Printers with Attitude

A new world of print opens up -- Picture courtesy of HP

by blogSpotter
In the hustle-bustle of Christmas, I’ve had trouble getting back to my blog. We’ve been given a major year-end project at my job (delivery date Dec 27th) so I’ve had some trouble finding time. I do have a short blurb I can add here for a technology topic. A piece on L. Ron Hubbard is in the works, but I can’t bang that one out very quickly. Stand by for L. Ron (an interesting man by the way).

Last weekend I bought myself an early Christmas present – an HP Photosmart D110a printer. I purchased it at Sam’s at a reasonable price ($59) – a small discount over what I might pay at Wal-Mart. To look quickly and superficially at this inkjet printer, you might be unimpressed – it’s an all-in-one scanner-copier-printer (now the norm) about the size of a small toaster oven. Suppress your urge to yawn – there is more. It's actually sleek, black and pretty. Another thing you might notice on second glance is the little 2 inch screen on the front. This printer has Wi-Fi and a small processor that lets it function more or less as a computer. It connects to the Internet through your home Wi-Fi and provides numerous print-related apps, as well as a slick graphical interface for print, copy and scan functions.

I might only use about 3 of the built-in apps – coupon printer, crosswords and special forms (e.g., graph paper and ruled paper). Other special apps (Disney print shop, msnbc headlines) seem geared to print a lot of output, that I personally don’t want or need. I clicked on msnbc headlines and with no prompting I got a color-rich two-page print of today’s headlines. I can tell where this would be lucrative to HP. The print quality is very nice by the way. The D110a also has a feature called ePrint where you can print documents to your printer (with HP-assigned email address) by sending the document as an email attachment. Can’t say I’d really use that – my printer is off when I’m away; also I want to be there to inspect results (or fix paper jams) when printing anything at all.

Now there are some great aspects to the D110a. Apple just released iOS4.2 for its iPad, iPod and iPhone family of devices – one of the main iOS4.2 offerings is AirPrint. These devices print effortlessly and beautifully to my printer and no device driver has to be installed. HP is the only company with compatible printers – makes me wonder if Apple and HP are in cahoots, not that I mind terribly. For Mac and Windows computers, you have to install the D110a driver – no problem for me (being a geek and all). I had every Wi-Fi capable device in my house sending prints to my new printer very shortly. Have never before had a printer this centrally available and powerful.

Back in the 90’s, Bluetooth was hyped as the Next Great Thing. These many years later, we do have some Bluetooth penetration primarily in the form of headsets, mice and keyboards. BUT (you knew it was coming) … Bluetooth never lived up to the hype. It’s power hungry and has limited range – no match for the Wi-Fi that makes my devices dance with each other (wirelessly) from opposite ends of the house. I always liked the idea of a networked home printer, but none of the previous solutions had much appeal. There was something expensive or kludgy in every suggested scenario. Now for a mere $59 (+ tax) HP has given us the omnipresent printer. It’s a gabby printer that interacts and works with every damn device in my house. Talk about cross-platform!

I was in a computer class a few weeks ago (Spring Frameworks if you must know). A young lad of 30 wondered why anyone needs a printer. I’m one of a steadfast multitude who likes printed copies of everything. I have all my Quicken reports and copies of my tax returns. I’ve printed many a PDF manual because a dog-eared notebook format is frequently preferable to the arduous routine of booting a computer and Googling a reference. It’s also not a bad idea to keep hard copies of sales receipts and order forms. Let me say – I’ve bought many books and songs in the virtual marketplace and feel a little short-changed that I can’t hold them or see them on a shelf. Anything, be it an important document or favorite movie has more permanence if it’s physical -- more than bits and bytes on a hard drive that might crash at some point. I want a favorite movie on DVD and a tax document printed on quality paper.

Back to the D110a Photosmart printer… Should you get one? If you want a really cool, cross-platform, multitasking print genie the answer is probably “Yes”. Let me say I got the less expensive model – The HP Envy is the top-of-the line product. It’s whisper quiet and looks like an expensive blu-ray player. It's pricey but very slick looking. Whatever model you get, welcome to the new world of printing with W-Fi wizardry.

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