There are many ways to install a network printer, depending on a few factors detailed below

Things to consider:

1. How Many will need to use it?
2. The location of the printer?
3. Type of quality output required?
4. Type of network and access?

1. How Many will need to use it?
   
   Printers come in all shapes and sizes, types and connectivity. These are primary factors in the equation to work out the type of solution you would want to implement. First of all the golden rule is a LASER printer. Ink jets are far too unreliable and non cost effective in such an application. If there are a relatively small amount of users requiring access for small documents or even the odd document then a low cost black and white laser will do the trick, these are perfect for the task most costing less than 100 pounds excluding connectivity to the network. Also they can print over 4000 single sides of paper for between 40-80 pounds per laser toner cartridge. For larger organisations and print runs you could consider between Desk lasers up-to colour photocopier for these tasks, If a colour laser copier is required i would look into to leasing one as an option, this can be a more cost effective way overall.

2. The location of the printer?

 Printers, especially network printers normally called GROUPWARE instead of hardware. due to the fact many use and count on the device, A network laser for example could replace between 2 and 30 workstation printers. The location of these devices need careful consideration, this is very important to account for in the impact on productivity and viability of the implementation of such a device. The printer needs to be primarily near the highest group of users using the device, for example the office / work place has a reception and two large offices each side of the reception, the most common place for a Photocopier is in reception as the receptionist could not easily leave her post un manned.  however if the printer was a desk laser and the office to the right of her printed a large amount of  paper but reception and the office to the left printed out less than occasionally, The printer would best be situated in the Right office. 

Placing a printer into an organisation or groupware situation is a task that sounds relatively simple but can be a mine field. other factors for location, paper and printers are prone to humidity, so a dry and less humid location is a good place to start, if your network is cabled, then you will have to situate the printer where a cable and the access point are most safely located. printers with long cables can cause trip hazards and loss of connection if unplugged by accidental movement.

3. Type of quality output required?

 This point is concerning two things really, the quality of the printing and the overall dimensions of the prints required. Many lasers cover one size only unless you go to the expense of a Photocopier, this is A4, any other size than this may require custom or alternate considerations to the type of technology bought, anything larger than A3 I'm afraid your stuck with an ink jet or plan printing. Always consider everyones needs and it may take the implementation of two printers for custom uses to make the process viable and practical.

Quality of print is always an issue, if the print outs require non logo based low graphic outputs on documents then you will find the desk laser fine for this criteria, if high quality out puts then a Colour desk laser or Photocopier is required. photographs require resolution based considerations and always consider the maximum and function when making these decisions.

4. Type of network and access?

As mentioned before in location cabled networks are the most restrictive of choices, simply because of location, access and planning issues although these are the most reliable to implement. Wireless networking printers are appearing but not in such a cost effective way. Types of connectivity on the printers themselves can also be an issue, you can connect a printer to the network, if you already have a laser or ink jet that has passed all the criteria except it doesn't have a network card installed, its easy enough to obtain a print server which allows standard usb printer or parallel printer to be connected to the network either wired or wireless. also  some network attached hard drives incorporate this feature. Some lasers come with network cards built in, and can be quite a bit more expensive. Also sometimes its as easy as sharing an already installed printer on a work station to other in the organisation, this option impacts on power consumption as the machine will have to be left on for the others to print through it, the machine sharing the printers performance, and the print speed of the printer itself (Pages Per Minute or PPM). If a dedicated machine can be used as a print server this is the best way to manage printing in large groupware situations.

For Newark lasers of any type connection is everything, the best practices is to consider the following equation:

Type of Data + Size of Data * Amount of Users / Network Speed & Connectivity = Network Requirement.



Parallel Port Print Server.


Network Laser Printer with Network port as below.



USB Wireless Print Server.