HP Jetdirect 250M User Manual page 23

NETWORK PRINTING
Why use a print server?
A print server provides your printer with
connection to the network. You could get the
same connection using a computer -- your
network server -- but it would cost more and be
more complex. Using a print server saves you
money and frees up your network server for
other tasks, such as file storage.
You might want to use a network server for
management of print jobs, a function that may
be useful for larger networks. In such an
application you will still probably want to use a
print server, because its small size gives you
location flexibility. Using a print server, you can
easily place your printers near your users, while
keeping the network server out of the way in a
central computer area. (You will see this
application in the notes on the client/server
topology, a couple of pages later in this tutorial.)