brucer@pwcs.UUCP (Bruce Alan Riebe) (08/04/89)
What Success/horror stories can you share regarding the: DeskJet, PaintJet and DeskWriter? What about grappler and MacPrint interface? Which of the above is better? Breaking the 'Piggy Bank' makes me nervous, but I want better letter quality (possibly color) than is attainable with the Imagewriter. Since budget is less than 1200.00 a postscript printer is out of the question....8-( This is for a college students personal use. Please advise. Any rumors on a new Apple Printers??? email brucer@pwcs.StPaul.GOV -- Bruce Riebe: Supervisor of User Services City of St. Paul Public Works Computer Services 700 CHA 25 W. 4th St. St. Paul, MN 55102-1660 (612) 298-5553 Quote: Keep grandma off the streets -- legalize bingo. (Fortune)
mjkobb@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Michael J Kobb) (08/05/89)
In article <9291@pwcs.UUCP> brucer@pwcs. (Bruce Alan Riebe) writes: >What Success/horror stories can you share regarding the: DeskJet, >PaintJet and DeskWriter? What about grappler and MacPrint >interface? Which of the above is better? If you're using this thing for a Mac, I'd say go with the DeskWriter for sure. I don't own one, but I tried one out at a dealer yesterday with some really nasty specially-prepared files. It worked great, and it was even faster than a LaserWriter Plus on one of the documents (a Word 4.0 doc w/lots of different text sizes and styles)! The DeskWriter is specially designed for the Mac and comes with a driver and Mac fonts. The other printers are originally for the IBM world, and can be used with a Mac with a special interface. They use the same engine, though. The hook: The DeskWriter is supposedly faster than the DeskJet+ with an interface, and it should cost the same or less! (Including the cost of the interface...) Also, to answer one of my earlier questions on this family of printers, according to MacWorld, HP is working on a non-water-soluable ink for these printers. No promises, though. --Mike Standard disclaimers...
mec@mtfmi.att.com (M.CONNICK) (08/07/89)
In article <434@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> mjkobb@media-lab.media.mit.edu (Michael J Kobb) writes: >In article <9291@pwcs.UUCP> brucer@pwcs. (Bruce Alan Riebe) writes: >>What Success/horror stories can you share regarding the: DeskJet, >>PaintJet and DeskWriter? What about grappler and MacPrint >>interface? Which of the above is better? > >If you're using this thing for a Mac, I'd say go with the DeskWriter for sure. >I don't own one, but I tried one out at a dealer yesterday with some really >nasty specially-prepared files. It worked great, and it was even faster than >a LaserWriter Plus on one of the documents (a Word 4.0 doc w/lots of different >text sizes and styles)! The DeskWriter is specially designed for the Mac and >comes with a driver and Mac fonts. The other printers are originally for the >IBM world, and can be used with a Mac with a special interface. They use the >same engine, though. The hook: The DeskWriter is supposedly faster than the >DeskJet+ with an interface, and it should cost the same or less! (Including >the cost of the interface...) The DeskWriter has a list price of $200 over the DeskJet +, so I seriously doubt that you're going to get one for the same or less. You can run a DeskJet or DeskJet + quite satisfactorily with the completely free HPDJ driver, or spend only $79 for the really excellent MacPrint driver. We went the "real cheap" route and bought a lowly DeskJet. They can now be had for $500 or even less. With the MacPrint driver they offer everything we'd use in the MUCH more expensive DeskWriter except for speed. Our printing demands are simply not high enough to justify the much greater expense. Since MacPrint supports both the built-in and cartridge fonts of the DeskJet (neither of which are available on the DeskWriter), we can actually get the same speed out of our DeskJet as a DeskWriter by using them. So if money is a concern, I'd recommend seriously shopping around for a DeskJet or perhaps even a DeskJet +. I'm sure the DeskWriter is a fine printer, I'm just not sure if it's worth spending that much more money for it. ----------------------------------------------------- Michael Connick att!mtfmi!mec 201-957-3057 AT&T Bell Labs MT 3F-113 (Dept. 79153)
mel@fleet.UUCP (mel) (08/08/89)
According to a trade journal HP is considering building a low cost laser printer that would be much less expensive than Apple's SC version although it would have only a 4 page per minute rating. Doubt if it will have postscript. This will take place if HP has success with the Deskwriter according to the article.
rickk@hpvcfs1.HP.COM (Rick Klaus) (08/14/89)
>The DeskWriter has a list price of $200 over the DeskJet +, so I >seriously doubt that you're going to get one for the same or less. You >can run a DeskJet or DeskJet + quite satisfactorily with the >completely free HPDJ driver, or spend only $79 for the really excellent >MacPrint driver. The DeskWriter does list for more, but several booths at MacWorld were selling it for $775. Once you add the price of the third party driver to the DJ+ cost, you are in the same ballpark. In addition, the DW driver has been extensively tested and is compatible with most Mac Applications. MacWeek "expected to find many more problems than [they] encountered." You are not going to get this with a Public Domain driver. >We went the "real cheap" route and bought a lowly DeskJet. They can now >be had for $500 or even less. With the MacPrint driver they offer >everything we'd use in the MUCH more expensive DeskWriter except for >speed. Our printing demands are simply not high enough to justify the >much greater expense. Since MacPrint supports both the built-in and >cartridge fonts of the DeskJet (neither of which are available on the >DeskWriter), we can actually get the same speed out of our DeskJet as >a DeskWriter by using them. The DeskJet is cheaper, but the speed is SO much slower that it is almost unbearable. As for cartridge fonts speeding things up, you are throwing WYSIWYG out the window when you try to mix Mac fonts and graphics with printer fonts. >Michael Connick att!mtfmi!mec 201-957-3057 Rick Klaus hpvcfs1!rickk
mec@mtfmi.att.com (M.CONNICK) (08/15/89)
In article <780033@hpvcfs1.HP.COM> rickk@hpvcfs1.HP.COM (Rick Klaus) writes: >The DeskJet is cheaper, but the speed is SO much slower that it is almost >unbearable. As for cartridge fonts speeding things up, you are throwing >WYSIWYG out the window when you try to mix Mac fonts and graphics with >printer fonts. Gee, doesn't anyone read what I post? AGAIN, with the MacPrint driver you can use the DeskJet fonts, either built-in or cartidge, just like any other font. You SEE them on your screen with WYSIWYG look and spacing. However, when you print them out you get 2 pages/minute speed. You can mix the DeskJet fonts with QuickDraw fonts in the same document, even in the same line. When MacPrint encounters a DeskJet font, printing speeds up dramatically. When it encouters a QuickDraw font or bit-mapped or PICT graphics, it enters graphics mode and prints much slower. So if you use the DeskJet Times cartridge and have the bulk of your text in Times, you can get output that's about as fast as the DeskWriter. If you use both the Times and Helvetica cartridges and have only those fonts in your document, I'd wager you could probably beat the DeskWriter! Wow, that all looks familiar, doesn't it? ;-) As to whether the speed of printing all QuickDraw stuff is unbearable, it's really in the eye of the beholder. A typical text page using nothing but QuickDraw fonts will print out in less than two minutes at 300 dpi. If you add grahpics, it's slower. You get faster speeds by printing at 75 or 150 dpi. The absolutely slowest document we ever printed was a newsletter page with lots of grahpics, including a digitized photo. The page took almost 7 minutes to print at 300 dpi. With our printing volume and being able to print out in background under MultiFinder, these rates are completely acceptable to us. With a price today of around $500 total for the DeskJet and MacPrint driver (complete with cable) I think this is still one terrific price/performance ratio. If money were no object, I'd buy a LaserWriter II NT! ----------------------------------------------------- Michael Connick att!mtfmi!mec 201-957-3057 AT&T Bell Labs MT 3F-113 (Dept. 79153)
parent@apple.com (Sean Parent) (08/16/89)
In article <780033@hpvcfs1.HP.COM> rickk@hpvcfs1.HP.COM (Rick Klaus) writes: > >We went the "real cheap" route and bought a lowly DeskJet. They can now > >be had for $500 or even less. With the MacPrint driver they offer > >everything we'd use in the MUCH more expensive DeskWriter except for > >speed. Our printing demands are simply not high enough to justify the > >much greater expense. Since MacPrint supports both the built-in and > >cartridge fonts of the DeskJet (neither of which are available on the > >DeskWriter), we can actually get the same speed out of our DeskJet as > >a DeskWriter by using them. > > The DeskJet is cheaper, but the speed is SO much slower that it is almost > unbearable. As for cartridge fonts speeding things up, you are throwing > WYSIWYG out the window when you try to mix Mac fonts and graphics with > printer fonts. Orange Micro just anounced the Grappler LX. This is basicaly a Grappler LQ but the serial to parallel converter operates at 57.6K baud. This will replace the Grappler LQ. It was built mostly for the DeskJet+ that can print quickly from parallel but the serial port cannot go above 19.2K baud. There is suppose to be very little speed improvement from a Mac+ or SE but the speed is very good from a MacII or SE/30. About 1 page every 1 to 2 minutes I believe. I gotten my hands on one to try it out yet but it might be worth looking at. Sean Parent Disclaimer: I used to work at Orange Micro so ...