Printer suggestions?
 

I am setting up a home office and one of the main groups I work with IT dept has told me that I need the following to beable to add on to the network:

The printer should be a business class HP laser printer with either
an internal or external HP Jetdirect print server.

I looked around on the internet some but I am still ignorant when it comes to such things. Does anyone have suggestions on which one I should buy-that wont cost an arm and a leg? Also do you know if any of the printer types above come in like a 4 in 1 (printer, copier, fax, scanner) and if any of them print color pages?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!
Shi

Look for the "n"
 

All HP printers with "n" at the end of their names qualify - the "n" means "networked". I think the 1320n is the smallest you can get.

You can also buy an external Jetdirect print server that will connect to some of the smaller printers - cost is a few hundred dollars.

A visit to hp.com will be informative.

Question: why do they want your home office printer to be networkable? Anyone on the network will be able to print to it - I don't know if that's desirable. A stand-alone printer connected to your PC seems a more logical way to go.

Audrey

I hate IT departments that give people like me who do IT for a living a bad name.

You need to base your printer on what you are printing. If you only print out a few sheets of paper a week, you don't need a business class printer. HP makes several very nice printers in the few hundred dollar range, one of them is under $200.

You don't need to network the printer with a Jet Direct Print Server. If you are running any version of windows that is NT or later, you can set the printer up on any computer, be it a USB, parallel, or whatever connection and share that connection and print through that PC. In a home network it won't have any performance impact at all.

The 1320N the lowest available with networking built in as Falcona said, is $499. The 1012 is $199.99. You can buy two of the 1012's, put one on each PC and still have $100 for a fine bottle of wine for the price of one printer. That's rated at 5,000 pages a month (ten reams of paper), or twenty reams if you get two :) so unless your printing needs are way more then that, I would get the 1012 (I like that printer) and share it through the PC, not hooked up directly to the network.

I have quite a few clients happy with the HP Photosmart 8450 Printer

You can usually get the 1012 for much less than $199 often. I got mine last year for $149. Just last week there was a deal from OfficeMax for ~$47 after rebate. Ended on the 26th though.

http://forums.slickdeals.net/attachm...achmentid=6169

There are 2 ways to go about this that could save you money and headache:

(1) Connect your printer to a computer that you normally leave on all/most of the time. Set it up like you would if it was your only computer and only printer in the house. Once you're done, make this printer "shareable."
If you're using Windows:
START > SETTINGS > CONTROL PANEL > PRINTERS
Right-click on the printer and select SHARING

Now with the other computers in your house, simply look up this printer under your NETWORK NEIGHBORHOOD and double-click on it to install it on their machine.

NOTE: Make sure all computers are using the same "WORKGROUP" name. Ask me if you don't know how to do this and I'll follow up on a later post. (I just don't want to bore you if you know how already. Most likely, new computers have the default name like "Workgroup" on them.)

(2) But a "printer server" that you connect from your printer to your router. This comes in a variety of price, starting from $40. I recommend an HP, Linksys, Netgear brand -- avoid small-time brands because they will add to your headache.

Good luck!

Thanks for all the info!

I too started thinking after I wrote the post-why they would want me to have one of these when it is just for my printing. The beauty is I use to work for this company and left and a client of theres asked me to work for them-so I know the manangement there has stand alone printers on there computers-not to mention the IT dept there is a joke for except like 2 people. So I have sent them another email for them to clarify the information and referenced the ones I know are not like the one they told me I should have.

What I think they thought was I was asking for one of the clinics and what they should get and might not have clarified to them that it was for me only.

Should be interesting to see what I get back from them......