I recently wrote about the new Apple MacBook Air and talked about some of the potential challenges it would introduce, not least of which being integrating it into the network. One of the steps mentioned connecting the Air up to a couple of printers in our office – using the wired network. This sort of challenge should be a walk in the park but you can never take things for granted.

We are only a small team here so we don’t need print spoolers or dedicated servers for printing – instead we just point direct to the printer.

One of the printers is a Hewlett Packard OfficeJet Pro whilst the other is a Hewlett Packard LaserJet.

So, the first step was to hook up the MacBook Air to the network using the USB to Ethernet cable (which was an optional extra when we bought the MacBook) then head into System Preferences and into Print and Fax.

To add a printer it says click on the plus icon at the bottom of the empty list. This brings up the Add Printer window and lo and behold the OfficeJet Pro is listed, using the Bonjour service, a few moments later (and a 63MB download) and the printer was ready to go.

Next up was the older LaserJet which I felt pretty certain would offer a challenge but I switched it on and there it was in the Add Printer dialog box – and a brief 30 MB download later I was asked if there was a Duplex Unit, any additional trays and what to do if there is a paper size mismatch.

Both Printers have now been tested on the network and are working well, and dare I say it a more pleasant experience than adding a printer on a similar Windows setup (yes, I did really just say that).

Next time, I am planning to connect up the Buffalo TeraStation NAS which is shared across all the computers in our office. It will be interesting to see if the experience is as smooth as it was with the printers.