The Best Printers For General Business

Whether you print reports, memos, spreadsheets, graphics, or simple desktop-published documents, high-quality laser output is the standard for business. The good news is that 300-dpi quality no longer commands a premium price; if you mainly print only text, we found four 4- to 6-ppm lasers (see Low Cost chart on page 167) with good speed and output for less than $1000. One of them, NEC's host-based Silentwriter Superscript 610, retails for only $600 (it lacks memory and relies on the host computer for this resource).

If your print jobs often combine text and graphics, 600-dpi printers offer sharper images for prices that run about $500 to $1000 more than the lowest-cost 300-dpi lasers. Today, 600-dpi output is more than ever the standard for laser printers: All but four of the 14 lasers we ranked for General Business support this resolution. In addition to sharper output, these midrange models offer faster speed, with print engines rated at 6 to 10 ppm (see Best Overall chart on page 167).

Only three of the printers that we ranked for General Business in the November report appear in our rankings this month: HP's LaserJet 4, NEC's Silentwriter Superscript 610, and Texas Instruments' MicroLaser Pro 600 PS23. Price cuts for these models currently average over 15 percent. You can take home today's winners for Macintosh and High Quality for 18 percent less than the comparable models in November's report cost.

Several printers that did not win one of the General Business categories outright deserve attention as runners-up, and one of these may be the best printer for you, depending on your needs. For example, Canon's new LBP-860, the first runner-up for Best Overall, is ideal if your work is graphics intensive. This printer tied with Apple's LaserWriter Select 360 f or the second-highest quality score for lasers ranked here. Although the LBP-860 fell a few percentage points behind the LaserWriter and Sharp's JX-9460PS for text quality, it beat all printers we tested (including the 1200-dpi models) in rendering fine lines. For detailed graphics and excellent bit-map rendering, the LBP-860 will serve admirably. However, during our test cycle, Canon was not yet shipping the optional PostScript upgrade (see "As We Went to Press..." on page 166).

The Brother HL-10h is the only printer that gave the top-rated Genicom serious competition in performance tests. This is not surprising, since both use the same engine and class of processor. On every PCL test, only a couple of seconds separate these printers. The sole exception to this rule is the bit-map test, which takes almost 50 percent longer with the HL-10h. Their positions are reversed in PostScript, again with matching speeds except on the bit-map test, where the Genicom takes 40 percent longer.

Members of HP' s LaserJet 4 family appear as runners-up in each of the four General Business categories. The 4L is a runner-up for Low Cost, with 300-dpi resolution and the fastest PCL score for printers in that group. The 4M is a good choice for Macintosh, with text quality second only to that of the top-rated Apple LaserWriter Select 360. The LaserJet 4 ranks high in overall quality for the same reason: excellent clarity of text and better line rendering than all but the three top printers.

Note that the Sharp JX-9460PS was the lowest-cost PostScript printer ranked here, and its stunning 600-dpi output achieved the highest score in this group (the JX-9460PS's text sharpness rivaled that of some 1200-dpi printers). However, we penalized this printer because it couldn't print our bit-map test in 600-dpi resolution (the test printed with no problem at 300 dpi). We consulted Sharp, but we weren't able to solve the problem during our test cycle. Accordingly, the printer placed as a runner-up rather than the winner for H igh Quality.

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For best combination of speed and quality...

BEST OVERALL
Genicom Model 7610
This printer breezed through our performance tests with the second-fastest PostScript score in this group. Although the Model 7610 ranks fifth among Best Overall contenders in overall output quality, its 600-dpi engine produces text with excellent clarity.


                                   SPEED (PPM)             QUALITY   CLASS
                              PCL    POSTSCRIPT*  MAC      INDEX     (PPM)
BEST      Genicom Model 7610  6.35      6.04      N/A      8.79      10
RUNNER-UP Canon LBP-860       5.50       N/A      N/A      9.48       8
RUNNER-UP Brother HL-10h      6.19      6.15      N/A      7.84      10
RUNNER-UP HP LaserJet 4       5.56      3.38      N/A      8.90       8
RUNNER-UP Sharp JX-9460PS     4.29      3.22      N/A      9.77       6


                                                          RESOLUTION  RESIDENT
                              PROCE
SSOR           PRICE     (DPI)     FONTS
BEST      Genicom Model 7610  20-MHz 68030        $2283**    600      83
RUNNER-UP Canon LBP-860       16-MHz i960         $2199      600      45
RUNNER-UP Brother HL-10h      20-MHz 68EC030      $1890      600      83
RUNNER-UP HP LaserJet 4       20-MHz i960         $1839      600      80
RUNNER-UP Sharp JX-9460PS     16-MHz AMD29005/14  $1428      600      62


*  PC 
** Price includes 10 MB of memory.
N/A = not applicable
-- = data not available at press time

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Need good performance for under $1000?

LOW COST
Okidata OL 410e
Priced under $1000, this 4-ppm printer posted the highest quality score in this group. However, the trade-off is slow print speed. If you need PostScript for under $1000, choose the TI MicroWriter PS23.


                              SPEED (PPM)                  QUALITY   CLASS
                              PCL    POSTSCRIPT*  MAC      INDEX     (PPM)
BEST      Okidata OL 410e     2.
59      N/A       N/A      8.76       4
RUNNER-UP TI MicroWriter PS23 3.17     1.20       1.82     8.46       5
RUNNER-UP HP LaserJet 4L      3.29      N/A       N/A      7.87       4
RUNNER-UP NEC Slientwriter
          Superscript 610     2.98      N/A       N/A      8.10       6


                                                         RESOLUTION  RESIDENT
                              PROCESSOR           PRICE    (DPI)     FONTS
BEST      Okidata OL 410e     --                  $899      300      14 
RUNNER-UP TI MicroWriter PS23 --                  $997      300      23
RUNNER-UP HP LaserJet 4L      18.5-MHz i960       $849      300      80
RUNNER-UP NEC Slientwriter
          Superscript 610     8-MHz NEC 87C51     $600      300      Host-based


*  PC 
** Price includes 10 MB of memory.
N/A = not applicable
-- = data not available at press time

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For unmatched Mac speed...

MACINTOSH
Texas Instruments MicroLaser Pro 600 PS23
None of the G
eneral Business printers we tested came close to the MicroLaser in our Mac speed tests. In addition to fast speed in our text tests, the MicroLaser Pro renders fonts 15 percent faster than its closest competitor, the HP LaserJet 4ML.


                                   SPEED (PPM)                 QUALITY   CLASS
                                   PCL  POSTSCRIPT*  MAC       INDEX     (PPM)
BEST      TI MicroLaser
          Pro 600 PS23             3.15    2.44      4.26      8.43       8
RUNNER-UP Apple LaserWriter
          Select 360               N/A     4.09      3.76      9.48      10
RUNNER-UP HP LaserJet 4M           5.56    3.38      3.98      8.90       8
RUNNER-UP NEC Silentwriter 1097    5.14    3.73      3.97      7.97      10


                                                            RESOLUTION RESIDENT
                                 PROCESSOR           PRICE     (DPI)   FONTS
BEST      TI MicroLaser
          Pro 600 PS23           20-MHz Platinum     $1599      600
    31
RUNNER-UP Apple LaserWriter
          Select 360             16-MHz AMD29200     $1599      600    64
RUNNER-UP HP LaserJet 4M         20-MHz i960         $2479      600    80
RUNNER-UP NEC Silentwriter 1097  20-MHz i960         $1400      600    57


*  PC 
** Price includes 10 MB of memory.
N/A = not applicable
-- = data not available at press time

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When print quality matters

HIGH QUALITY
Apple LaserWriter Select 360
This new printer has a parallel port for PCs and generates exquisite output. Particularly good are its fine lines and bit-map graphics. Its text quality is the highest in this class.


                                   SPEED (PPM)             QUALITY   CLASS
                              PCL    POSTSCRIPT*   MAC     INDEX     (PPM)
BEST      Apple LaserWriter
          Select 360           N/A      4.09       3.76    9.48      10
RUNNER-UP Genicom Model 7610  6.35      6.04        N/A    8.79      10
RUNNER-UP Sharp JX-9460PS
     4.29      3.22        N/A    9.77       6
RUNNER-UP HP LaserJet 4       5.56      3.38        N/A    8.90       8
RUNNER-UP Brother HL-10h      6.19      6.15        N/A    7.84      10
RUNNER-UP Alps LSX 1000       5.41      5.19        N/A    7.96      10


                                                          RESOLUTION  RESIDENT
                              PROCESSOR           PRICE     (DPI)     FONTS
BEST      Apple LaserWriter
          Select 360          16-MHz AMD29200     $1599     600       64
RUNNER-UP Genicom Model 7610  20-MHz 68030        $2283**   600       83
RUNNER-UP Sharp JX-9460PS     16-MHz AMD29005/14  $1428     600       62
RUNNER-UP HP LaserJet 4       20-MHz i960         $1839     600       80
RUNNER-UP Brother HL-10h      20-MHz 68EC030      $1890     600       83
RUNNER-UP Alps LSX 1000       20-MHz 68EC030      $1599     600       83


*  PC 
** Price includes 10 MB of memory.
N/A = not applicable
-- = data not available at press time