The Best Tabloid Laser Printers

Inkjet or Laser?
With the low (initial) cost of ink-jet printers these days, many computer users get their first taste of printing via an ink-jet unit. But, after a few ink cartridges go by, at $40 a pop, and perhaps a messy refill experience or two, many business-oriented computer users are ready to switch to a laser printer. If you're just deciding on which type of printer to buy,  now would be a good time to consider the pros and cons of inkjet versus laser printers (or other toner-based imaging systems such as the LED printers pioneered by Oki). You should ask yourself:  What is the primary purpose of this printer? How many pages per day are you going to be printing?

To cut to the chase: if color is not essential and you plan to print more than a few pages every day, a laser printer is probably your best bet. Here's why.

The main advantages of inkjet are:

1. much lower cost of tabloid-size unit
2. colour capability
3. smaller unit
4. very high res (1440 dpi, 5 picolitre drop size) in latest units.

The disadvantages are:

1. higher cost per page
2. requires special paper for optimum print quality

Those with graphics aspirations should consider a PostScript printer -- preferably one with Adobe's latest PostScript Level 3 language. Although PostScript does not speed printing (in fact, it frequently slows it!), a laser (or inkjet) printer with PostScript will product better graphical results from many programs, especially titles such as QuarkXPress, PageMaker, InDesign, Illustrator, CorelDraw, FreeHand and so on. PostScript is particularly essential on the Mac platform, which lacks support for non-PostScript laser printers.
If  you want a widely supported laser printer with color capabilities, start by looking at the market leader. The HP LaserJet 8500 is a heavy hitter, in every sense of the term. This highly regarded unit weighs over 150 lbs. and is 11x17 capable,  true PostScript 3 ... and, at US$5995, more expensive than grayscale-only units by a large margin. The printer is optimized for NT server and NT client environments. Details at http://www.cesplot.com/printers/laserjet8500.html.

If colour's not important, HP's LaserJet LaserJet 5000, at US$1470 is a popular choice. The HP LaserJet 5000 printer achieves a print speed of 16 pages per minute and prints on a variety of paper sizes including tabloid (A3). The printer integrates innovative technologies such as HP UltraPrecise toner that, via adjustable fusing temperature, delivers more consistent imaging and HP ProRes 1200 that provides users with true 1200 dpi resolution. A unique option for this printer is a direct-to-plate capability from a company called TechNova.
 
In grayscale printers, another well-regarded networkable choice for Macs and PCs is the US$2150 Xerox N24. It offers PostScript 3 and edge-to-edge printing. Actually, that's marketing speak for "almost edge to edge." You'll end up with a 1 mm margin at one end of the paper, and coverage right up to the other three edges. The product warns that the image quality may deteriorate close to the edge, but in print tests with black dividers at the edge of the pages, they looked fine. There's also a duplexing option that, users report, works reliably. Users report, however, that the N24's Win95 networking driver is, and I quote, "diabolical." It requires users to enable NetBEUI and make it the default. We have heard no negative reports on Mac networking issues with this unit. Details at www.xerox.com
 
LaserWriter 8500 Or, find a now-discontinued Apple LaserWriter 8500. It provides PostScript 3, 10baseT, 11x17, with duplexer & extra trays available at extra cost.
 
You may be able to pick up a used or demo model LaserWriter 8500 for about C$1400 ($800 - $900 US).

This 20 page-per-minute unit (which is based on the same mechanism as the GCC Elite XL 20/1200 printer) can print up to 13 x 20" and also has a duplexing option. (Part number M5896G/A, Laserwriter 8500 Duplex Printing Unit). It also networks nicely via TCP/IP. Interestingly, the printer will self-assign an address if it is hooked up to a TCP-IP network (typically, it will assign itself the next open IP after a router). It will print its address on the cover page. If you know the IP address, then you can also Telnet to the printer and make changes from any platform.
Be careful when buying any used product, but especially a used laser printer. The "drum" used in laser printers has a finite life, and image quality deteriorates as page counts increase. Thus a printer with a page count of 15,000 (determined by printing a test page) is likely to last you longer than one with a page count of 56,000. You should also make sure that the toner you need is readily available. Although many companies offer remanufactured toner cartridges for HP LaserJet series printers, other brands are less commonly supported.
 
LaserWriter 8500 Highlights:

• 600-dpi
• 16MB of RAM (expandable to 48MB)
• LocalTalk, parallel and Ethernet ports
• EtherTalk, TCP/IP, and Novell IPX support
• 20 ppm (max)
• For the MacOS, Windows 95/3.1/NT, Solaris, SunOS 4.1, HP-UX 9.x, BSD, A/UX, IRIX

Complete specs: http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n34042

Newsgroups for Further Reading:

• Mac Printing System (comp.sys.mac.printing)
• All about printing hardware and software on the Mac.
• Postscript Language (comp.lang.postscript)
• The PostScript Page Description Language.