[WEB4LIB] Printer Recommendations?

[TMGB]

I've networked 3 HP5Si, 2 HP6MP, 1 HP4000N and getting ready to add
another 2 HP4000N and 1 HP8000.  I haven't used duplex on any.  I have
between 5 and 10 workstations connected to each printer and 20 connected
to one of the HP5Si.  I've found that if you use the HP Jet Admin
software, at least in my case, use the newest possible version.  I've
had conflicts with Netware Client 32 with early versions of  HP Jet
Admin and had to reinstall Client 32 because the HP Admin software wrote
over certain Novell dll files.  I think version 3.3 is the newest
version of HP Admin and has installed with no conflicts.  Overall I've
been very pleased with the Networked HP printers.  I would suggest using
the Postscript driver rather than the PCL driver on the workstations.
The postscript driver allows you to print the page reduced in size from
the original.  In specific cases I found this useful when graphics and
tables were wider than the actual page width in Netscape which normally
would just be cut off when printing at 100% .

As far as Medline, if you are using winspirs, webspirs, or website there
should be no problem printing.  If you are using DOS Spirs program, the
instructions for setting up the printer driver say to choose NO for
printing from DOS.  If you are using Netscape clients you may want to
make patrons aware of the print preview option to see how many and which
pages are going to print.  I've had a lot of paper go to the recycle
bin.

Go to www.hp.com to get the newest HP Admin software.

Thomas

Ed Sperr wrote:

> I'm looking for "We've got that and it works great!" (or doesn't)
> type info about the HP LaserJet 4000N and the Lexmark Optra S 1855n.
>
> Both seem fairly suitable to task, as we're looking for a networked
> laser to service nine workstations (mostly printing Medline
> citiations, but we're starting to move to some full text as well).
>
> My concerns are mainly reliability under a high duty cycle and how
> quickly they chew through consumables.
>
> One other question: how well do they handle duplexing?  I'd like to
> try to duplex as much of the output as we can to hold down paper
> costs, but I'm concerned about taking too much of a performance hit.
>
> Many thanks for any input (direct responses will be summarized for
> the list).
>
> Ed Sperr
> Systems Librarian
> USC School of Medicine
> esperr at med.sc.edu    (803)733-3321