Control+P with no wires!

If you are buying a new broadband connection nowadays, service providers are increasingly throwing in a 802.11 wireless networking facility for free. And even if you are not, or if you are an old subscriber, setting up a wireless connection is as simple as buying a 802.11 router from almost any hardware store, with costs of basic home wireless routers as low as Rs 1,500.

Not only has the availability of wireless connectivity liberated the laptop, it has also liberated the printer. This means less wires and precious space on your work table is saved as the printer can be placed elsewhere, particularly useful if all you print is the occasional airline ticket or hotel booking.

Today, you can buy printers from HP, Canon, Epson and others with built-in wireless connectivity. Keep in mind, however, that this is still at a significant premium to non Wi-Fi enabled printers.

A standard colour inkjet printer starts around Rs 2,500 and one with a scan-copy function starts around Rs 6,000, Wi-Fi enabled printers start at around Rs 7,500.

Once you have connected the machine to a computer and entered the wireless settings and password, you are free to print anytime from anywhere; you don't need to either plug your laptop to the printer or transfer files using a pen drive to a "master computer".

You would, however, need to load the printer drivers onto every networked computer from which you wish to access the printer, which could be a pain, though you could also download the software drivers from the Internet.

Now, Google is talking about the next generation of printers being "cloud aware", i.e., instead of being connected to the home wireless network, the printer is a node on the Internet with the service tentatively called "Google Cloud Print".

This will make printers a more social thing; if you give a certain set of friends permission to print on your printer in Bangalore, they can fire a print command from the US as long as your printer and Internet connection are both switched on.

HP Photosmart C4788

• Built-in 802.11 g/n wireless networking.
• High-resolution photo printing, scanning and copying.
• 1.5-inch LCD colour display.
• MRP: Rs 7,500

Epson Stylus TX550W

• Built-in Wi-Fi capabilities.
• High-resolution photo printing, scanning and copying.
• Individual ink cartridges for separate colours.
• MRP: Rs 9,000

Canon PIXMA MP568

• Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capability.
• High-resolution photo printing, scanning and copying.
• Scan directly to USB pen drive in PDF format.
• MRP: Rs 11,995