<p>Hey guys, I am going to be a freshman in the College of Engineering. I am planning on ordering a Dell Laptop, but i was wondering if It was necessary to order a printer with the laptop. I know that some colleges offer free printing or services like that, but does Cornell do that? And is it a hassle not to have your own printer or is it more of a hassle to have your own printer that you have to take car of with ink/paper etc.? please let me know as soon as possible b/c we have to place the order soon.</p>
<p>I would think it would be a hassle to have your own printer due to reasons that you have mentioned (paper, ink, etc.)</p>
<p>Most likely, Cornell IT should hold software that allows your computer to communicate with campus printers so all you should have to do would be to hook it up and then print away.</p>
<p>Or, you could take whatever you need to print, put it on a USB drive, load it onto a Cornell computer, and then print.</p>
<p>Then again, this has hassle in the fact that you're gonna have to walk over to the nearest computer.</p>
<p>Either way has its own hassles, either flip a coin or cross your fingers and hope that a current student replies to your post :p</p>
<p>Get a printer, but don't get it from Dell. Cornell printing is ~$.10/page for black and white and you have to go to a lab to do it. I haven't seen any software that lets you print remotely, but it may exist (though most people have printers/roommates with printers). I'd recommend a laserjet just because its much faster and you shouldn't need color all that often (and when you do, borrow a hallmate's printer).</p>
<p>I agree, you should get a printer but not from Dell. Get one whose cartridges you can buy from a store (like an HP). Netprint (Cornell's printing service) is widely avaliable in labs. There is a download that allows you to print from your laptop to any printer on campus but that sucks if you need to print something late at night. I wouldn't rely solely on netprint though because those charges can add up quickly. On a positive note though, if you are in ILR then the college gives you an account with (if I remember correctly) $32 a semester. I pretty sure that it is the only college that does that for all of its students though.</p>
<p>Get a printer. They're very useful because they mean you won't have to go to a lab to print. You could split one with a roommate if you want. Better yet, split a wireless router and printer with the roommate, which means you can get wireless in your room and share the printer wirelessly as long as it's plugged into one of the computers. You can also share music files with your roommate really easily.</p>
<p>Don't get a dell, as the cartridges are very annoying and expensive...the printer isn't where they make the money. A dell vendor said to me that he wouldn't recommend a dell printer for just that reason.</p>
<p>Get a B&W laser printer. you will rarely need color, and there are library printers that can do this in the rare case you do need color. You can get set up with a B&W laser for $125-150, and they spit a page out every 3-5 seconds, which is really fast compared to an inkjet. Also, you'll get about 2000 pages of text out of even a low end cartridge.</p>
<p>YES, DO NOT GET A PRINTER FROM DELL. you can only buy their cartidges and they only deliver them to your home address. sucks.</p>
<p>Best printer deal... in my opinion:</p>
<p>The HP, Samsung, or Brother personal laser jets are your best bet.</p>
<p>I got a printer with my laptop like a week ago and it reminded me of this thread lol. No more worrying about a printer...</p>