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.