englandr@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Scott Englander) (10/27/88)
[I tried to post this before to the above groups and comp.laser-printers,
but it didn't work, perhaps because the latter is moderated and that
held up posting to all groups.]
Our department is planning to purchase a PostScript printer to serve ~15
IBM PCs and 3 Macs on an AppleTalk/Phonenet network. We have narrowed
the list down to the following:
Apple LaserWriter IINTX
NEC SilentWriter LC 890
QMS PS-800II
QMS PS-810
Qume CrystalPrint / Jasmine DirectPrint
Has anyone had experience with these printers or these companies?
Responses by e-mail will be summarized and posted.
Thanks.
--
- Scottxdaa374@ut-emx.UUCP (William T. Douglass) (10/27/88)
In article <4129@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> englandr@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Scott Englander) writes: >Our department is planning to purchase a PostScript printer to serve ~15 >IBM PCs and 3 Macs on an AppleTalk/Phonenet network. We have narrowed >the list down to the following: > >NEC SilentWriter LC 890 >Has anyone had experience with these printers or these companies? > I strongly advise against the NEC printer. We have been using one for a little over a year, & the quality & speed for graphics output is very poor (text-only is ok.) The real bug-a-boo, though, is@service for the damn thing. NEC seems to have a dearth of qualified dealers & a lack of parts. We were told that the torer discharge unit is backordered, and may take up to SIX months to arrive! Screw that, I say. Also, we cannot find a dealer in central Txas who will take out a maintenance contract on the printer. Nobody, even the company who sold it, wants to be saddled with obligatory repair service for the 890. Bottom line - too many problems, imcompetent service, and only so-so capabilities. Stay away. -- Bill Douglass, TCADA "I dreamed I was to take a test, in a Dairy Queen, on another planet." L. Anderson
les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell) (10/27/88)
In article <7336@ut-emx.UUCP> xdaa374@emx.UUCP (Bill Douglass) writes: >thing. NEC seems to have a dearth of qualified dealers & a lack of parts. This is a local situation. I can get a repairman in a few hours (in a suburb of Chicago) and parts have not been a problem. >Also, we cannot find a dealer in central Txas who will take out a maintenance >contract on the printer. Nobody, even the company who sold it, wants to be >saddled with obligatory repair service for the 890. Again - no problem here although the economics of services contracts leaves me inclined to take my chances. I suspect the problem is travel time from the service center to your site. Actually, we have had no problems with the 890 anyway. Our service calls have mostly been for ROM upgrades to 860's to fix the HP emulation with downloaded fonts (which was done free under warantee). Les Mikesell
mark@drd.UUCP (Mark Lawrence) (10/28/88)
%% In article <4129@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> englandr@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Scott Englander) writes:
%% >Our department is planning to purchase a PostScript printer
%% >[we are considering the] NEC SilentWriter LC 890
%% >
xdaa374@emx.UUCP (Bill Douglass) wrote:
%% [reasons deleted]I strongly advise against the NEC printer.
Hmmmm, we have had exactly the opposite experience. The graphics have
been excellant (after we had the service organization look into a
problem with thick vertical bars that tended to fade towards the top).
We bought it at Entre' and they have retained an excellant service
organization for the Oklahoma green-country area. Getting the thing to
talk serial to the Sun was a problem but easily remedied once we
understood what was going on (the printer only drives the return signal
to +4 volts or so. Our Unix box wants +12).
We are very happy with it.
Mark
--
tulsun!drd!mark@Sun.COM
DRD Corporation mlawrence@jarsun1.ZONE1.COM
(918)743-3013 drd!mark@apctrc.UU.NET
okstate!romed!drd!mark@rutgers.EDUjames@bigtex.cactus.org (James Van Artsdalen) (10/28/88)
englandr@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Scott Englander) writes: > NEC SilentWriter LC 890 Some friends of mine who own a local software store use one of these and have had very good luck with it. I've used it as both a Postscript printer and HP laserjet. I've also used both the parrellel port and AppleTalk, and everything works like advertised. Very good print quality. -- James R. Van Artsdalen james@bigtex.cactus.org "Live Free or Die" Home: 512-346-2444 Work: 338-8789 9505 Arboretum Blvd Austin TX 78759