81. Resident Exclusive Miniseries- Printer Basics

A full demonstration is available on our website. 

In this episode, Michael Lynn, a Tech@Home technician at Parasol Alliance, talks about everything you need to know about printers. He breaks down the key differences between inkjet and laser printers, helping you decide which one is the best fit for your needs. Michael also shares his recommendations for home printers, including the HP Envy Inspire, HP Envy 6055E, and HP OfficeJet, explaining the pros and cons of each.

Michael then walks you through the setup process andgives tips on using the HP Smart app for an easier setup and shares details about HP Instant Ink. To wrap things up, he explains how to test your printer and troubleshoot common issues, with tips for printing from computers, phones, and tablets. Whether you’re setting up your first printer or just looking for a refresher, Michael makes it easy to understand and follow along.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Hi, my name is Michael Lynn. I'm with Parasol Alliance, and I'm a resident technology support based out of Champaign, Illinois. Today, we'll be talking about HP printers, but I did want to preface that this isn't just for HP printers, but you can apply to any other printer as well, such as Epson, Canon, Brother, any other printer that you're going to set up for home use or anything like that, you'll be able to apply it to this presentation as well.

So to get started, I did want to talk about the different printers and kind of the pros and cons of them. So there are inkjet printers and there's laser printers. So, what I'll say, the main difference between them is the ink. Inkjet is a little bit more expensive, and laser uses toner instead of ink.

So it's not really a difference, you know, in between ink and toner, but inkjet will sometimes get you a little bit more paper per ink, rather than laser will Do things quicker. It's better for if you're printing off a lot of things for tax [00:01:00] documents, or just if you have a business and you need to print off a bunch of stuff, laser is a better option for that.

But again, inkjet is more for, you know, home use if you're not going to print too often, but you want that option available as well as if you're going to be printing off any pictures or anything like that. Laser does have the ability to print pictures off, but they won't be in. Okay. Good quality. So I would always suggest inkjet.

If you're going to be doing pictures, if you're doing for home use, just, you know, printing some stuff off every other day inkjet is the better option for that. But laser is more for the intense workload. You know, you need to print up more documents. So it all does depend on how you're going to use it, but both are good options.

So I was going to recommend some printers on here. I will say none of these are laser printers, and this is mainly because these are more for home use. You can still do everything you need to, and these printers still are pretty quick, but again, lasers are quicker than them. So just to get off on the very [00:02:00] first one, the HP Envy Inspire.

This is the most expensive printer out of the bunch. But you'll be able to scan, copy, print. It's an easy install. And I will say they're a little bit more durable than the other printers. And when I say durable, I don't necessarily mean the parts are stronger but it requires less maintenance.

It doesn't have as many issues and it just works a little bit better than the others. So just to go on to the next one, the HP Envy. That one, the 6055E, a 70 printer. This is more of a basic printer. It doesn't have a feeder at the top. And when I say a feeder, that's something that you're able to put paper in and then it just scans the document for you and sends it back out.

So this printer only has kind of a scanning bed. So you'd have to place the copy on the printer, have it scan it, and then you could copy it or do whatever you'd like with it. So these. 70 printer is a little bit more, like I said, basic. It's more for, you know, I'm only going to be printing every so often, not too [00:03:00] often.

You'll probably want to get something like this, just so you have a printer available. And then to the very last option, the HP OfficeJet. This one is something that's great in between. So it's a little bit bigger. It does have that feeder on the top, so you're able to scan and copy things quicker, as well as you can do anything else with it, like scanning, printing, and copying.

So it is, like I said, a little bit slower than the top, one of the very top 7, 955 E. But it is cheaper, it still works just as good, and it is a little bit more durable than the 6, 055 E. So, it's all up to preference, but if I had to choose any of these on the list, I would go with the very bottom one, the HP Officejet.

It's a good price range in between. And you're able to still have all those options that the top one has while still being on a lower budget. So, all up to your preference and your budgeting, but these are some printers that I would recommend. And now, once you've chosen your printer, we can go ahead and show you kind [00:04:00] of what you'll see in your packaging, how to plug it in, and all those different steps.

So, once you unbox your printer, you'll be able to check for the contents of it. So, you know, you'll find the printer in there, you'll find the power cable, the cartridges, or toner if you get a laser, as well as the manual. So these are all important for the printer to function properly. So you'll want to make sure you find all of these in there.

And get them out and then kind of start setting up the printer So the printer on itself will have a bunch of different tags on it When I say tags, it's more so just kind of tape around it to make sure nothing kind of Comes loose when it's in the packaging So you'll have to take off all those different spots with tape on them You'll be able to see it pretty clearly on the outside of the printer But once you see kind of everything is removed all the plastic is off of it You'll be able to start You know, plugging in that power cable and turning it on.

So make sure that, you know, you have the end into the printer, the other end of the wall, and then go ahead and turn on the [00:05:00] printer. Once you turn it on, it'll ask you to insert the ink cartridges or toner. So you'll be able to open up the printer and I will say it is different for every printer. So I won't show an example now, just because it's going to be pretty unique for whichever printer you get.

But that manual will be handy for, you know, seeing how you open the ink or toner. As well as how you get those cartridges in there. But once you get the cartridges inside make sure that you close it up, and then your printer will most likely have an alignment paper that will come out. So, what that means is they'll want you to load a piece of paper into the printer, it's gonna print out a piece of paper, that's the alignment sheet, and then it's gonna want you to scan that sheet.

So what this is doing is it's making sure that all of your future documents and everything else comes out properly aligned, it looks good, and it's the best quality that it can be. So this is technically an optional step, but I would always recommend aligning the printer. Makes just everything a lot better [00:06:00] and work better for the printer itself.

So once you got that paper in there, you got the alignment, you got the ink, that's really everything there is to it for this part. But to connect it to your computer, we'll go ahead to the next slide and talk about that. So once you have the printer turned on, It's working, you know, you got the ink in there, you got paper, you'll go ahead and connect it to your device.

So if you have a computer itself, you'll use a either USB connection or Wi Fi connection. So it does depend on where you're at, if let's say you don't have Wi Fi, then you'll have to do that USB connection. And I will say the cable is not normally included with the printer. So you'll have to go to any major store.

And when I say that it's, you know, Target, Walmart, Best Buy, really anything you can think of in that kind of category would have that printer cable and they're not too expensive either, normally around 10. So it's. An additional part, they don't come with the printer, but it is an option at really [00:07:00] any store you go to that you can get.

So, it does make it a little bit easier when you have these USBs just because it normally automatically connects your printer to your computer, rather than if it's on the Wi Fi, you'll either have to use the screen that's provided on the printer, or if it's an HP, like we're talking about, you'll be able to use that HP Smart app to set it up.

So what the HP Smart app is, it's a setup app for printers that made by HP. You'll download the app and you'll be able to connect your printer to either your phone, your computer, your tablet, anything you need to. And print off like that. So, it'll take you through the process on the HP Smart app of finding your printer, connecting it to your Wi Fi, and then testing out a page and making sure it works correctly.

One thing that they will ask you when you're on HP Smart is if you want to enroll in something called HP Instant Ink. And that is something we'll get to a little bit later, but Instant ink will allow you [00:08:00] to get ink cartridges from HP whenever your ink goes low. And how this kind of works is, once you're on your Wi Fi, you're basically sending information to HP every day, and telling them how much ink you have in your printer.

And once your ink gets to a certain level, They'll go ahead and send you some ink to replace it. However, there are a couple cons to using HP Instant Ink. For example, you will have to kinda wait, let's say, if you're using up a lot of ink in one day, and they don't notice it on that day. Then they'll ship it out to you, but it won't come to you immediately.

And you will have to use those kind of ink cartridges. So if you do set up with instant ink, they're going to make you use those ink cartridges. Whenever they send you them in the mail, they're going to ask you to send the used ones back as well as there is a page limit normally with HP instant ink.

So you can only print off, let's say a hundred pages a month, but there are a bunch of different plans and options for HP [00:09:00] instant ink. But. It's all up to preference. If you just prefer to have that luxury of, you know, I'll print whenever I'd like, print as much as I would like, and don't have to worry about being restricted on that, I wouldn't do HP Instant Ink.

You can still get your ink at the store or online any other way that you'd like but Instant Ink is an option and it will ask you if you'd like to enroll in it. So once everything is set up, you have the printer connected to your computer, you have it connected to your phone, whatever device it is, we'll go ahead and test it out.

So once, to test it out, if you're on a Windows computer you'll find a document you like to print off, or maybe an email, whatever the case is, and you'll go up to File and hit Print. If that's not an option for you, you'll be able to press Ctrl on your keyboard and P at the same time. So you press Ctrl, P, and a printing window should pop up.

And it'll ask you where you want to print it to. Just make sure you're selecting the printer you just set up. And then you'll be able to [00:10:00] print off from that printer. For Mac, it's something similar. You'll be able to click File and Print on any documents or emails. But if you'd like to use the keyboard shortcut, it is a little bit different.

Like I was saying, it's Command P. So instead of Control, there's a CMD on a Mac. And then you'll press P at the same time. So that will give you a printing menu. And you'll be able to print off any documents or anything else you'd like to print and try out. For mobile devices like Apple or Android you will be able to print off as well.

So as long as you're connected to the same Wi Fi that the printer is on, you'll be able to print from your phone using the share button. And then at the very bottom, there'll be a print option. So for both Android and Apple. They'll have that share option on there and you'll be able to print off with your phones.

So that really is it for the presentation. For the most part, you know, we talked about setting up the printer, getting it connected and testing it out. But thank you guys for listening and have a good [00:11:00] day.