List of Apple printers
Apple has produced several lines of printers in its history, but no longer produces or supports these devices today. Though some early products use thermal technology, Apple's products can be broadly divided into three lines: ImageWriter (dot matrix ), LaserWriter (PostScript laser ), and StyleWriter (thermal inkjet ).
Early products
Apple's first printer was the Apple Silentype , released in June 1979, shortly after the Apple II Plus . The Silentype was a thermal printer , which used a special paper and provided 80 column output. Also compatible with the Apple III , the Silentype was a rebranded Trendcom 200.[ 1] [ 2]
The Apple Dot Matrix Printer (often shortened to Apple DMP) is a printer manufactured by C. Itoh and sold under Apple label in 1982 for the Apple II series , Lisa , and the Apple III .[ 1] Apple followed this release with a Qume daisy wheel engine, the Apple Letter Quality Printer (also known as the Apple Daisy Wheel Printer), in January 1983. This printer could print at forty characters per second.[ 1] Also in 1983, Apple released its only plotter , the Apple Color Plotter. This printer moved and rotated four color pens along the horizontal axis, the device moving the paper into order to allow its pens to render along the vertical axis.[ 1] The Apple Scribe Printer was a thermal transfer printer , first introduced in 1984 alongside the Apple IIc for a relatively low retail price, and compatible with the Apple IIe computer.[ 1]
Dot-matrix series
Laser printer series
The LaserWriter was a laser printer with built-in PostScript interpreter introduced by Apple in 1985. It was one of the first laser printers available to the mass market. In combination with WYSIWYG publishing software like PageMaker , that operated on top of the graphical user interface of Macintosh computers, the LaserWriter was a key component at the beginning of the desktop publishing revolution.[ 13] [ 14]
Image
Name
Type
Interface
Engine
PPM
DPI
Introduced
Discontinued
Weight
Notes
LaserWriter
PostScript laser
serial LocalTalk
Canon LBP-CX
8
300
March 1, 1985
February 1, 1988
77 lbs.
[ 15]
LaserWriter Plus
PostScript laser
serial LocalTalk
Canon LBP-CX
8
300
January 1, 1986
February 1, 1988
77 lbs.
[ 16]
LaserWriter II SC
QuickDraw laser
SCSI
Canon LBP-SX
8
300
January 1, 1988
July 1, 1990
45 lbs.
[ 17]
LaserWriter II NT
PostScript laser
serial LocalTalk
Canon LBP-SX
8
300
January 1, 1988
October 1, 1991
45 lbs.
[ 18]
LaserWriter II NTX
PostScript laser
serial LocalTalk
Canon LBP-SX
8
300
January 1, 1988
October 1, 1991
45 lbs.
[ 19]
LaserWriter II f
PostScript laser
serial LocalTalk
Canon LBP-SX
8
300
October 1, 1991
May 1, 1993
45 lbs.
[ 20]
LaserWriter II g
PostScript laser
serial LocalTalk AAUI
Canon LBP-SX
8
300
October 1, 1991
October 1, 1993
45 lbs.
[ 21]
Personal LaserWriter SC
QuickDraw laser
SCSI
Canon LBP-LX
4
300
June 1, 1990
September 1, 1993
32 lbs.
[ 22]
Personal LaserWriter NT
PostScript laser
serial LocalTalk
Canon LBP-LX
4
300
July 1, 1990
May 1, 1993
32 lbs.
[ 23]
Personal LaserWriter LS
QuickDraw laser
serial
Canon LBP-LX
4
300
March 1, 1991
May 1, 1993
31 lbs.
[ 24]
Personal LaserWriter NTR
PostScript laser
serial LocalTalk parallel
Canon LBP-LX
4
300
March 1, 1992
September 1, 1993
29.5 lbs.
[ 25]
Personal LaserWriter 300
QuickDraw laser
serial
Canon LBP-PX
4
300
June 1, 1993
September 1, 1994
15.4 lbs.
[ 26]
Personal LaserWriter 320
PostScript laser
LocalTalk
Canon LBP-PX
4
300
October 1, 1993
September 16, 1995
15.4 lbs.
[ 27]
LaserWriter Pro 600
PostScript laser
serial LocalTalk parallel
Canon LBP-EX
8
600
January 1, 1993
October 1, 1993
39 lbs.
[ 28]
LaserWriter Pro 630
PostScript laser
serial LocalTalk parallel AAUI
Canon LBP-EX
8
600
January 1, 1993
September 1, 1994
39 lbs.
[ 29]
LaserWriter Pro 810
PostScript laser
serial LocalTalk AAUI
Fuji /Xerox XP 20[ 30]
20
800
October 1, 1993
November 1, 1994
81 lbs.
two built-in paper trays[ 31]
LaserWriter Select 300
QuickDraw laser
serial
Fuji /Xerox XP 5 (P1)
5
300
February 1, 1993
January 3, 1995
26 lbs.
[ 32]
LaserWriter Select 310
PostScript laser
serial parallel
Fuji /Xerox XP 5 (P1)
5
300
February 1, 1993
January 1, 1994
26 lbs.
[ 33]
LaserWriter Select 360
PostScript laser
serial LocalTalk parallel
Fuji /Xerox XP 10 (P1)
10
600
October 1, 1993
April 22, 1996
29 lbs.
[ 34]
LaserWriter 16/600 PS
PostScript laser
LocalTalk parallel AAUI
Canon LBP-EX
17
600
September 1, 1994
June 17, 1996
40 lbs.
[ 35]
LaserWriter 4/600
PostScript laser
LocalTalk
Canon LBP-PX
4
600
June 1, 1995
unknown
15.4 lbs.
[ 36]
LaserWriter 12/640 PS
PostScript laser
AAUI LocalTalk parallel
Fuji /Xerox P893
12
600
June 17, 1996
1997
26.5 lbs.
8 ppm duplex[ 37]
LaserWriter 8500
PostScript laser
Ethernet LocalTalk parallel
Fuji /Xerox P880
20
600
August 5, 1997
January 1999
70.4 lbs.
11x17 paper tray[ 38]
Color LaserWriter 12/600
PostScript laser
Ethernet LocalTalk parallel
Canon LBP-HX
12
600
June 1, 1995
October 1, 1996
110 lbs.
3 ppm in color[ 39]
Color LaserWriter 12/660
PostScript laser
Ethernet LocalTalk parallel
Canon LBP-HX
12
600
October 1, 1996
1997
110 lbs.
3 ppm in color[ 40]
Inkjet series
The StyleWriter was the first of Apple's line of inkjet serial printers, targeted mainly towards consumers. They produced print quality that was better than the dot matrix ImageWriters , and were cheaper than the LaserWriters . All but a few models contained Canon print engines, a few were rebadged Canon printers, while the last few were rebadged HP DeskJet printers.
The Apple Color Printer was the first color inkjet printer sold by Apple . Introduced in 1993 alongside the StyleWriter II, it was a rebadged Canon BJC-820 printer.[ 41] Its maximum resolution was 360 DPI and connected to the computer via SCSI . Unlike many inkjet printers of the time, the Apple Color Printer did not suffer from print slowdowns caused by slow communication from the computer performing rasterization , since the SCSI bus is relatively fast. The model was discontinued in 1994 when Apple introduced the Color StyleWriter series of printers.[ 42]
Image
Name
Type
Interface
Engine
PPM
DPI
Introduced
Discontinued
Weight
Notes
StyleWriter
monochrome thermalinkjet
serial
Canon
0.5
360
March 1, 1991
January 1, 1993
7.5 lbs.
[ 43]
StyleWriter II
monochrome thermalinkjet
serial
Canon
1
360
January 1, 1993
April 17, 1995
6.6 lbs.
[ 44]
Portable StyleWriter
monochrome thermalinkjet
parallel
Canon
0.5
360
June 1, 1993
May 15, 1995
4.5 lbs.
Cable adapter allowed connection to serial[ 45]
Color StyleWriter Pro
color thermalinkjet
serial
Canon
2/0.5
360
February 1, 1994
December 16, 1995
11 lbs.
[ 46]
StyleWriter 1200
monochrome thermalinkjet
serial
Canon
1
360
April 1, 1994
unknown
6.6 lbs.
[ 47]
Color StyleWriter 2400
color thermalinkjet
serial
Canon
3
360
September 1, 1994
unknown
7.9 lbs.
LocalTalk option[ 48]
Color StyleWriter 2200
color thermalinkjet
serial
Canon
3
720x360
June 1, 1995
unknown
3.1 lbs.
portable[ 49]
Color StyleWriter 1500
color thermalinkjet
serial
Canon
3
720x360
February 19, 1996
unknown
5.5 lbs.
LocalTalk option, EtherTalk option[ 50]
Color StyleWriter 2500
color thermalinkjet
serial
Canon
3
720x360
February 19, 1996
unknown
6.9 lbs.
LocalTalk option, EtherTalk option[ 51]
Color StyleWriter 4100
color thermalinkjet
serial LocalTalk
HP
5
600
June 16, 1997
unknown
11.7 lbs.
[ 52]
Color StyleWriter 4500
color thermalinkjet
serial LocalTalk
HP
5
600
June 16, 1997
unknown
11.7 lbs.
[ 53]
Color StyleWriter 6500
color thermalinkjet
serial LocalTalk parallel
HP
8/4
600
June 16, 1997
unknown
14.3 lbs.
EtherTalk option[ 54]
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External links