May 1994 / BYTE Lab Product Report

Head To Head: 71 Printers	The newest laser, ink-jet, dot-matrix, and color printers vie for top honors in our applications-based rankings - by Scott Higgs and Chandrika Mysore
The Best Printers For General Business For best combination of speed and quality... Need good performance for under $1000? For unmatched Mac speed... When print quality matters	Whether you print reports, memos, spreadsheets, graphics, or simple desktop-published documents, high-quality laser output is the standard for business.
As We Went To Press...	Here are some updates on changes in important printers we evaluated: Lexmark IBM LaserPrinter 4039 family Both the 12R and the 16L will be replaced in the second quarter of this year with new models that offer bidirectional communications, among other features.
How We Tested	On the PC, we ran tests at each printer's highest resolution and at the lowest resolution available in each category.
BYTE BEST: Workgroups For speed and networking ease... When price matters... Need top Mac speed? Want the highest quality for networks?	We tested eight printers that led the laser field in print speed and high-quality output.
BYTE BEST: CAD And DTP Need fast speed for 11- by 17-inch paper? Is your budget limited to $5000? For top Mac performance... Do you require unexcelled quality?	While midrange lasers suffice for business memos, correspondence, and reports, desktop publishing and CAD applications require high-resolution lasers that can handle 11- by 17-inch paper.
BYTE BEST: Color Want the best color for general business? Need economical color? Do you require Mac support? For top print quality...	Color print outs enhance presentations and reports, and the general-purpose color printers we tested perform well when producing both monochrome text and color graphics.
BYTE BEST: Draft Quality Need the best in Ink-jet economy and speed? Is $500 your limit? Not for PCs only... Need high quality at a low price?	If your budget is limited and you print only a small number of pages a day, one of today's monochrome ink-jet printers can offer quality competitive with a laser's for half the price.
BYTE BEST: Listings And Forms Want the leader for multipart forms? Want high quality for an economical price? Want the speed leader?	Dot-matrix technology continues to fill an important niche for those who need workhorse printers for multipart forms, large runs of labels, and oversize paper.
The reduction mode on Canon's BJ-200e	The reduction mode on Canon's BJ-200e is a unique feature that enables you to print wide documents such as spreadsheets on regular-size paper.
The Apple LaserWriter Select 360 and Apple LaserWriter Pro 810	The Apple LaserWriter Select 360 and Apple LaserWriter Pro 810 offer fax modules.
A "paper out" flag	A "paper out" flag on the HP LaserJet 4MP tells you at a glance when the input tray is low on paper.
Finding your way using the menu tree	Fin ding your way using the menu tree can be difficult unless you're using the TI MicroWriter PS23 or the Compaq PageMarq 20.
The GCC SelectPress 600, LaserMaster Unity 1200XL-O, and NewGen ImagerPlus 12	The GCC SelectPress 600, LaserMaster Unity 1200XL-O, and NewGen ImagerPlus 12 all have a plas tic security key for letter, legal, and larger-size paper.
Roll Call Of Printers Tested

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