[bradoesch]

While buying inkjet cartridges, I always notice that some cartridges are for Canon and Apple printers. And this of course made me wonder these two things: first, who made the printers? (Apple or Canon), and second, when did Apple stop selling printers? At our school they have a Personal LaserWriter 300 (I think 300), and it's fast and sharp. Can you still buy these? I realize all new Macs don't have serial (is that what the printers connected with), but I could buy a serial/usb adaptor if I had a cheap printer. Thanks,

Brad

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Why 1984, won't be
like "1984"

[Don Foy]

Canon made Apple's printers.

Apple stopped selling printers about two years and a half years ago, when Steve took back over and just before the iMac made it's debut.

Most of the used Mac places on the internet and in the back of Mac magazines have some models of refurbished Mac printers.

Be careful, because some Mac serial printers work better than others when using USB converters. Also, maybe some folks here could give you some idea of the service of some of those used Mac places. I've never used one, so I can't give you any advice there.

[JohnP]

Don, by any chance do you know the Canon equivalent of a Color Stylewriter 1500? I presume the Canon would be the same electrically and mechanically, and would work with the Apple drivers. Correct?

[Misha]

FYI, the last generation of Apple's inkjet printers were made by HP (hence the HP-like formfactor).

[JohnP]

So a Color Stylewriter 1500 is an HP, not a Canon? Except for the case, the guts look EXACTLY like a Stylewriter 1200; they even use the same BW ink cartridge. Perhaps the 1200 was also made by HP, n'cest pas?

I am presently using a 1200 with the Apple ColorStylewriter 1500 driver, via a Keyspan USB/Serial adapter to my Rev.B iMac. The 1200 responds nicely to the 1500 driver, and has the bonus that this driver allows alternate page printing, a feature that the 1200 driver doesn't have.

I wonder what would happen if I installed a 1500 color cartridge in the 1200 and asked for printing in color...... Has anyone else tried this???

Better sign off: thunderstorm in progress!!!

[Paul Huang]

I will settle this once and for all.

Top-feed (straight paper path): Canon
drawer-feed (u-turn right before it reaches the print head): HP

Now, whatever model number you want to call it (not relevant), as long as you follow the above two guidelines, you will know which company made what.

Paul<----fire has been put out before it started.

[bradoesch]

Thanks for the information. I assume Canon also made Apple laser printers as well? If I find a good deal on an Apple laser, are their any that don't work with a USB/serial converter, or would the company that makes the converter let you know first? Thanks!

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Why 1984, won't be
like "1984"

[Paul Huang]

Canon made printers for HP and Apple, but later Apple used some non-Canon engine such as Fujix and something else (can't think of it now).

HP products are far superior than any other brand, so HP'd be my choice.

Most Apple LaserWriters are based on Cannon printer engions - and they are very, very good printers. I have used LaserWriter IINT printers that have had over 1 million pages printed on them.

Two LaserWriter series were actually Xerox-Fuji models, the LaserWriter Pro 810 and the LaserWriter 300 series. I happen to have a LaserWriter Pro 810 and a LaserWriter Select 310 and they both work very well (mom uses the Select 310 as a Windows printer actually, with the built in PC support). The LaserWriter Pro 810 actually isn't an Apple printer at all either, but rather a design licensed to several different companies (Compaq, HP, etc).

I am a big fan of Apple's laser printers (I own three, the thrid being a 4/600PS) and I am very happy with all of them. THe LaserWriter Pro 810 is nice because it's compatable with all my new hardware via it's 10BaseT Ethernet port. Several LaserWriter models came with Ethernet support, so those are the models you'd probably want to look into.

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Eliott Wolfe
Winnetka, Calif

[Paul Huang]

Thanks for the information regarding Xerox-Fuji. I was thinking hard, but the X never went X my mind.

Even though Apple's LaserWriters are all very good, there is one thing that HP is way ahead. For years, I have not been able to get Apple's LaserWriter to automatically recognize that there is something in the manual feed tray. To me, when I want to print something from the envelope, I would walk over or reach over to the printer and place the material there--so the printer software should not require me to manually select "manual feed". It is truly a pain to have to select "manual feed" when I am printing a simple envelope and I have it in the manual tray already.

The Apple LaserWriter (some) default "US Letter small" is also very annoying and serves no purpose whatsoever.

[bradoesch]

Ah, yes, an ethernet connection would be far superior to buying a USB->Serial convertor. I'm gonna keep looking around for one of these printers. Thanks for all of the help,

brad

Just thought I'd throw in that the GURU program from NewerTech is a great tool for comparing the specs of different Apple LaserWriters.

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Eliott Wolfe
Winnetka, Calif