Simple quandary: to buy a network-ready MFP or a print server wireless hub. This is for my home environment, which has a wired XP Home PC, wired Mac G5 (OS X 10.4+), wireless laptop (Win 2K3 Pro) – all networked via a Netgear G router – and an HP t45xi inkjet MFP hooked to the XP PC. The Mac was just added, and is not connected to a printer. The question is do I force the HP to network, or get a network printer.
If I get a print server, I’m not counting on it to enable anything but print functions (I am aware it’s impossible to get scanner and network fax to work reliably, so forget it).
The possibilities are confounding… especially after I read the reviews of the print servers with picky MFP match-lists and network printers (Canon 800R or HP 7410).