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ryarber · Sep 12, 2003, 11:14 AM

My LaserJet 1200 takes forever to print. Anyone else having this problem? Is it the HP drivers? Is it OS X?

alien · Sep 12, 2003, 11:55 AM

It's difficult to say what the problem is without knowing which version of OS X you're using, how the printer is connected (Ethernet/LAN or USB) and so on...

Also: What kind of documents from what apps?

ryarber · Sep 12, 2003, 12:34 PM

Originally posted by alien:
It's difficult to say what the problem is without knowing which version of OS X you're using, how the printer is connected (Ethernet/LAN or USB) and so on...

Also: What kind of documents from what apps?

OS X 10.2.6. Printing to a HP laserjet 1200 connected via USB. I have difficulty trying to print anything from safari or MS excel.

bigsmoke07 · Sep 14, 2003, 08:21 AM

I have had two minute print waits using a epson 5700il out of word, or even apple works running 10.2.5 G3 400.

Then I thought the computer was too slow (although in 9 it prints everything in seconds)

so now i have a 1.25 Gz IMAC running 10.2.7 with a brand new Ricoh oversized laser with upgraded memory and printing out of preview takes 4 1/2 minutes?!

What's going on? Word takes a minute, but certainly not acceptable still.

pls help

voyageur · Sep 14, 2003, 10:48 AM

Originally posted by bigsmoke07:

so now i have a 1.25 Gz IMAC running 10.2.7 with a brand new Ricoh oversized laser with upgraded memory and printing out of preview takes 4 1/2 minutes?!

The new iMacs run 10.2.7 ???

zazou · Sep 14, 2003, 11:08 AM

I'll take a stab...

The printing engine is a true PDF based output...I believe. This means something like Postscript Processing/RIPing the printed page. If the printer has a built in processor all the work will be passed off the printer...and the speed of the output will depend on the printers processor. If you are using an ink jet/non-Postscript printer it will be done by software emulation (less quality by default) on your computer.

My guess is high image intensive pages will take much longer to print than a page of text.

Other may have a better explanation (or more technical) but it is early SUnday and I have little coffee ingested.

addiecool · Sep 14, 2003, 01:27 PM

Mac OSX sends out prints in Postscript language, hence the speed slowdown. Windblows can print in PCL language which is much faster, but Postscript is better in quality and reliability.

Just my two cents

SimeyTheLimey · Sep 14, 2003, 01:42 PM

i'm glad to see that someone else gets the same problem.

I am running a PM 800 with 10.2.6. I have 1.25 GB of ram. I print with an HP 1200se, which has 72 MB of ram and which is connected via USB.

Printing in Word is fine. It is basically fine in IE as well, even if the file is graphics-intensive. But Safari, Sherlock, or Preview are all abysmal. Some files will take up to 15 minutes to print!

I really hope this gets fixed in 10.3!

jasong · Sep 14, 2003, 01:47 PM

Printing in OS X is dead dog slow. And why the heck does Print Center have to launch every time you print a document? I know, I could launch it at startup, but I don't print very often and don't want it in my dock taking up space.

-- Jason

TheIceMan · Sep 14, 2003, 04:04 PM

jasong:
Yeah, not only is it slow to print, but the annoying Print Center comes on. Never did understand that. Oh well.

teszeract · Sep 14, 2003, 05:08 PM

Well, I've a 2200 and that not only prints slow but often sends out pages and pages of one-line garbage if printing from Freehand or other postscript programs (but only sometimes). The printer is a postscript emulator, but should that make all the difference?

lookmark · Sep 14, 2003, 06:12 PM

Originally posted by jasong:
Printing in OS X is dead dog slow. And why the heck does Print Center have to launch every time you print a document?

Hmm? How else would you be able to look at the queue, and stop or pause jobs? Makes sense to me.

It is nice to see in Panther now an option for printer-specific icons in the Dock.

I find that printing takes a bit longer than OS 9, but not radically longer. Both inkket (Epson and Canon) and printer (HP and Canon). Seems like it all depends on the quality of the drivers.

Brass · Sep 14, 2003, 07:36 PM

Originally posted by lookmark:
Hmm? How else would you be able to look at the queue, and stop or pause jobs? Makes sense to me.

Launch it manually?

addiecool · Sep 15, 2003, 12:44 AM

I like the way it works in Panther. When you print you do not get the print center but the corresponding printer utility. I have a HP 2200. When I print to it I get a Laserjet icon showing only the jobs it has to print and then quits after finishing the job.

As far as slow printing goes, I agree it is dead slow. Is there any effort to speed it up by apple or anyone?

My windows machines print 10 times faster than OSX and I feel bad cause my Mac is the machine I use for all my work.

But yes the problem is related to some Printing standard like Postscript as I mentioned earlier. Because my HP All-in-one inkjet connected via USB which has a PCL Driver for OSX always starts printing almost instantly after sending a job. So the problem is with IP Printing/postscript printing.

jasong · Sep 15, 2003, 07:37 AM

Hmm? How else would you be able to look at the queue, and stop or pause jobs?

I understand why it launches, Apple needs to find a better mechanism for this. Also, Print Center isn't just there to do the things you mention. The print job doesn't even start processing until it is launched. So printing in OS X goes like

1. Choose Print
2. Wait for Printer Center to launch
3. Wait for Print Center to spool the job and send it to the printer (oh yes, there is a step 3)
4. Wait
5. Wait
6. Wait
7. Get a printed document that doesn't look as good as the same document printed from the same application to the same printer from my Windows machine (I know, this is the printer manufacturers fault)

BTW, the printers I am talking about are HP LaserJet 3330 MFP, HP LaserJet 4 MP (the M meaning Macintosh!), Color LaserJet 2500 and a Cannon BJC-85.

-- Jason

SMacTech · Sep 15, 2003, 08:24 AM

Originally posted by ryarber:
OS X 10.2.6. Printing to a HP laserjet 1200 connected via USB. I have difficulty trying to print anything from safari or MS excel.

Those programs and FileMaker are the only programs I do print from and I never have any problems at all. These are network based ethernet printers, but not USB.
To speed up printing, don't close the Print Center. Panther is also much faster in printing than Jag.

Ken Masters · Sep 15, 2003, 08:26 AM

I thought Jaguar was suppose to fix all the printing probs or was that scanner problems, or was it both???

Anyways, Im not happy about the slow print also, why can't their be a icon on top of the screen, you know the white apple pin strip thing next to the audio option and the fone pic. a drop down menu would be good, then you have options to see a dialog or launch an app like the open internet connect option on top.

(i don't think im making sence, a bit high on caffeen i say)

voyageur · Sep 15, 2003, 09:02 AM

Printing in Word is fine. It is basically fine in IE as well, even if the file is graphics-intensive. But Safari, Sherlock, or Preview are all abysmal. Some files will take up to 15 minutes to print!

I have this problem also when printing via ethernet to a GCC postscript printer. My workaround is to print all Safari docs to my non-postscript inkjet, and it's much faster.

But my sense is that it's the postscript printer that's taking so long; the images spool relatively fast in OS X, but the printer chews on them for a long time before spitting them out.

absmiths · Sep 15, 2003, 11:16 AM

Originally posted by addiecool:
As far as slow printing goes, I agree it is dead slow. Is there any effort to speed it up by apple or anyone?

No. No effort whatsoever. Apple WANTS printing to be slow.

absmiths · Sep 15, 2003, 11:19 AM

Originally posted by ryarber:
My LaserJet 1200 takes forever to print. Anyone else having this problem? Is it the HP drivers? Is it OS X?

At my office there are two Dual G4/1.25 GHz (+/- I don't remember the exact chip speed) machines hooked up to an ethernet HP 2500 and printing from PageMaker or Word is pretty darn quick (printing starts probably 5-10 seconds after sending the job).

Acrobat prints mind-numbingly slowly to my networked Personal LaserWriter 300 (at home) - but I am just happy that it even still works.

proton · Sep 15, 2003, 11:27 AM

Originally posted by absmiths:
No. No effort whatsoever. Apple WANTS printing to be slow.

Yep, it's an environmental effort to cut down paper usage.

- proton

woeye · Sep 15, 2003, 11:58 AM

Some days ago my mom bought a new Canon printer for her new Mac. The salesman told her not to buy a HP printer because of their slow printing speed. He said you have to blame the very bad drivers and not the hardware for it works well with Windows. Therefore she bought the Canon printer (I think it was an i850) and everything works very well. Now I know that printing under OS X can be _very_ fast

SimeyTheLimey · Sep 15, 2003, 12:44 PM

Originally posted by woeye:
Some days ago my mom bought a new Canon printer for her new Mac. The salesman told her not to buy a HP printer because of their slow printing speed. He said you have to blame the very bad drivers and not the hardware for it works well with Windows. Therefore she bought the Canon printer (I think it was an i850) and everything works very well. Now I know that printing under OS X can be _very_ fast

Isn't the driver preinstalled in OS-X? I know I have never installed any separate drivers with my HP 1200se. It was just plug and play. That points the finger right back at Apple.

ZackS · Sep 15, 2003, 12:53 PM

Apple didn't write the drivers. They just bundled them for the sake of simplicity.