IT services for schools/departments
Supporting the provision of IT facilities for schools and departments.
This page is about buying staff printers: you can also find out about using staff printers or using student printers
Buying a printer for staff use
Buying a staff printer for the Kent network
Not all printers that are "suitable for networking" will work on Kent's network - deskjet printers will not nornally be networked and should be connected locally to PCs. The important detail to look for is that the printer supports PCL or PS (postscript). Printers that do not conform to this and can be difficult or impossible to network in our environment. This can mean long delays and extra charges for networking, and may result in us being unable to connect it up at all.
Before buying a printer
- Contact the Purchasing Office for a list of recommended models and our current best value supplier for each recommended printer.
Doing your own research
Recommended brands are Ricoh (all models are usually suitable) and HP (note that HP's low end network printers are usually unsuitable for the University; generally the 1xxx models fall into this category, though that is not definitive. They are often listed as Host Based printers in the description). View the known compatible HP models (excel doc) and check the printing volumes and speed when assessing printers; helpdesk can advise.
From a manufacturer’s website (eg http://www.hp.co.uk/) look for the driver download section and check the following detail about printer models:
- in the supported operating system list look for a link to Windows Server 2008 x64 drivers;
- look for at least a Postscript (PS) driver (ideally with a PCL5e and a PCL6 driver available). If these are available then it is likely the printer will be suitable for the Kent print server cluster.
If there are no drivers listed for Windows Server 2008 x64 it is unlikely that the printer is suitable for networking at Kent; if the driver/printer is listed as Host Based, the printer will not work with a central print server.
Additional benefits of using a printer that supports Windows Server 2008 x64: ability to print directly from the Student Data System; continuity of service during failures and maintenance work; automatic installation of printer drivers; ability to restrict access to the printer; summary usage statistics.
Buying photocopiers
Photocopiers must be ordered through the Purchasing Office.