the printer where I want to. I can put it in the kitchen so my roommate and I can both use it or I can keep it in my room and print from where ever I am in the house, regardless of where the router is.

 

I'm moving into an apartment complex that has free WiFi but I'm interested in this printer for the wireless. Is it possible to set up a network using my Mac and connect the printer to that?

 

Yes, you can set up an ad-hoc network by clicking on the airport icon in the menu bar and selecting "create new network." You can connect your printer to this and print.

Note: You will not be able to connect to the free wifi and your ad-hoc network at the same time, Unless you buy an external wireless adapter.