HOME OFFICE COMPUTING REVIEWS September, 1993 LOW-COST LASERS: POWER PRINTING AT BARGAIN PRICES Laser Printers Entice With Premium-Quality Output, Speed, And, Now, Low Prices BY HENRY BEECHHOLD Unless you love the sizzling sound of a dot-matrix printer or need to print multipart forms, you've run out of excuses for not buying a laser printer: Prices have fallen to the basement. Today you can pick up a 4-, 5-, or 6-ppm (page per minute) laser for under $1,000. You don't have to make big trade-offs for low prices, either. Bargain lasers lag behind their more expensive 8- or 10-ppm siblings mainly in print speed, but they're still faster than most impact printers. Put most bargain laser pages alongside a premium laser page, and you probably won't notice much difference except, perhaps, with respect to certain text and graphics subtleties. For example, some more costly units may support 600- by-600-dpi resolution or build in technology to sharpen halftones, or both. But low-cost lasers do take some action to improve the quality of their standard 300-dpi output -- the resolution-enhancement technologies offered by most of the products in this review polish the "jaggies" of curves and diagonals to create smoother text and line art. For producing formal correspondence, newsletters, or almost anything else, a low-cost laser will do the job well. Just about the only reason you wouldn't want one of these printers is if you're planning to produce camera-ready work for high-quality production printing, or if you need serious speed. The eight printers in this review are all priced under $1,000 on the street. Most of these products -- with the exception of Hewlett-Packard's LaserJet IIIP -- are new to the market within the last 12 to 18 months. We tested the printers both for the quality of their text and image output and for their speed. Our review process also turned up a variety of productivity-boosting extras in these products, such as automatic port and emulation switching. FONTS FOR THE MASSES All of these printers include a selection of built-in fonts. A font is an organized collection of characters in a certain style of a particular typeface: Times Roman Bold or Courier Italic, for example. Almost all of the printers in this review speak one version or another of Hewlett-Packard's PCL (Printer Control Language). Four support PCL 5 and generally include the expected 14 bitmapped, or fixed-size, fonts and eight scalable fonts, which are adjustable in size. The HP LaserJet 4L supports Enhanced PCL 5 and includes 26 scalable fonts. Three of the printers include PostScript, previously found only in more expensive offerings. (The number of built-in, scalable PostScript fonts varies from printer to printer.) That's a plus if you want a printer for proof work before sending files to a professional image-setting service -- where PostScript is the lingua franca -- for output to higher resolution devices. Additionally, with a PostScript printer, you can readily take advantage of PostScript font cartridges and the multitude of soft (downloadable) typefaces in the Adobe Type Library. (Even if your printer does not build in PostScript, you can use PostScript Type 1 fonts under Windows if you have a utility such as the $99 Adobe Type Manager.) As much as PostScript has to offer, you don't necessarily need it to create ooh- and ahhh-inspiring output. You can do just fine with the 15 downloadable TrueType fonts that come standard with Windows or the nine you get with the Mac System 7 operating system. If you want more TrueType fonts, you can turn to Bitstream Inc. ([800] 522-3668), the Agfa Division of Miles Inc. ([800] 424-8973), SWFTE International ([800] 237-9383), and a host of others. As a rule, a graphics-intensive printout in PostScript mode takes a fair bit longer than a similar printout using PCL. Even in PCL mode, multifont text pages take longer than single-font text pages, as do pages with a lot of formatting diversity. Almost all the printers we tested came close to their claimed page-per-minute specifications when printing a text-intensive test document with few formatting or font changes. THE MEDIA AND THE METHODS The multipurpose paper trays that come standard on most of these printers allow you to stockpile the paper size of your choice: executive, letter, or legal, for example. The standard automatic paper cassette on the TI microWriter PS 23, however, can't accommodate legal-size sheets. The Star Micronics LS-5 EX adds a 50-sheet multipurpose paper tray in addition to its 250-sheet letter-size paper cassette. None jammed up while processing paper, envelopes, or labels, and all allowed face-up or face-down paper ejection. All of the printers come with at least 1MB of RAM. With almost all of them, you'll probably want to get a minimum of 2MB, enough for most printing jobs. But remember that heavy graphics printing can slurp up large chunks of memory. Just one year ago, it was rare to find so many laser printers selling for so little money. The trend promises to continue: By the time you read this, other companies -- such as Okidata, Sharp, and Brother -- will have delivered new low-cost lasers while prices for some older, still viable products -- such as the IBM LaserPrinter 4029-6 and the C. Itoh ProWriter CI-4 -- will have also come down to under $1,000 on the street. One thing is eminently clear: There's never been a better time to get more printing power for your money. Apple LaserWriter Select 310 Rating: **1/2 With an eight-pin Macintosh serial port and a parallel port, the 5-ppm Apple LaserWriter Select 310 serves the Mac and DOS worlds (specifically Windows). The printer has the attraction of simplicity but some drawbacks. The printer supports Postscript only. Although it printed out a test TIFF photographic image at high quality, it took minutes in comparison with the 30-to-40-second print time for most of the other printers set to PCL mode. (The Apple product's speed for this task is, however, about equal to what you'll get out of the TI microWriter PS 23 in its PostScript mode.) Text speed was about par for the course, and the 300-dpi text output is quite good, despite the lack of print-enhancement technology. This printer has no direct means of control beyond that of turning on the power. Apple's philosophy is that most people care more about good quality printing and plug-and-play performance at a reasonable cost -- about $975 on the street. The only external clues to what's going on are on/print, paper jam, and paper out LEDs. In Windows and on the Mac, the printer setup dialog boxes effectively constitute the control panel. This differs from the only other printer reviewed here with no control panel display, the HP LaserJet 4L, because the 4L includes a single button control and HP's Explorer software for more extensive configuration changes and test prints. There is no utility to tickle the LaserWriter Select 310 into producing status, font, and other test sheets or to save different configurations for different applications. Documentation was minimal, and the printer ships with only 13 scalable fonts and no cartridge slots for adding more. If you need PostScript, other offerings reviewed here may prove better values. DECLaser 1152 Rating: **1/2 At $1,000 list (figure 20 percent off on the street), the DECLaser 1152 is one of the least-expensive PostScript (and PCL 4) printers on the market. In fact, it was the only printer in this review to include Adobe PostScript Level 2. Crisp text and rich halftone images distinguish this 300-dpi unit. But in both PostScript and PCL modes, the 4-ppm DECLaser was rather slow in printing text pages from a word processor, a lone photographic image, or simple desktop-published pages with four fonts and a single TIFF graphic. The printer has serial, parallel, and AppleTalk ports, but the vendor doesn't recommend using the serial port and AppleTalk port simultaneously. With two computers hooked up, though, the printer can automatically sense which port is in use. Front panel controls are well designed, but the standard paper tray handles only 70 pages. Most people will want to add the bottom 250-page cassette option. You can also expand upon the 17 internal PostScript fonts with optional font cartridges. The unit takes up more acreage than its small dimensions might indicate, because input and output paper trays extend several inches to one side. The first printing of the documentation was poorly organized, with low-quality photographs. But since the eventual printout quality is solid, the DECLaser 1152 can be an acceptable choice for PostScript Level 2 on a budget. Epson ActionLaser 1500 Rating: *** The Epson Action Laser 1500 -- about $795 on the street -- offers a lot of capabilities. Rated at 6 ppm, the printer produces clean, sharp 300-dpi text and line art, helped along by Epson's RITech (Resolution Improvement Technology). Halftone images reproduce well and at a fast clip. You can hook up systems to the printer's serial and parallel ports, and let Epson's autosense feature determine which channel is receiving data. A proprietary Epson Identity Card lets you add Adobe PostScript capabilities; with it installed, you can automatically switch between PCL 5 and PostScript modes. Documentation is good and the generous two-year warranty is welcome. What makes the ActionLaser 1500 a good buy isn't a bevy of gee-whiz features but rather its utter capability. HP LaserJet 4L Rating: **** Without question, Hewlett-Packard sets the standard for laser printers. The company proves this again with its new 4-ppm entry, the HP LaserJet 4L, priced at about $699 on the street. The printer, which is aimed at PC users, includes a host of innovative touches. Taking the place of a power switch is Intelligent On/Off. The printer remains in a sleep state -- a power-saving mode that uses only five watts -- until you require its services. When data starts to flow, the 4L comes to life. Another trend-setting advance is Memory Enhancement Technology, a compression technique that effectively doubles the printer's memory so that most full-page graphics can fit in the 1MB that comes standard. EconoMode printing cuts toner use by up to 50 percent. EconoMode output is grayer than normal but clear; it's not for formal documents, but it's a good choice for proof work. The printer's front panel promises ease of use: A single button controls everything from self-test prints to page ejects. You can configure default fonts or other settings through the supplied HP Explorer software. A bidirectional parallel port also means that the printer can report status information back to you. The 4L's 300-dpi text and line image output is excellent, enhanced by RET (Resolution Enhancement Technology) and the use of microfine toner. Halftone images also print sharp and clear. Documentation is up to HP's high standards. Paper handling is trouble free, but envelopes must be hand-fed one at a time. This extraordinary little unit gets our vote for PC printer of the year. And if you need an AppleTalk port and PostScript, its upcoming sibling, the $1,279 LaserJet 4ML, will provide both, in addition to the parallel port and Enhanced PCL 5 emulation. HP LaserJet IIIP Rating: *** Although a little long in the tooth, this extremely reliable 4- ppm workhorse is alive and well. The $1,099 IIIP provides the expected HP benefits: crisp 300- dpi output, RET, and smooth paper handling. Of particular note is the manual, which will tell you everything you'll need to know about the operation of the IIIP -- and laser printers in general. With a selection of 26 internal scalable Intellifonts, the newer 4L surpasses the IIIP in terms of built-in goodies. The 4L also holds more sheets of paper (100 to the IIIP's mere 70) in its standard configuration, but the IIIP's advantage is that it can be equipped for heavier printing tasks with an optional 320- sheet lower cassette. You can upgrade the printer to Adobe PostScript Level 1 with a $495 cartridge. If there's a reason not to buy this printer, it may be that it is headed over the hill in terms of model years. (In fact, the vendor will replace the unit later this fall, though you should be able to find it in stock in stores for some time after.) But that says nothing about functionality and performance, which are solid and reliable, nor does it take into account HP's reputation for supporting its products. We'd call this an excellent buy, especially at its current street price of about $850. Panasonic KX-P4430 Rating: *** Panasonic is noted for manufacturing reliable, sometimes clunky- looking printers and marketing them at high list prices meant to be deeply discounted. The 5-ppm KX-P4430, with a list price of $1,495, is no exception. It's not an exciting piece of equipment, but it will get the job done at a reasonable price: $945 on the street. The included 200-sheet paper tray is more generous than what comes standard with some of the other printers we looked at. Like the HP 4L, the KX-P4430 is energy conscious, automatically powering down to a standby mode between printing jobs. The unit also automatically switches between ports if you have a computer attached to each. SatinPrint, Panasonic's rendition of Resolution Enhancement Technology, smoothes the look of the printer's 300- dpi text and line art, though the printer was less adept at handling our test photographic image. We wish Panasonic would rethink its approach to documentation. There is something forbidding about Panasonic's 8.5-by-11-inch books: pages of tables, charts, diagrams, line drawings, but relatively little explanatory text. Much of what text there is seems irritatingly short of just that information you'd like to have. On the plus side, the manual walks you through the various front panel functions with perfect clarity -- luckily enough, since the front panel menu is somewhat complex. And, for some mysterious reason, Panasonic has chosen to name but not exemplify the fonts in the Font List test printout. But that's a small flaw in an otherwise worthwhile choice. Star Micronix LS-5 EX Rating: ***1/2 Star Micronics built its reputation on low-cost, good-quality dot-matrix printers. It continues that tradition in the laser market with the 5-ppm LS-5 EX, a RISC processor -- equipped machine that sells for about $800 on the street. The LS-5 EX proved to be one of the fastest at printing our graphics image, handling the task as quickly as the 6-ppm Epson model. Star's Resolution Enhancement Procedure and microfine toner aid in the crisp text and line art output. Halftone images also print out at high quality. A disk with 15 TrueType fonts is a bonus, as are the included 250-sheet paper cassette and 50- sheet paper tray. With two input options, you can set one tray aside for letterhead and the other for plain paper. You can also connect two computers to the printer's parallel and serial ports; the printer automatically switches to the appropriate channel. You can further upgrade this model with a Microsoft TrueImage PostScript interpreter option. The front panel sports more buttons and lights than many printers, but the extras don't do much to reduce time spent at the controls. You still have to plod through the menu system to tweak the printer to your particular needs. The Star was also a little noisier in idle mode than the others we saw. Overall, this is a solid piece of machinery, one that promises a long reliable life. Documentation is adequate and well illustrated. Star's two-year warranty is longer than most, matched here only by Epson. The biggest drawback is that technical support is not toll free. TI microWriter PS 23 Rating: **** The TI microWriter PS 23 is the odd printer out in this collection for its use of an LED print engine instead of a traditional laser-beam type. An LED printer's advantage rests on its ultra-quiet operation and its use of fewer moving parts. TI also goes its own way with respect to product cosmetics: The printer has a rounded cuboid look -- just different enough from the classic HP design to be distinctive. But it's really functionality that counts, and the 5-ppm microWriter functions extraordinarily well. For a street price of only about $800, you get both PCL 4 and Adobe PostScript Level 1. An automatic emulation switching routine detects the computer output (PCL or PostScript) and switches itself accordingly, or you can set the emulation from the front panel. If you have both a PC and a Mac, you'll appreciate the inclusion of both parallel and AppleTalk ports. Like the Panasonic KX-P4430, this printer inexplicably does not exemplify the fonts -- including the generous selection of 23 PostScript fonts -- it lists on its self-test. Unfortunately, documentation is too skimpy. The text quality of the microWriter PS 23 is excellent, even without any enhancement technologies, and text files print suitably quickly in both PCL and PostScript modes. Photographic images could show finer gradations but are otherwise of good quality. Altogether, this is a very fine piece of equipment.