LBAFRIN%clemson.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA (01/16/86)
Howdy, fellow netlandians. I need some quick feedback from the field on
the performance (speed- and print-quality-wise), *reliability*, and
expected maintenance costs for *heavy-duty* letter quality printers, the
kind you would have *no* qualms about using to handle the printing of
many thousands of letters *each week*. My off-the-cuff analysis says
that ink-jet technology is out (the print image isn't high enough quality),
but if somebody knows something I don't, I'd still like to hear about it.
Laser technology is still in the running, but I have to have print quality
equal to the finest daisy wheel printers. At the moment, daisy wheel
technology is at the head of my list. I need at least 80 cps out of a daisy
wheel, with a print head and (probably metal) wheel that can really "go the
distance" in terms of not breaking down or just being plain worn out. Tractor
feed is almost a must (note "almost" -- that's not "absolute"). (Are there
any laser printers yet that handle a tractor feed?)
The local ComputerLand has a 90cps daisy wheel made by a company called
Primage. With sheet feeder and tractor it's $2200. Based on the demo,
(i.e., looking at the construction, listening to it print, "gut feelings"),
I'm not sure it can handle the load. Does anyone know anything about this
model? (The salesman says we'd have to replace the print head for $20 after
every 10,000 letters, probably, not to mention the plastic print wheels.)
So if you've got personal experience (or know someone with personal
experience) with a *high-speed*, *heavy-duty*, letter-quality printer, now
is the time to step forward and plug it. (I'm willing to spend up to $5,000.)
I really need this info, and you'd have my undying gratitude for replying
(isn't that a great incentive?). Thanks in advance...
-- Larry Afrin
Dept. of Computer Science
Clemson University
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I disclaim everything anybody ever said about anything.edelheit@MITRE.ARPA (Jeff Edelheit) (01/16/86)
Larry - While none of the lasers I know of support a tractor, I would recommend any of the Canon engine based machines. If you really want typeset quality, then look into Imagen. Imagen provides a preprocessor to the laser engine. The bottom of the line uses the Canon engine, but if you need higher speeds, then you can move up to one of their Xerox engines. (We have an Imagen 8/300; the preprocessor + the Canon engine. It's really nice. It also supports either a serial, parallel or Ethernet interface.) I also understand that QMS has some nice lasers. With the kind of output you are talking about, I am not sure that any daisy type machine will either hold up or produce the amount of output your talking about. Also, the general rule "the higher the speed, the higher the noise" probably applies to the impact printers. The noisyest thing on the Canon is the clicking as it pulls the paper thru. Let me know what you find/decide. Regards, Jeff Edelheit (edelheit@mitre.arpa) Usual disclaimers apply.
svirsky@ttidcb.UUCP (William Svirsky) (01/20/86)
In article <1628@brl-tgr.ARPA> LBAFRIN%clemson.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA writes: >Howdy, fellow netlandians. I need some quick feedback from the field on >the performance (speed- and print-quality-wise), *reliability*, and >expected maintenance costs for *heavy-duty* letter quality printers,... >... >Laser technology is still in the running, but I have to have print quality >equal to the finest daisy wheel printers.... A friend of mine told me that PC magazine always does a November issue on printers and this year included laser printers. He said that there are 2 November issues, so be sure you get the right one. -- Bill Svirsky Citicorp/TTI 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 Work phone: 213-450-9111 x2597 {philabs,randvax,trwrb,vortex}!ttidca!ttidcb!svirsky
svirsky@ttidcb.UUCP (William Svirsky) (01/21/86)
In article <634@ttidcb.UUCP> svirsky@ttidcb.UUCP (William Svirsky) writes: >In article <1628@brl-tgr.ARPA> LBAFRIN%clemson.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA writes: >>Howdy, fellow netlandians. I need some quick feedback from the field on >>the performance (speed- and print-quality-wise), *reliability*, and >>expected maintenance costs for *heavy-duty* letter quality printers,... >>... >>Laser technology is still in the running, but I have to have print quality >>equal to the finest daisy wheel printers.... > >A friend of mine told me that PC magazine always does a November >issue on printers and this year included laser printers. He said >that there are 2 November issues, so be sure you get the right >one. > CORRECTION: Sorry about any mixup, but it is the September 17, 1985 issue. He brought it in today (21 jan). In a nutshell, the editor's choices are: - for daisy wheel printers, the Qume Sprint 11/90 PLUS for $2500. Comments were: one of the best in print quality, one of the noisiest, Qume printers have a workhorse reputation. Tested at 62.8 cps. - for laser printers, the Apple LaserWriter for $6995. It will connect to a PC serial port. Accepts most Diablo control sequences. Stunning typeset-quality variable-size proportional fonts. 8 pages printed per minute (approx. equal to 108 cps). Quiet. 14 built in fonts. Currently has 1 big disadvantage; if you are not using the printer in Diablo-compatible mode (ie. you want other than the Diable font), it must be programmed in the PostScript printer programming language. At the time of the review, only Microsoft Word version 2.0 supported PostScript. They had examples of the print quality of the print quality of all of the printers reviewed. The print quality of the LaserWriter was better than that of the Qume. >-- >Bill Svirsky >Citicorp/TTI >3100 Ocean Park Blvd. >Santa Monica, CA 90405 Work phone: 213-450-9111 x2597 >{philabs,randvax,trwrb,vortex}!ttidca!ttidcb!svirsky -- Bill Svirsky Citicorp/TTI 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 Work phone: 213-450-9111 x2597 {philabs,randvax,trwrb,vortex}!ttidca!ttidcb!svirsky