Looking for a good networked mutli function printer for a small office

The title says it all. I'm looking for a good multifunction printer that can be networked. It will facilitate a small business of about 3 to 4 computers. Prints primarily documents with graphical header and the occasional photo.

Now here is where I would like assistance as well, wired or wireless. The wireless is N and the wired is 100mbit. The printer will most likely be located to the router as well.

Appreciated any assistance I can get in this department.

 

Good quality + networked + Small Business + occasional photo printing = Color laserjet.

Business purposes need wired with a static address.

What's your pricepoint?

 

$200-$300 Us

 

Ouch. The cheapest one I could reliably recommend would be $50 over your pricepoint. Though it is MFC, with 20,000 page duty cycle and networking capabilities. HERE.

For MFC InkJet it'd have to be this one... HERE. My boss needed a printer not long ago, and I got a PO for that one. It has been really great so far. Plus it's pretty quiet for an inkjet.

 

An Inkjet would do just fine for the company actually. They've been handling most of their workflow on an older AIO HP inkjet that was $100 US. The only thing that is happening now is that they have multiple computers needing to use not only the print, but the scan and to a lesser extent the fax ability of the printer. However, the printer is now screwing up with MFC print server drivers, sometimes the printer shows up, sometimes it doesn't.

This is what they are looking for, a reliable inkjet that is natively network able so that scans and prints will take place with all systems with no issue.

I'm liking the Canon that you sent, but how reliable are they when it comes to Inkjet printer like say, Epson or Brother?

 

The issue with the MFC print server drivers is why I suggested a LaserJet. They usually have 64-128MB of RAM for print queues. So that when multiple people try and send a print job (sometimes at the same time), it can put the backlog up in RAM and print the jobs in order they were received without having the printer get confused and just stop responding.

I picked the Canon Pixma for my boss because I have a Pixma here at home. I LOVE it. Mine's not MFC, but it prints some of the best photos I've ever seen outside of photolabs. I had it for 2 years and it still prints just like the day it was pulled out of the box. From what I can tell the Canon printers just have better quality parts than the others. Only thing I don't know about the Pixma is how it handles networked print jobs. For InkJets I usually set the printer up as shared on a networked computer and just let the computer deal with the queue. And AFAIK, the Canon I referenced can handle multiple tasks at once, like while printing a document, someone can be using the flatbed for a fax.

 

How often do you print? Remember to calculate in the cost of consumables. An Inkjet can be cheaper to buy, but cost a LOT more to run over the long term. If you can afford laser, I would highly recommend it. Sharper printing, faster printing, much lower cost per page.

I have a Samsung B&W laser at home that's amazing, and a nice Samsung color laser multifunction device starts at about $300 on newegg.com: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828112128