No, I agree completely. I started a new job/internship today and the business I'm working for does exactly that--printers and scanners mainly in set locations. Even at home, all our 5 laser printers (4 black, 1 color) are networked and most aren't near computers. Nice because we can print in 4 different rooms on all three levels so we can print things to where another person may be at for their reading. Just imagine running 4 (1 has a built-in print server) computers 24/7. No way! One server is doable but no more! I guess I technically run two. The second is Smoothwall (new version).
I would really like a scanner that simply scanned documents to my file server (SAMBA)! It would be great for scanning receipts, etc and reducing paper savings overall.
In the home, people are even more likely to want computer-free items because it may be convenient to have a scanner in the kitchen by where mail is opened and a computer would be very impractical. Yep, costs of running computers are high as well!