The new MacBook Air M4 works fine, out of the box, with respect to printing via WiFi on the associated Ethernet network so no special software is needed on it. It is exactly because the Mac does this that I naively fully expected (and still expect) the Ipads would/should also do this. I was very surprised when I tried to print something last night from the Ipad and found that does not work.
"Your MacBook Air does not use AirPrint, it uses a printer driver for the specific class of printer." That maybe and I could not care less if it is called a driver or an AirPrint. It is connected to the world through Wi-fi, just like my Ipad. The Ipad has an M1 processor and the Mac has an M4. Both have more than sufficient horsepower to do this. So, it is reasonable to assume, for a multitude of reasons, Apple intentionally did not provide that capability. That ****** me off because my M1 Ipad is a premium and very expensive product and I reasonably expect it to have functionality commensurate with its price. Obviously that is not the case.
There is no nostalgia at all associated with a twenty year old printer. It has everything to do with the fact that printer works fine and there is less than zero reason to spend good money buying a new one, especially since it works fine with the MacBook Air. I also do not understand how one can begin to be nostalgic with respect to a tan plastic box as inert as a printer.
As far as added security, Windows does indeed require more attention but after 30 years of Windows on multiple machines it truly is not something that is not easily and effectively dealt with. That positive feature of the Apple operating system does not begin to negate the unnecessary time I just spent manually transferring photos off my Ipad this afternoon so I could print them. I have much better things I need to do and I found that exercise very annoying.
Please do not respond to this post as I am done with this. I am venting because I am very sorry I bought this MacBook Air a couple of months ago. This printer thing is just one more Apple annoyance. It is truly an outstanding piece of hardware but the Apple OS I awkward and, in the balance, certainly does not begin to have the convenience and time saving features Windows has. I am sure part of this is just getting used to Apples way of doing business and I have given that much thought. Nevertheless, that aspect is very minor overall and I am not seeing a rapid learning curve as I expected when buying it. As only one example, the lack of all the right click features Windows makes available has made using this laptop much more difficult and continuously awkward and annoying.
