U12570@uicvm.uic.edu (Ed Garay UIC Computer Center) (03/07/91)
Now that it has been announced, we can talk about this wonderful printer.
(See brief description at the end of this message)
Has anyone on this forum-beta tested this printer and want to share
actual user experiences with the rest of us?
The non-disclousure demo I saw was quite impressive, but I really would
like to know how well it performs doing real work, particularly,
the RISC-based PostScript controller. Is it about 3-4 times faster
than the LaserWriter NTX as the demo indicated?
I heard that HP and Adobe were working together on a PostScript Level 2
controller. The question is, will we see it as an upgrade during
the second half of 1991?
Again, I am quite impressed with this printer, and I soon will have
my own unit to play with before they go out on our networks. The print
quality is indeed better than that of the HP III. I only regret that
the HP IIISi does not have a SCSI port to connect a hard disk. I feel,
an ideal "work-group" printer ought to support a SCSI drive were outline
and bitmapped fonts could be stored, as well as overlays (ie. forms),
PostScript prologs, PCL macros, etc.
--- Ed Garay
University of Illinois at Chicago, Computer Center
Internet: u12570@uicvm.uic.edu Bitnet: u12570@uicvm
---HP LaserJet IIISi----------------------------------------------------
Std configuration includes:
+ Base price: $5495
+ up to 17 ppm simplex + PCL 5 with HPGL/2 + RISC processor with 1MB RAM
+ 300 dpi with HP's RET with 50% smaller toner particles producing even
better print quality than the LaserJet III.
+ two 500 sheet input paper trays + one 500 sheet (collated) output tray
+ 50K pages monthly duty cycle + 8K pages per toner cartridge -- ie. twice
as many as for other LaserJets, at a cost of 2 cents per page.
+ software selectable job offset + memory upgradable to 17 MB
+ weights 110 pounds, 2x higher and 1.25x wider than the HP LaserJet III
+ 14 std bitmapped fonts: 10cpi and 12cpi Courier (medium, italic bold)
and 16.67cpi Line Printer fonts in portrait and landscape.
+ 13 std scalable fonts: four Times (medium, bold...), four Univers (eg.
like Helvetica), four Univers Condensed and one ITC Zapf Dingbats.
Options and other characteristics:
+ user-installable DUPLEX opt (lists for $700) needs 1 extra MB of RAM ($100)
+ optional (HP-installable) Adobe PostScript chips ($900).
Needs 1 extra MB RAM for simplex, 3MB for duplex PostScript.
More RAM needed if error recovery is enabled (like on the X4045/160s).
+ (quick) software-switchable PCL and PS emulations
+ downloaded fonts vanish across printer emulation switches.
+ std serial (up to 38.4Kb) and parallel interface
+ optional Novell, 3Com and AppleTalk i/f.
There is no direct Ethernet-TCP/IP connectivity.
+ no SCSI port for SCSI disk drive (for fonts, prologs, etc)
+ Adobe PS Level 1. Level 2 -- maybe later.
+ proper duplex/simplex paper handling of special forms such as 3-hole paper.
+ no facilities for PCL charging and page accountability
+ exclusive parts (eg. toner cartridge, paper trays, etc) don't fit
other LaserJets.