AirPrint Support

[cwa107]

This is probably a dumb question, but I have to tell you, I am so sick of buying new printers because a perfectly good printer just doesn't have that one new "killer feature".

Anyway, I have a wireless multifunction printer that's only about 3 years old and performs quite well in every aspect but one.... it lacks AirPrint support. My wife has become an avid iPad user and she desperately wants the ability to print and has been nudging me toward purchasing a replacement. The thing is, I have a stock of ink tanks for this thing and in every other way, I'm still enthralled by it.

The existing printer is an Epson Artisan 725. I'm aware that there are some hack-ish apps out there designed to allow for printing, but that's not going to work for the wife. She needs it to be a dead-simple solution. Also, we don't have (nor do I intend to buy) an AirPort Express or Extreme as I find them to be overrated.

So, is anyone aware of any other solution to add on AirPrint capability after-the-fact?

Thanks - Chris.

 

[ankhseeker]

chscag gave me this info.:

You don't need Blue Tooth to print from your iPad and iPhone to printers that are not wireless. Check out "Printopia" (free to try, $19.95 to buy) instead. Much easier and it works great.

Let me know. I haven't done it yet.

 

[cwa107]

chscag gave me this info.:

You don't need Blue Tooth to print from your iPad and iPhone to printers that are not wireless. Check out "Printopia" (free to try, $19.95 to buy) instead. Much easier and it works great.

Let me know. I haven't done it yet.

Hmmmm.... that does look like it might work. Unfortunately, I don't have a Mac that lives on the network 24/7 and can act as a print server. So, not sure if this is quite what I'm looking for. Thanks though!

 

[ankhseeker]

I also had looked into "adapters" that plug into parallel, USB ports for air printing. Just google it, but Still waiting for others to chime in. Brother has their own printer app to print from You might also check your printer site or the app store.

 

[osxx]

I gave up along time ago and bought an Epson XP-610 for a hundred and its been working fine .

 

[RadDave]

Hmmmm.... that does look like it might work. Unfortunately, I don't have a Mac that lives on the network 24/7 and can act as a print server. So, not sure if this is quite what I'm looking for. Thanks though!

Hi Chris - the above does present a problem and your easiest solution is likely to buy a new printer w/ AirPrint - but I sympathize w/ you having spare ink, the read HIDDEN cost of owning these ink jet printers!

When we went to Macs early last year, I replaced my old Canon Pixma (gave it to Goodwill w/ a whole set of ink cartridges, i.e. about $60!) w/ a new one having AirPrint - nothing is easier than using an iDevice to print (we now have 2 iPads & an iPhone 6); but, I also had an older Brother laser printer w/o AirPrint - purchased Print n Share for the iPad but needed their 'free' app for our iMac (USB cabled to the laser machine) - takes a few extra taps on the iPad but works. Not of much help for you, but my story - good luck. Dave

 

[el_guapo]

I sympathise, I had the same problem... couldn't print from iPad and a stock of unused ink. One thing to bear in mind, I sold the ink on ebay and that nearly covered the cost of my new printer. I got an HP Envy which works really well and dead easy to set up. But good luck finding an alternative fix.

 

[cwa107]

Thanks all.

The crappiest thing is that the Artisan 630, which came out just a few months after the 625, is essentially the same machine, but its firmware supports AirPrint. If I could fool the firmware updater, I'd be good to go.

Ugh!!

 

[ankhseeker]

I just found this and it looks pretty good.
iOS Print from iPad using xPrintServer | xPrintServer Specifications
I have 3 network printers that I could choose from. Amazon.com carries them.

 

[pm-r]

We've been using handyprint for some time now and it works well with all our shared printers.

And we found it to work better than some of the commercial recommendations as well.Various versions available it seems. I''m using handy print v. 3.1.5 with Mavericks, but pick the one you need via:
Netputing » handyPrint (AirPrint Activator)