Small Medium Business Tech Survival Guild Part 1 - Printers

The SMB survival guide for printers will not get into where to buy your companies toner or ink cartridges. The best type of paper to use or formatting a print job. This article will cover only the technical aspects of printers. Any tech will tell you that beside migrating an old PC to a new PC that printers can be the biggest pain to configure and troubleshoot. below are some of the reasons why.

1.Dealing with Print Drivers.
There are different print drivers for each version of Windows Operating Systems. lets also include the fact that we now have 32 and 64 bit versions.

1A.Print Driver Software on provided CD
Be prepared to install printer software that will start updating you on everything from low ink to no paper. Nice additions but they also prompt for where to buy your ink and paper. In the old days you could install the print driver only for the printer. Now you need to install a mini printer operating system to have them work. You can still just install the printer driver only on some printers. Try downloading the driver only from the print manufacturers support website and test printing without all the additional software functions they include on the Cd.

2. Multifuntion.
One word for a printer that will make a tech say to you "Oh yeah no problem to install" but really the teach is saying great I'll be here all day. A Multifunction printer should say prepare to lose an afternoon to install me. The ink cartridges for these printers is also very expensive.

3. Correct Printer.
Choosing the correct printer for your need is not that simple. Every printer company has a similar model but choosing a cheaper printer will give you more problems. I prefer HP printers they are a little more expensive, buying any other printer is a shame. Remember you get what you pay for with the other printers, slow performance, expensive ink, cheap parts and short life span. You will pay less upfront but may need three of the chaeper printers over the years compared to one HP.

4.Remote Session Printing. (Thin Client)
If you are a small to medium business that connects to a Citrix or Terminal server you will have printer driver issues unless you use a HP printer. "do not attempt to use a HP multifunction" only a HP printer. For more info on this ask any experienced network engineer.

5.Floor Model MultiFuntion Printer.
If you need a high speed printer for a small office get an HP Laser jet. If you can afford to lease a floor model from a copier company. The copiers that take up about a desk sized space in your office. Then shop around for the best price and support. ask about the price for each copy. Black and white and color prices are different. How fast should you expect support calls to be resolved.
Compatibility with existing computers are some of the items to thinks about.

6. Local or Network Printing.
I always get a confused look from customers when I ask them do you want to network the printer. When you buy a smaller to medium printer check and see if it can be networked. The newer printers will allow you connect wirelessly to the network and print. The speed will be a little slower the a wired network printer but it still works. I can't tell you how many customers go and buy a printer and ask us to install the printer. Yes they save some money but find out they can't use the printer for a network. There is one stipulation to that. You can install the printer local on a pc and share it out to other ps. but the pc needs to be on all the time or you will be unable to connect. This is called the poor mans networked printer.

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