Setting up Office network - what hardware?

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sredish

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I own a very small construction company and we are building a new office. Me and my wife are primarily the computer users, me with my CAD drawing and her with the bookkeeping, everyone else is on-site employees.

I made the move to Mac a few years back and she's still on the PC. She's wanting a Mac now and I'm wanting to convert the office to Mac. I will have a new office manager to take over 80% of my wife's duties so she can be on-site more, so we'll end up with 3 Macs. Two powerbooks and an iMac for the office manager.

So, two laptops and one stationary mac. I want all of them to access the same files, say like Quickbooks. I want Quickbooks to be located on a seperate computer/server/something, that we all login to and access. if any of us save to it, it's updated for everyone. also, if I'm working on a drawing, I want this accessible to everyone from every computer. What is the best way to complete this? I'm also going to keep the PC just for a backup in the corner. Do I need a server to hold the majority of our companies files and use the remote computers just to access this info? Also, can I set it up so that we/I can access these files from home if need be, like an FTP type setup? Or do I need a server tied into a external storage device? Any help is appreciated.

I'm not sure what hardware I need and how to set it up, so any help is greatly appreciated. Right now my mac is setup on a home network with the PC (our office is at home currently) but it's a computer-to-computer network. I'll also have 2 or 3 printers on this new network.
 
Well if I was you I'd design a plan of what you need for Example have a server on your diagram then linking it to a switch then from the switch to your Mac's, then put comments on next to each of the things on your network like IP address (unless using DHCP) what peripherals are attached to the machines and comments on what it does etc. If I was you I'd use a Server then everything is on a central point (make sure to Backup! Either tape or external storage whatever is preferred), you could use that old computer if the Spec's are ok and just share out folders to store things in. You'd need a switch or access point (if using wireless) to connected the computers together. I'm guessing the there's going to be a printer for each computer? If it is I'd just install the printer onto the Laptop/Computer unless you want to have one printer and install it on the server and just get everyone to print to that. There are so many possibilties of what you can it just boils down to what you want and the easy use of your network.
 
Get a good PostScript printer. It doesn't need to be tethered to the file server. Just connect it via Ethernet to the same hub or switch as the file server and workstations. It will also ensure the highest quality output from the broadest selection of computers.
 
If your getting a postscript printer I'd recommend getting a Brother 2700CN (for Colour) or a Brother 6050 (for Black and White), we have loads of Brother printers at work and they all perform excellently.
 
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