[comp.periphs] Laser printers - AST vs. NEC vs. ??

aglew@mcdurb.Urbana.Gould.COM (12/18/88)

>My only minor complaint is that in Diable 630 (dump printer) mode, the print
>begins at the left EDGE of the paper, and there is no way to make it offset.
>We only use this mode for dumps, etc., but it is annoying because the printer
>can't actually print within about 0.25" of the paper edges, so the first 
>character on each line is lost.  Oh well, I guess that's what Epsons are for.

I would think that the inability to print up to the edge of the paper would
be a significant disadvantage, for people who want to print overlarge
graphics, and tape the sheets together to make a large picture (like a
circuit layout). Overlapping is fine, but I hate having to trim the edge

Is this a characteristic of most laserprinters?

henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (12/20/88)

In article <29000003@mcdurb> aglew@mcdurb.Urbana.Gould.COM writes:
>I would think that the inability to print up to the edge of the paper would
>be a significant disadvantage...
>Is this a characteristic of most laserprinters?

Yes.  It's not something that the sales brochures tend to put in big type,
but it's a normal characteristic of the print engines.
-- 
"God willing, we will return." |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
-Eugene Cernan, the Moon, 1972 | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu

mrm@sceard.UUCP (M.R.Murphy) (12/21/88)

One of the most important considerations in choosing a laserprinter is
service availability and cost of repair. We have two dead laserprinters
here that aren't worth fixing. Total cost > $30k. Service contracts cost
about 4 Laserjets/yr. Even considering the extra features (e.g., full-page
graphics, vector conversion, fancy internal language support), a less
powerful, but less expensive, printer would have been a better choice.
It turns out that to become dependent on fancy features and then have the
darned thing bust without hope of repair is a real pain. Much better to
keep it simple, though I'll probably make the same mistake again.
Experience keeps a dear school...:-).