I have been looking around, Vic, and it appears that the days of the 20 quid printer are over.
A lot of them, even the cheap ones, are now three-way connect: USB; Ethernet and/or Wi-Fi, and many of them do require the purchase of their cables as a separate item, I guess to keep costs down.
If you have a Wi-Fi router most modern printers will "self set-up" you just plug in and it will find your network. If you do not have Wi-Fi then connecting via Ethernet is also simple.
With USB the printer is directly connected and does not have to be part of your network. The problem there might be getting the correct cable as there are many different types. Have a look at
this to see the different types. I think that types A or B will be the ones to go for.
If you do get a USB printer and Cruiser has a correct cable then why not take up his offer?