I am looking for a wireless printer. The HP desjet 5850 sounds perfect. What I want to do is be able to print from my PC laptop and iMac G5 to a remote printer. What I cannot find out is how the setup works. I believe it will either plug into my router via an ethernet port, or perhaps it simply has an antenna and appropriate hardware. Does anyone know if this printer can be simply set up and recognized by any computer on my home wireless network, or is it more complex than that?
The DeskJet 5850w doesn’t require you to purchase a wireless print server – it’s built in. I’m not up to speed on Macs so I can’t help you there. According to hp.com, it is Mac-compatible, though.
I have one, it is awesome. It set up very easily from Windows, and then when I went to set it up from my LINUX machine it went very easily. I don’t have a Mac, but if it says it is compatible, I’m sure it will be easy to set up.
It has a wired Ethernet port and a built in wireless support. You do need to use the wired port for the initial setup, but after that you can disconnect it. The initial setup and any further configuration is all done though a web browser.
I just checked, and in Windows XP the printer port is a “Standard TCP/IP Port”. So as long as your Mac can print through one of those, you should be fine.