Single-user printers on a network

At my 25-person office, we all have individual printers. Yet, all the printers are on the network, rather than the individual machines. Is there any benefit to this? Or does it just slow down both the printing and the network?

Thank you very much for any input.

There can only be advantages in having a printer connected to a network it allows users to have aceess to the printer even if the printer isnt hooked up to the workstation they are at.

[edit on 27-7-2005 by xpert11]

It would make far more economical sense to have one or two (one given that there are only 25 of you) printers shared accross the network as when printers haven't been used for a while then they have to clean themselves when a request comes through. Often this actually uses up ink. So it makes sense for one printer to be used more frequently. The only reason I can think of operating the way you do is if you all want to print stuff at the same time (or near enough) or long documents that would hold up everyone else's jobs. Also if all the printers are inkjets then it may be worth investing in one laser printer. Colour lasers have a much higher initial cost than inkjets however in an office environment where there is resonably intensive printing the per page cost of printing is much cheaper and looks more accurate.

However, I would not base anything upon what people (myself included) says on this board as we can never really understand your setup or why it is setup as it is.