These days, a printer is almost a disposable item. You can sometimes get a new printer cheaper than the cost of 2 ink cartridges. The downside of your situation is that you don't know if the printer you buy today will be compatible with Win8 when it is released. When Win8 is released, printers that are compatible with it probably won't be discounted much...if at all.

I have an HP Officejet 4500 which does an ok job of print-copy-scan-fax and is available in both wired and wireless. It does not tolerate off-brand ink cartridges but it does work well. It might be okay to get you to the day when you get a Win8 computer and a printer that works with it.

I went with a brother all in one laser printer this time I will not have to get any more ink cartridges, the laser ones lasts for a long time. I set it up to my wireless router so everything can access it. I paid around $300 range when it was on sale.
I have been so pleased with it.

As AZ reports with W8 on the approaching horizon you have to be aware when purchasing a new printer. Check the manufacturer's homepage, forums and FAQs for W8 information.

For most users a step or two above entry level would be more than sufficient particularly as AZ again says printers are near disposable now. I have two printers configured to this system; a A-I-O and a Deskjet. I have only once spent over $100.00 and that is the Deskjet to publish the pictures I might want of my grandchildren. And that was only $160.00. Funny thing is the A-I-O which is much newer does just as good a job.

DA

I never thought about Win8 not working with most of the newer printers, just figured there would be a driver update.

I'll look at what is available online and just order something to serve my purpose for now. This is just for home printing anyway.

Any problem brands out there?

Nancy

As Windows 8 is almost ready for distribution it should have all current printer drivers included. Just be sure the new printer you buy is a reasonably recent model.

- Check cost of ink cartridges, grrr
- See if your Costco/Walgreens will refill cartridges
- Check printer prices at Costco and newegg, or sign up for their daily specials
- Make sure the cartridges are discrete, individual colors - I think that's standard now?

Thanks for all the info. I am so lost without a printer, so I ordered on last evening on Amazon. It has already shipped!

After taking time to really do some research on the net, I ordered the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-On Wireless Color Printer with Scanner, Copier & Fax. It hopefully will print from this old computer (XP), iPhone, iPad and the new computer when Win8 comes out.

I also sold myself on a new router. I ordered the new Linksys EA4500 App-Enabled N900 Dual-Band Wireless-N Router with Gigabit and USB. I knew this day was coming, seems like they just keep coming out with new stuff you think you need....LOL

Nancy

Suggestion. If you have the necessary USB to printer cable use it to set up the printer. Once that is working you can remove the cable and the wireless service should be recognised.

You can of course try the wireless method out of the box but I have had issues with helping 3 HP wireless printer owners and in each case that resolved the issue.

HP state they will not be offering Windows 8 drivers until the operating system has gone to market.

Nancy, good choice, we have two of those printers. Costco sells the ink cartridges and we bought them with a $20 instant rebate, iirc. The original cartridges have plenty of ink.

Yay! The new printer arrived about an hour ago and it's all set up and printing. I did the wireless setup with no problems. My old printer was also wireless.

Now let's hope it all transitions to the new router as smoothly when that gets here.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Nancy