Wireless Printer

[goldenmh]

Looking for a wireless laser printer thats very easy to connect wirelessly with mac mini. The brother printers seem to have complaints of driver problems. Im trying to avoid that. Maybe there isnt a printer like this?
Id switch an in inkjet if I have to to achieve this goal.
Simplicity!

Anu suggestions?

Thx

 

[danny_w]

I have a Brother 2270DW which works like a charm. The setup has improved tremendously since the early days. Now when I do a fresh os install it automatically finds the printer and installs the drivers. Same with my Canon MG6200 AIO inkjet.

 

[RMo]

I've had two Brother printers (HL-2140 and DCP-7065DN) and they've both worked flawlessly with OS X. Lots of Brother printers do to such an extent that I've heard other people categorically recommend the brand for Macs. Of course, other vendors also support the Mac well. (I would recommend avoiding host-based printers because one that natively supports a standard printing language is much more likely to work regardless of vendor support for, say, future OSes, but that's just my 2 cents.)

Keep in mind that your printer does not actually have to support wireless networking for you to be able to print to it over your WiFi network. If you have an AirPort Extreme Base Station (or few other routers with similar print-serving capabilities), you can connect a USB printer to its USB port and effectively print wirelessly from any computer on your (wired or wireless) network. If you get a printer with an Ethernet connection, you don't even need a special router: just plug it in to your home network and you'll be good to go, again for any of your wired or wireless devices on the same network. If you have a spare computer or a server, you can even connect it to that and set it up as a shared printer. I mention these options only because lots of people seem to have bad luck with the wireless capability built in to many WiFI printers. My preference is the second option I mentioned, which is what the DCP-7065DN supports (the "N" in Dell, Brother, and probably a few other manufacturers' model numbers usually means "networked," as in Ethernet; a "W" may mean "wireless," but again, you don't necessarily need that).

Hope this helps. I don't have specific model recommendations besides ones I've used personally, but we also don't know anything about your desired feature set. You can always check Apple's list of printer drivers that they make available, but keep in mind that some manufacturers also have their own that they may not distribute through Apple (i.e., just because something isn't on here doesn't mean it's not supported): http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3669

 

[velocityg4]

I must have setup a couple hundred printers by now. Of the budget printers (sub $300). I have found Brother to be the most reliable. Be sure to download and install the latest drivers from Brother's support website.

Also manually configure the TCP/IP (LAN, DHCP, &c) to a static address within the range of your network for greater stability. Which I'd do with any brand.

HP is the most problematic.

 

[goldenmh]

Easiest way to setup wireless took me 5 minutes.

I stumbled upon this solution below from Apple Support forums. This setup is pretty simple, and unique to Airport Extreme / Mac computer setups. It took me a while to find this, so I'm reposting it here.

(This is a repost / modernized version of the setup from Apple Support forums that worked for me, your mileage may vary.)
Originally: [...]

** Turn on the printer, don't connect it with an ethernet or USB cord.
** Locate the wireless setup button / hole at the back of the machine. (has the pencil and arrow icon)

1. Open Airport Utility. Click on your Airport to highlight it
2. Under "Base Station" menu, select "Add Wi-Fi Printer..."
3. In Airport Utility: Select "Allow printer by PIN" and click "Continue"
4. Push HL-2270DW's wireless setup button (between Ethernet and USB ports) with pen or
paper clip for **more than 3 seconds** or so until yellow toner light flashes. The Brother will print a PIN number. (Yellow light will continue to flash as it searches for a network)
5. In Airport Utility enter the PIN number that the HL-2270DW printed and click "Continue"
6. After a minute or so Airport should recognize the Brother; press "Done"
7. Open System Preferences, then open "Print & Scan" and click "+" to add printer. HL-2270DW will show in the Printer options and you should be good to go.