92 Printers Go To Battle

The newest laser, color, ink-jet, and dot-matrix printers compete for top honors in our applications-based rankings

Jim Kane and John Mcdonough

Innovations continue to redefine the printer market. As a sign of just how fast the printer world changes, 47 of the 92 laser, color, ink-jet, and dot-matrix printers we evaluate in this report are new or have been updated since our last printer report, only six months ago (see ``Head to Head: 71 Printers,'' May BYTE).

Notable among the new models this time are 10- to 12-ppm (pages per minute) laser printers that can be quickly configured with Ethernet interfaces for small workgroups. For a handful of vendors, including Hewlett-Packard and Texas Instruments, these fast laser printers have replaced 8-ppm models. They now represent mainstream laser offerings. These laser printers save small workgroups money, because the printers don't require a dedicated print server. You wire them into a network as easily as you can install a workstation to the network. If you need high-volume laser printers to serve a large network, the rankings on page 269 show the latest choices for 16- to 20-ppm printers.

Also significant is how color is energizing the ink-jet market. A new generation of ink-jet printers that cost under $1000 produce respectable monochrome and color output in their standard configurations (see page 277 to see how they stack up). To address the evolving color market, this report ranks color printers in two classes: High-Quality Color, for applications that require four-color output, and Draft Quality, where the primary need is for black-and-white output with color highlights.

We tested 46 laser printers for General Business, Workgroup, and CAD and DTP applications. We also ranked 25 color printers using ink-j et, thermal-wax-transfer, and dye-sublimation technologies. Eight monochrome-only ink-jet printers selling for under $1000 arrived for our draft-quality considerations. Finally, we tested 13 high-volume dot-matrix printers for our Listings and Forms category.

How to use this guide

We used our standard suite of PC- and Macintosh-based printer tests to choose printers with the best speed and output quality for six key business applications. We summarize test details about the winners and runners-up in each of the categories, using charts like the one shown here.

Combined engine and processor speed when running our test files, measured in pages per minute. Higher numbers indicate faster performance.

Vendor's rating for engine or print-head speed; does not include printer processing time.

A composite rating for text and graphics output quality; based on a 10-point scale, with higher numbers indicating better print quality.

Retail price in the as-tested configuration, which may include optional memory (see the Roll Call on page 280).

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Illustration: Key Components INTERFACES Many laser and high-end color printers offer Ethernet and Token Ring interfaces for shared environments. If your workgroup is small, consider a 10- to 12-ppm laser printer. Many new models in this class have such interfaces standard or as relatively low-cost options (some models offer bidirectional communication that lets an administrator set up the printer from his or her workstation). For large networks, 16-ppm or faster laser printers offer greater paper capacities and higher duty cycles. ENGINE Twelve-ppm, 600-dpi engines have emerged as the speed and print-quality standard for general-purpose laser printers. Nevertheless, slower, 300-dpi engines continue to offer substantial cost savings for those who can accept less in quality and performance. PAPER PATH Straight-through paths are best for jam-free printing of envelopes and heavy stock. The curved path (pictured) is typical for standar d size and weight paper. PROCESSOR AND MEMORY If you print PostScript files or complex graphics, choose a printer with a RISC processor for fast processing. Four MB of memory is a minimum for such work. PAPER-INPUT TRAY If the printer must serve more than a single user or a workgroup with low-volume printing needs, choose a unit with a 500- or 1000-sheet capacity. Also check how easily and inexpensively you can add additional paper trays if print volume grows in the future.