A few years ago connecting to your printer was basically achieved mainly through two different ways. Either you use a serial cable if you have a network printer you will connect with an Ethernet cable or also called a category 5 cable. Nowadays we have more ways to connect to their printers, which is making it simpler and also cheaper. I say cheaper because when you purchased a printer that needed a serial cable very rarely was actually supplied the product, which meant he would have to fork out about another $20 for this. Not something many manufacturers told you before you went to purchase your printer.
We didn’t have the introduction of USB ports, which enables you to connect from the USB port on your PC or laptop directly to a printer without having to worry about serial cables. They’re a couple reasons for this the first basically as laptops are becoming smaller having serial connections was obviously taking up space. The second reason is that USB is a faster technology and the transfer of data across this is quicker especially when we moved from USB 1.0 to USB 2.0. As USB became a standard is obviously made so much more sense.
One of the lesser-known features that many people may not use is that many photo printers come with USB ports. By connecting a USB Bluetooth dongle you are now able to connect directly from your cell phone and print photographs to the printer without the need of cables and a computer. Most photo printers will come to a built in LCD screen which allows you to edit the photograph before printing. This is a great feature because it let you remove things like redeye or maybe they’re just photograph slightly before printing.
We are now also starting to see many printers come with wireless network cards. This allows you to connect the printer onto an 802.11 wireless network, which really makes some sense. Because of the size of some printers it now means that you can be sitting perhaps in your kitchen and are now able to print directly to the printer upstairs without having to move or more still try and find the cable that allows you connect.
You also find that many photo printers also come with memory card readers. This allows you to plug in a multitude of different types of cards from digital cameras to mobile phones and select which photographed you wish to print all without the use of a computer or sophisticated software on the computer for selecting the pictures.
All in all these are the ways to connect from your computer to your printer makes some sense. We’re starting to see more common with FireWire connections now, which is increasing the speed from USB. Wireless printers and beginning to take hold and we should see an explosion in the marketplace and has become an expected standard as we move forward.
Mark Dunne is a writer providing advice on Best Inkjet Printers if you have time drop by his site for some tips and information.
