These days, however, there are a number of different ways that you can send print jobs to a printer without having to necessarily be connected to it. Here are 5 simple ways that you can print using a number of different types of printer!
1. Buy A Network Printer
Although network printers were primarily aimed at business users, over the past few years they have gained popularity with home users too.
Printers sold at the cheaper end of the market would often only have USB ports, but many of them now have Ethernet ports too, which you can connect to a network switch or router. Anyone connected to the same network will be able to send print jobs to network printers, even if they are in different parts of a building.
2. Buy A Wi-Fi Printer
Wi-Fi printers are pretty much the same as network printers in that you can connect them to network switches and routers, but with one added benefit – you can print to them wirelessly!
If you have a Wi-Fi device such as a laptop, smartphone or tablet, you can easily print to a Wi-Fi printer without having to be connected to the network with a physical cable. The only disadvantage to Wi-Fi printers is that you have to be in range of them or wireless routers attached to the same network.
3. Buy An Airprint Printer
Wireless devices manufactured by Apple such as the iPhone smartphone, iPod touch MP3 player and the iPad tablet can send print jobs to printers as long as they are AirPrint-enabled.
This proprietary format developed by the firm can often be found in a number of mid-range and high-end Wi-Fi printers, and was created to eliminate the need for printer drivers to be installed on the device sending the print jobs.
4. Share Your USB Printer On The Network
Managed print services London have suggested that if you own a USB printer and you don’t particularly want to spend more money on a new network-enabled printer, you could simply share your printer on the network!
The only downsides to this approach are that you need to keep the computer on (that the printer is attached to) in order for other people on the network to be able to send print jobs to it. But if you are happy to do so and the only times people will use your printer will be when you are, then it won’t cost any more in terms of electricity usage.
5. Use Google Cloud Print
Another step up from sharing your USB printer on the network is to share it on the Internet! Let’s say that you leave your PC and printer on, but you have to go and visit a customer somewhere.
Let’s also say that you take a laptop or tablet with you on your visit. Rather than typing up a document onsite and printing it when you get back to the office, you could simply use Google Cloud Print via your customer’s Wi-Fi connection so that the document has been printed by the time you get back – saving you time!
