LaserWriter Pro 800

The LaserWriter Pro 800 was a large format monochrome laser printer from the LaserWriter series that was announced by Apple Computer for the professional market. It was planned for release in August 1993 at Macworld Expo Boston, but only the higher end LaserWriter Pro 810 was released in the following October.

Planned features
The Pro 800 was promoted as being able to print at up to a resolution of 400dpi from a XP-15 print engine that could output 15 pages-per-minute. Upgrading the printer's RAM from the base configuration of 8 MB to 16MB would enable hardware interpolation up to 800 x 400dpi. It would have been compatible with LZR 1560 toner cartridges. The single adjustable tray could support up to 250 sheets of 11 x 17-inch paper. Up to two additional sheet feeders, each with their own tray, could be added for $200 each.

The 16 MHz 8200 processor was promoted as being able to rasterize images from PostScript Level 2 or  4+ printer data. The data could be transmitted through a LocalTalk network to its serial port, or a direct PC connection to its  serial port. An optional Ethernet card would have supported faster EtherTalk or (SNMP) networking. An optional fax card would have allowed it to send, receive and print es.

Included fonts

 * ITC Avant Garde
 * ITC Bookman
 * Courier
 * Helvetica
 * Helvetica Narrow
 * New Century Schoolbook
 * Palatino
 * Symbol
 * Times
 * ITC Zapf Chancery
 * ITC Zapf Dingbats

Release status
In October 1993, the higher-end LaserWriter Pro 810 was released, but not the Pro 800. The Pro 810 came with a faster XP-20 print engine that could output 20 pages-per-minute at a full resolution of 800dpi. It also came with additional sheetfeeders to support up to 3 trays, for a total capacity of 750 pages. Ethernet support was included as standard. However, the 8200 processor only operated at 7.25 MHz, instead of the previously announced 16 MHz. This caused the Pro 810 to have slower rasterization times than less expensive models, such as the LaserWriter Select 360.