re laser vs bubblejet just thought i would add to deskjet thread i got my first one in college about or so years ago i ve been a happy hp user of the deskwriter for macintosh for past years i got one just a few months after their release and i got software revision a now i m up to rev our family sister and father have each purchased their own dw s after seeing mine go for one year unscathed their stuck to their trusty imagewriter ii s the original dw has gone for years at moderate personal use i would say that it has gone through at least sheets and around one small ink cartridge every months or so my brother might take this dw now i m probably gonna give it to him and i am looking to upgrade to a color dw the chief advantages disadvantages i ve found over the years are advantages quick ppm quiet roomate can sleep while it s printing appletalk networkable unfortunately the original wasn t so look out if you buy used i rewired our home with phonenet appletalk connectors and while home we can all use my dad s one dw and cheap now run btw you can upgrade older dw s to color or for appletalk i dunno if hp still does the upgrades but i received many offers i just didn t ned it however also crisp laser quality output is a wonder used to really impress those imagewriter dot matrix people so much so that i had to charge per sheet to stop my college dorm neighbors from bothering me at all hours of the night disadvantages ink used to be hard to find and wasn t cheap and wasn t originally water proof while hp has done wonders with the ink i dunno if it s still toxic it is still subjet to smearing and running if you run around in the damp boston rain and get your bookbag completely soaked ink now runs about for small carts i get mine from elek tek in chicago i think they re now down to the ink carts used to say they re dated for only months but i don t think they say so anymore we stick to a month supply of about carts we use cheap hammerhill laser print paper after fooling for a long time laser xerox paper is also good smearing doesn t happen unless you have a brand new ink cart and you grab the paper and smudge it all over as soon as it comes out of the machine other disadvantages are no postscript this can be an advantage in speed usually ways around this are ghostscript or freedom of press software solutions i bet hp probably has a ps prototype inkjet but they won t release it for fear of hurting lj sales in the end the primary advantages of laser are true postscript unless you go for cheap lasers and fused toner no smearing even when soaking in water lasers are slightly sharper but the only instance where i needed precise layouts was printed circuit board transparencies for photoetching i found a textronix color phaser postscript thermal wax transfer to work the best to make pcb negatives directly onto a transparency well hope my babbling has helped squish endor harvard edu
