carpeaqua

I live a mostly paper free lifestyle thanks to my ScanSnap S1500M and PDFpen, but I do print out about two dozens sheets of paper a month when I mail invoices or the occasional messy cooking recipe where I don’t want to risk my iPhone being covered in grease. For the past five years I have had an HP black & white LaserJet attached to my Mac via USB. My trusty LaserJet is running low on ink so I decided to investigate buying a new printer that supports newer technologies I am interested in.

Here were my requirements:

1. I want to be able to print color invoices.
2. I want built-in wireless support so I can stop wasting a USB port.¹
3. It needs to support Apple’s AirPrint technology.

AirPrint is new to iOS 4.2 and allows you to print wirelessly from your iPad or iPhone. Most first-party applications from Apple support printing natively and many third-party ones do as well. Mac OS X doesn’t natively support AirPrint, but I have been using a great third-party piece of software called Printopia that turns your Mac’s printers into AirPrint compatible ones.

Apple maintains a small list of AirPrint compatible printers and they all come from HP at this time. I have always bought HP printers so it doesn’t bother me, though I am sure Epson, Brother and Xerox would love to get in on the action as well.

HP LaserJet Pro CP1525nw

The HP LaserJet Pro CP1525nw² matched all of my criteria. It is a color LaserJet, has built-in 802.11b/g/n support and is on Apple’s list of native AirPrint speakers. If you walk into Office Depot, however, it is $300. Ouch.

I am sure printing color and wirelessly is worth $300 to some people, but not to me. Me? I’d just buy another ink cartridge and continue to sacrifice a USB port to the HP Gods.

Luckily, I come from a long line of Williams cheapskates and didn’t let the price deter me. There is no one on earth cheaper than my father who prides himself on saving two cents per gallon at the gas tank by driving to another state.³ My brother is so cheap he stopped wearing contacts because glasses were less expensive. We. Know. Cheap.

Taking my DNA-given talents of cheap, I scoured the Internet for retailers selling the printer and found the best offer is available from HP.com itself. $150! Here’s how to claim it:

1. Goto the CP1525nw page on the HP website and add the printer to your cart.
2. Opt for standard shipping. It’s a printer. You can wait.
3. Enter the coupon code MEGAPRINT to knock an extra $50 off the price and get it down to $150.

I am usually not one to point out tech deals, but I figure there are more than a few of you out there who have the same disdain for USB cables as I do. $150 to remove another cable from my life? Worth every penny.