#Postscript Printers
8 messages in this thread
I am preparing to get into desktop publishing using Gold Disks Professional
Page V1.3. I would like to know what laser printers to use with this
program for best quality output.
I know the printer should be postscript compatible, and believe a Qume or
Apple Laserwriter are useable? I don't know prices for these printers or
what compatibility problems I might encounter. I 'd also like to know what
operational costs are, such as whether supplies for one or the other are
much more expensive.
Thanks,
George Roland
George:
The first choice you have to make is whether to get a printer with a
Postscript (PS) interpretor built-in, or a non-PS printer with add-on
cards. Usually, the motivational factor here is price.
As far as I know the least expensive PS printer is the NEC LC-890
Silentwriter. They sell for about $2300 (discount). I believe that
Laserwiters are still selling in the $4000 range.
I have been using 2 890's for about a year and they have worked well and
are relatively inexpensive to operate. Toner cartidges ($25) are good for
2000-3000 sheets and PC Drums ($100) last for about 5000-7000 sheets.
The laserwriter is supposedly better, but we decided it wasn't worth the
extra money. So far we have not been dissapointed.
I believe that both the Qume and Laserwiter both use Cannon engines which
use "EP" type cartridges. The sell for about $90-$120 and are good for
2000-3000 sheets.
The other option, retrofitting a non-PS printer, can causes more problems
than it solves and often end up costing as much as a PS printer.
Bill.
I use ProPage 1.3 with a NEC LC890 Silentwriter. It's output is quite nice
and it also will allow HP laser emulation and diablo 630 as well. It also
gives good output on Pagestream and Saxon Publisher.
Mike,
How is Saxon, anyway? I was told by a decidely prejudiced source (Ithink
someone associated with Saxon) that Saxon would "blow ProPage and
PaggeStream right off the market." I saw Saxon in the store for $265 and
the write-up on the box didn't make it sound so impressive. There is not
yet a store copy to play with either.
wmc
Wayne:
If you go over to the DTP Forum there's a demo version of Saxon there, give
it a try for yourself! I have the demo (not the real thing though, local
dealer has it for $399.00) but havn't done anything with it yet.
-Mike Schiller
CIS: 76416,3065
Mike,
Thanks…I'll go check it out (Saxon that is). My dealer has it on his
shelf for 265.
wmc
Wayne I have a beta version to play with here. A demo version is over on
the DTP forum. It seems to have some nice features. Saxon has promised me a
release version and a new demo with docs by months end. The current demo is
a broken demo. It will not run automaticlly as it says. It will do every
thing the regular program does except save and print. It can give you
something to play with and get the feel of the beast. Overall I do like it.
As to whether or not it blows away the competition, only time and sales
will tell.
Wayne:
I saw Saxon in action at WOA here in New York. The guy doing the demo
swore it was running on a stock 68000, and it was incredibly fast, much
faster than the latest release of ProPage on my 25 mHz 68030 at work.
It also di absolutely great wysiwyg, had lots of options, like auto drop
caps, auto shadows, etc., quite easily flowed text in all kinds of
irregular ways, and did very easy text rotation.
The price is high, and currently they only import their own structured
graphics format, but he claimed that 3rd parties were working on
translation utilities for prodraw, sculpt, etc. It will handle EPS and bit
maps, however.
I was very impressed, but want to hear more about it (including a number of
reviews, and maybe some comments from folks around here, before I ask my
company to spend that kind of bucks on top of propage, transcript, eclips
and prodraw, which they bought me just last FEb.
?|^] Ray Lewis