Question:

We have a post-production facility that has a lot of clients coming in with OSX laptops.  We need a solution for the network where users can ’simply print’ to the printer without having to install drivers.  We currently have a JetDirect 500x connected to a Deskjet 5650, but due to the print server the particular model JetDirect we have requires drivers to be installed, which most clients are not permitted by their IT departments.

I need a suggestion for a working set up for a Color Laser printer that is network-capable that OSX can simply browse the network and print to without having to install drivers (like ghostscript, foomatic and hpijs as we currently have to do.)

This is a moderately high-traffic printer, but our budget is not extremely high (we would like to spend under 400$, preferably well under).

This doesn’t have to be a ‘wireless printer’ as we have a WAP on that switch, but whatever can make this the easiest setup for the clients, as the IT department (me) is not at that building.

Solution:

Xerox Phaser 6180N. Plug it into the network and set it up from the printers menu. I have one with 4 Macs, a PC and an Ubuntu box connected to it and it was absolutely painless. Additonally, I have JetDirect at a place where I do consulting and all I did was go through the printer setup dialog box and set up the 5500 as a network printer, punched in the IP and it worked.