LaserWriter

This article refers to the series of printers. For the first model, see LaserWriter (original).

The original LaserWriter (1985)

The Apple LaserWriter was one of the first laser printers available to the mass market. Combined with GUI-based programs like PageMaker on the Macintosh, it is generally considered to have sparked the desktop publishing (DTP) revolution in the mid-1980s.

Background

Unlike models from Hewlett-Packard (HP), which had been introduced a few months earlier and used their proprietary PCL printing language, the LaserWriter included the PostScript page description language from Adobe Systems, which allowed for far more complex Vector graphics|graphics, high-resolution bitmap graphics, outline fonts, and generally much better-looking output.

The use of PostScript comes at a cost. Unlike PCL and other early printer control languages, PostScript is a complete programming language and requires a complete computer to run it. In the case of the LaserWriter, this was a 12 MHz Motorola 68000 processor running at 11.16 MHz, making it the fastest machine in Apple's lineup, and the most expensive at $6,995 when it was introduced in 1985.

At this sort of price point, the printer needed to be shared among several computers. However, local area networks (LANs) were both complex and expensive at the time, so in typical Apple fashion they wrote software to drive the Mac's RS-422 serial port at about 230.4 kbps with a protocol stack called AppleTalk to run on top of it, and delivered the result as LocalTalk (referring to the hardware, cabling, and software).

When shared between several machines, the LaserWriter quickly fell to an attractive price point. It was unmatched in terms of printing ability and could be fully utilized only under a GUI-based computer, on which Apple had the monopoly at the time. Millions were eventually sold, and the LaserWriter is also credited with saving both the Macintosh and Apple.

Building on the success of the original LaserWriter, Apple developed many successive models. These later LaserWriters offered faster print speeds, higher resolutions, ethernet connectivity, and eventually, color output. To compete, many other laser printer manufacturers introduced models with PostScript capability. Eventually, the standardization on Ethernet and PostScript as a means for connecting to and controlling laser printers made Apple's printers superfluous, and Apple exited the laser printer market in 1999 the discontinuation of the LaserWriter 8500.

The LaserWriter has an interactive PostScript interpreter: one can actually connect a serial terminal to the printer and, by typing "executive", communicate with the printer's computer. The printer will also display diagnostic error messages on this link. (RS-232, 19.2kbaud, 8-bit, no parity, 1 stop bit.)

Models

• LaserWriter (March 1985), included 13 fonts in ROM and 300-dpi resolution.
• LaserWriter Plus (March 1986), included 35 fonts in ROM, which became standard.

A LaserWriter II (1988)

• LaserWriter IINT (1988), reduced weight and cost.
• LaserWriter IINTX (1988), the first model to support external SCSI drives to install more fonts.
• LaserWriter IISC (1988), the first model to use QuickDraw instead of PostScript.
• LaserWriter IIf (October 1991), introduced PostScript Level 2, Fineprint edge smoothing, and a PhotoGrade option.
• LaserWriter IIg (October 1991), the first model with ethernet.
• LaserWriter Pro 600 (1993), the first model to support 600-dpi resolution.
• LaserWriter Pro 630 (1993), also included SCSI and an ethernet port, the first to support printing over TCP/IP.

A LaserWriter Pro 810 (1993)

• LaserWriter Pro 810 (1993), first to support 800-dpi on large format paper up to 11" x 17".
• LaserWriter 16/600 PS (1994), supported 600-dpi at 17 pages-per-minute.
• Color LaserWriter 12/600 PS (June 1995), the first color model and the most expensive LaserWriter ever sold.
• LaserWriter 12/640 PS (June 1996), the first model to support double-sided printing (RAM upgrade required).
• Color LaserWriter 12/660 PS (October 1996), a lower-cost color model that was widely adopted by Kinko's.
• LaserWriter 8500 (August 1997), the first model with PostScript Level 3, and the last laser printer from Apple. Supported 600-dpi on large format paper up to 13" x 20".

External links

• LaserWriter at Apple (archived 1998-04-29)
  • Color LaserWriter 12/660 PS (archived 1998-04-29)
  • LaserWriter 12/640 PS (archived 1998-04-29)
  • LaserWriter 8500 (archived 1998-04-29)
  • Support for Apple Printers at Apple Support (archived 2001-03-22, 1999-05-08)
    • Older Software Downloads: Printing Software (2001-07-17, archived 2001-08-01)
  • Technical Specifications for Apple LaserWriter Printers (archived 2002-06-02, 1999-08-24)
• Apple LaserWriter at Low End Mac
• Apple Laserwriter Reference (PDF) at Vintage Apple
  • Introduction to LaserWriter Service Version 2.0 (PDF)
• Apple LaserWriter at the Adobe Wiki
• Apple Inc. laser printers at Wikimiedia Commons
• LaserWriter at Wikipedia

Articles

• Apple’s five most important printers by Benj Edwards at PC Macworld (2009-12-09)