grimes@bu-it.bu.edu (Paul Grimes) (09/20/90)
Comments on DEC's Printserver 20 (LPS20) and/or QMS's 6320. ----------------------------------------------------------- We are in the process of evaluating 20-30 ppm postscript printers for a central printing facility on campus. We have narrowed our choices down to DEC's Printserver 20 and QMS's 6320. I'm interested in getting some feedback from anyone who has used either of these printers. Some of the questions I have are - - Do the printer supplies meet their rated life time? - Print quality degradation. As printer supplies reach there rated life, does the quality steadily get worst, or does quality stay good up until the supplies reach there expected life, then drop off quickly? - How's the reliability of the printer if running close too, but not exceeding it's monthly duty cycle? - Who do you use for service, and how would you rate them? - Error handling. Does the printer or symbiont hang when it comes across something in a files it doesn't know what to do with? or does it print an error and move on to the next job? What type of diagnostics are available either on the printer, or a printer/software combination? - Speed Ratings. How much does the printer slow down when printing fairly complex postscript jobs, or graphics, as compared to printing straight text? - Paper handling. How well does the printer organize job seperation? Are differant input trays easily callable from your print jobs, or is some operator intervention required? Thanks in advance for any comments on the these printers. If anyone is using some other postscript printer rated between 20 and 30 ppm that's running close to it's duty cycle and is happy with it's performance, I'd be interested in hearing more about that printer. Ethernet, duplex, 300 dpi or better, and large input and output paper capabilities are pretty much our requirements. Thanks again Paul Grimes Distributed Systems Group Boston University Information Technology