New Laser Printer Arrived!
Well... my HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw arrived today and while I was in a meeting, my daughter was kind enough to sign for it, and then I had the task of moving out the old HP LaserJet 1200, and putting the new color printer in. I could not have been more happy.
I knew the toner cartridges that ship with a printer are on the smallish side, so I went ahead and got the "high capacity" ones as well - and I can keep them in the closet until I need them. I also picked up a new pack of paper on my weekly Target run, so I have paper and toner for a long, long, time. 🙂
Other than color, the thing I wanted in this printer was really Network connectivity. I've always had USB-connected printers, that is, after the Centronix parallel cable was phased out. And while that was a significant step-up, and PCL and Postscript are great, the idea that I had to be physically connected to the printer was something I really wanted to get rid of.
So I followed the admittedly sparse instructions and juse added paper, hooked up the Ethernet to the hub in my office, and then plugged in the power. It took a while to get ging, but then I had a nice little display to configure the printer. Nice touch - no need to really download any software... though, they recommend it - I think I'll pass.
Once I made sure it was using DHCP, the default, I was then able to go to my MacBook and just Add a Printer. It was right there in the list of available printers, and while I'm not quite sure exactly what I was expecting, that simple fact filled me with wonder and awe.
I guess I haven't lost that sense of wonder about these machines, and I'm grateful for that.
I then knew I'd be in good shape on the computer, but I also wanted to make sure AirPrint was working from my iPhone and iPad. I went back to the printer's Network Config screen, and accessed the WiFi settings, but it told me that because I was using wired Ethernet, there was no WiFi accessibility. For a second I was worried, so I pulled up my iPhone, and figured out how to print a note. It worked like a charm!
That made me even happier! Because it meant that I didn't have to leave my printer "open" on WiFi, and worry about attack vectors from drive-by attacks. I could stick with nice, reliable, wired Ethernet, get great speed and reliability, and protection from the bad guys. Sweet.
In the end, it was a breeze to set up, and looks to be working every bit as good as you'd expect an HP printer to behave. What a joy! 🙂