ipad printing

[Paul Brinkmeyer]

I am looking at purchasing an ipad for a present this year.
How hard is it to set up printing from an ipad?
Do you need the special wireless printer? or is there a way to hook-up any printer?

AND,
Does the ipad come pretty much complete?
By complete, will the user have to go out and buy software or other goodies to use it?
Her main use will be surfing the net, Email, word type documents.

Thanks

[Joe Pelonio]

I don't know if there are other alternatives, but you can-mail things from the i-pad to yourself for printing on a computer, or use the wireless network to go to the printer.

There are many applications that are free, others cost 99 cents and up, most less than $5.

[Eric Skell]

My wife runs the Ipad2 and I have an Android device. Both will print to a wifi or bluetooth printer with an add-on app. My Droid has a USB port so that I can plug into a USB printer too. Both are very easy to setup with the printer. The app for my wife's cost $5 for the Ipad, was free on the Droid.

Both devices come complete as far as internet, email, music, video, and organization type apps. There are so many free and paid apps to do anything you can think of and many you can't.

I have extensive experience supporting both units, so let me know if you have any Q's.

[Andy Pedler]

The iPad comes with all the s/w you need to surf the web (Safari browser), use email (the iPad email client easily downloads mail from your on-line email accounts such as Yahoo Mail or GMail), take/share photos, use Facetime (video chat over WiFi...which is really cool...), among other things.

I recommend watching the iPad videos on the Apple web site. They do a pretty good job of showing you what the device is capable of out-of-the-box. And if there is an Apple store near you, go try it out. They're lots of fun.

Andy - Newark, CA

[Tim Morton]

You need a printer that is compatible with "airprint", or you can use "printopia", and print thru your PC...i have used both and they work seamlessly. It all depends on what printer you have, or are willign to purchase.

[Curt Harms]

It might be worth checking the printer manufacturer's web site. They may have a free add-on for their network-enabled printers. For instance:

For iPad:
http://www.brother-usa.com/downloads/iphone-ipod-printer.aspx

For Android:
http://www.brother-usa.com/downloads/android-app-printing.aspx

I would be very surprised if every printer manufacturer doesn't have something very similar.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

You need a printer that is compatible with "airprint", or you can use "printopia", and print thru your PC...i have used both and they work seamlessly. It all depends on what printer you have, or are willign to purchase.Correct ......there are several printers that are AirPrint compatible. This is apple's proprietary protocol. If you have such a printer, printing from an iPad is seamless.There are also several free apps from printer manufacturers to print from an iDevice, but usually it is specific to just their printers.If you are looking at buying a new printer, either of these options should help.If you are looking at using an existing printer, you might have to get an app that prints to a Printer connected to a PC on your network.

[David Helm]

If the recipient isn't familiar with Apple products (like me, I've only used PCs before), the lack of a manual, or any instructions, can be a problem. With my long familiarity with PCs, I found the Ipad to NOT be intuitive or particularly easy to learn. I've had mine for several months now, it was the computer I took to France for 4 weeks. Many wifi sites in France have particularly long passwords that did not work on the I pad.

[cass blake]

hi
for wireless printing you can use airprint, this is for idevices ie iphone, ipad etc
but you must have an airprint enabled printer - there is an official list of printers on the apple site (not sure can post link here)
or, you can download a printing app such as printcentral
however, on a side note, the ipad can be a bit tedious sometimes for typing lots i find
software wise you can look at various apps in the apple app store, loads to choose from !

[Jim Becker]

I use a free HP utility available from the iTunes app store to print from my iDevices to the HP multifunction printer I have. While I rarely have a need for that, it's convenient.

[Art Mann]

I think the original poster already owns an iPad so the discussion of other products is a little off topic.

[Prashun Patel]

Whoops. My bad. Deleted.