LaserWriter
Apple Laserwriter
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| Introduced | March 1, 1985 |
|---|---|
| Discontinued | February 1, 1988 |
| Cost | US$6,995 (equivalent to $15,576 in 2016) |
| Type | Laser |
| Processor | Motorola 68000 |
| Frequency | 12 MHz |
| Memory | 1.5 MB |
| Slots | 1 |
| ROM | 512 kB |
| Ports | Serial, LocalTalk, AppleTalk |
| Power consumption | 760 watts |
| Color | 1 |
| DPI | 300 |
| Speed | 8 Pages Per Minute |
| Language | PostScript, Diablo 630 |
| Weight | 77 pounds (35 kg) |
| Dimensions | (H × W × D) 11.5×18.5×16.2 inches (29×47×41 cm) |
The LaserWriter is a laser printer with built-in PostScript interpreter introduced by Apple Computer 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.
Laser printing traces its history to efforts by Gary Starkweather at Xerox in 1969, which resulted in a commercial system called the Xerox 9700. IBM followed this with the IBM 3800 system in 1976. Both machines were large, room-filling devices handling the combined output of many users. During the mid-1970s, Canon started working on similar machines, and partnered with Hewlett-Packard to produce 1980's HP 2680, which filled only part of a room. Other copier companies also started development of similar systems.
HP introduced their first desktop model with a Ricoh engine for $12,800 in 1983. Sales of the non-networked product were unsurprisingly poor. In 1983 Canon introduced the LBP-CX, a desktop laser printer engine using a laser diode and featuring an output resolution of 300 dpi. In 1984, HP released the first commercially available system based on the LBP-CX, the HP LaserJet.
Steve Jobs of Apple Computer had seen the LPB-CX while negotiating for supplies of 3.5" floppy disk drives for the upcoming Apple Macintosh computer. Meanwhile, John Warnock had left Xerox to found Adobe Systems in order to commercialize PostScript and AppleTalk in a laser printer they intended to market. Jobs was aware of Warnock's efforts, and on his return to California he started working on convincing Warnock to allow Apple to license PostScript for a new printer that Apple would sell. Negotiations between Apple and Adobe over the use of Postscript began in 1983 and an agreement was reached in December 1983, one month before Macintosh was announced. Jobs eventually arranged for Apple to buy $2.5 million in Adobe stock.
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