Print servers

We are trying to move all the printers out of our office space (three printers) and are wondering if just getting some print servers will be the best option. We are using linksys routers on the network and imagine the linsys print servers to be the best option. Would this be the best way to go? We will be putting the printers in the same room that the routers are in now. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks
Bryan

 

The success of external print servers varies. If you have a cheap router, you'll likely be resetting your print server frequently to get your computers to see the print server (as much as once a day or every couple days. I've seen this with nearly all external print servers and for some reason they just lose connectivity with the routing table. If you have a business class router (really any of Linksys's routers with VPN functionality do the job [though you don't need VPN for this...they are just higher quality]), then you should be fine. Print servers still work of course with the cheaper routers, but you just have to reset them more often (unplug power and plug them back in). Linksys print servers work ok, though I have seen some of the older models route print jobs slowly at times.

HP print servers in my experience tend to have the most success in various environments with various printers...though they tend to run a little more expensive.

You may be able to use a multi-port print server and save some $$, depending on the connection of your printers.

If you end up having to buy 3 separate print servers, then it's almost as cost-effective to use a desktop PC as your print server and just share the printers across the network. XP and Win2K work fine for this.

In any case, I would recommend staying away from using wireless print serving in a business setting. Some Linksys print servers have wireless capability, but you can still use them as a wired print server. Too many variables to be wireless and headache-free.

 

Thanks for your reply. We are all macs here so there isn't really an extra computer we can use just for the print server. However, that still might be the best option.

Thanks
Bryan