Apple Introduced the LaserWriter 40 Years Ago Today

[MacRumors]

Apple introduced the LaserWriter 40 years ago today, forming a cornerstone of what became known as the desktop publishing revolution.

The LaserWriter was Apple's first laser printer and among the first on the market to incorporate Adobe's PostScript technology, a page description language that allowed for precise and scalable rendering of text, layouts, and graphics. It was a significant departure from the dot-matrix printers of the time.

The LaserWriter was powered by a Motorola 68000 microprocessor—the same processor used in the Macintosh. With a built-in programming language, its own RAM, and a CPU that ran at a higher speed than the Macintosh, the LaserWriter printer had the most processing power of any Apple product of the time.

With a resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi), the LaserWriter delivered print quality previously achievable only with expensive professional typesetting equipment. The printer was priced at $6,995 upon its release (almost $24,000 today).

Apple's introduction of the LaserWriter coincided with the launch of the AppleTalk networking protocol, which allowed multiple Macintosh computers to share a single printer, which was unprecedented at the time and revolutionized printing in offices.

Paired with the Macintosh and software such as Aldus PageMaker, the printer enabled users to design and print professional-quality materials, such as brochures, newsletters, and advertisements, directly from their desktops. This effectively democratized publishing by making tools that were once exclusive to large printing firms accessible to small businesses, educators, and independent creators.

Apple evolved the LaserWriter product line into a range of models, including the high-performance LaserWriter Pro series and the more affordable Personal LaserWriter. As competitors like HP and Canon introduced more cost-effective laser printers with comparable features, and third-party printers became increasingly compatible with Apple systems, the LaserWriter lost its competitive edge. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, peripheral products like printers were deemed non-essential and the LaserWriter was discontinued.

Article Link: Apple Introduced the LaserWriter 40 Years Ago Today

 

[Regret]

THE LaserWriter???

 

[HJM.NL]

I still remember with my Macintosh plus with an scsi external harddrive of 20mb and a radius screen.

Printing a photo in black and white could take up to an hour 😅

 

[abusbey3]

We bought one as soon as they came out and connected to our departmental AppleTalk network. Other faculty could not believe we could print things that looked like they had go to an offset printing company. They were amazing.

 

[System603]

Printing a photo in black and white could take up to an hour 😅

That's still true with many current printers, only in a different way 😅
- low on magenta when printing black text
- paper jam
- no paper in tray #2
- no print jobs in queue
...

 

[Misuteri]

I’m curious when did AppleTalk actually stop being a thing?

 

[tubular]

I picked the Mac, around 1986, over the Windows PC for one reason: it had actual typography, and for a type bug like me that was the entire ballgame. The LaserWriter was a central part of it, even though it was waaaaay beyond my budget as a college student and I had to make do with the ImageWriter dot matrix printer.

 

[Populus]

Just a curious question from someone young enough to not have seen Motorola Mac’s ever… did those CPUs need active cooling?

 

[sw1tcher]

I still have my ImageWriter II and LaserWriter Select 360 sitting in storage closet. That LaserWriter is a tank. I'd still be using it if it was still supported by today's Windows and macOS

 

[HJM.NL]

I’m curious when did AppleTalk actually stop being a thing?

When Ethernet came along. Ethernet was an open standard and able to have higher transfer throughput

 

[sparkie7]

Woah, brings back memories seeing them at the University. I still have my Mac Plus, and Hyperdrive FX40!

 

[Populus]

I still have my ImageWriter II and LaserWriter Select 360 sitting in storage closet. That LaserWriter is a tank.

I wonder if those Apple printers use standard toners or cartridges, or if they use proprietary ink supplies. If it’s the latter, then I guess it’s impossible to print with them nowadays…

 

[arkitect]

I still remember with my Macintosh plus with an scsi external harddrive of 20mb and a radius screen.

Printing a photo in black and white could take up to an hour 😅

Oh god!

Scsi… dear lord. 🤣

I am quite sure that technology aged me prematurely.

That's still true with many current printers, only in a different way 😅
- low on magenta when printing black text
- paper jam
- no paper in tray #2
- no print jobs in queue
...

So true.

The more things change…

 

[djgamble]

A good friend used to have one (his dad was a GP who loved technology and had a bit of spare cash).

I remember we'd have soooo much fun printing our stuff onto coloured paper using it (which felt magic as it was so fast in comparison to the printer I had with those holes on the side allowing it to feed paper through). Best times!!!

 

[epox999]

When Ethernet came along. Ethernet was an open standard and able to have higher transfer throughput

You may mean TCP/IP, ethernet is a connection type / technology, TCP/IP is the protocol that replaced the AppleTalk protocol

AppleTalk support was removed in 2009 in MacOS 10.6

 

[segfaultdotorg]

They need to bring this back, along with the ImageWriter!

 

[sw1tcher]

I wonder if those Apple printers use standard toners or cartridges, or if they use proprietary ink supplies. If it’s the latter, then I guess it’s impossible to print with them nowadays…

The toner wasn't proprietary. If I remember correctly, the cartridge was cross compatible with certain laser printers models from HP in addition to other Apple LaserWriter models. I still have an original and unused toner cartridge for it in a sealed box.

 

[Razorpit]

Apple was soo far ahead of the competition back then.

 

[HJM.NL]

You may mean TCP/IP, ethernet is a connection type / technology, TCP/IP is the protocol that replaced the AppleTalk protocol

AppleTalk support was removed in 2009 in MacOS 10.6

You’re right about that 👍🏻

 

[magicdoc]

Just a curious question from someone young enough to not have seen Motorola Mac’s ever… did those CPUs need active cooling?

From my best memory the original Mac 128K, the subsequent Mac 512K, Macintosh Plus, Mac 128Ke, and Mac 512Ke did not have active cooling. There was a company called Levco that made an optional piezoelectric fan for cooling which you could add on. Levco's Monster Mac upgrade board came with that fan, and the fan was available separately.

 

[HJM.NL]

Apple was soo far ahead of the competition back then.

Actually Apple was far ahead of the competition back than. Together with the return of Steve Jobs, the iPod, iPhone and iPad they were recognized as an innovative company. Too bad the tides have turned and while Apple is still believed to be an innovative company, they haven’t been for years and years now. So bad a new executive like Timmy can kill the soul of a company and change it into a money grabbing financial institution with boring last years technology.

 

[Charles50]

The original LW had one feature that can't be found on modern laser printers: a manual feed with a straight paper path AND corner feed rollers. You could print on paper as small as a business card. The corner rollers would grab it and keep the paper perfectly straight.

 

[lcseds]

This was based on a Canon engine. I worked with an Apple engineer to fix the tray/feed jam errors resulting in a new tray design. Had to change oil in it when a fuser was replaced. Jeebus I'm old.

 

[wbrat]

As Apple is so interested in health these days, it should make a printer again that "just works" - it would save so many lives by preventing heart attacks and nervous breakdowns...

 

[ignatius345]

As Apple is so interested in health these days, it should make a printer again that "just works" - it would save so many lives by preventing heart attacks and nervous breakdowns...

I'd argue Brother's line of black and white consumer laser printers are as close as you're gonna get to "just works". They have a bit of a cult following, and I think for good reason. I had one I ran for something like 15K pages at a cost of maybe 2-3¢/page. When I checked the stats, it had jammed something like 10-15 times in all that time -- and most of that was me putting in an envelope wrong or something. Changed the drum I think once at a cost of maybe $70. Other than that, just fed it occasional toner cartridges and many reams of cheap, cheap paper. This was a printer that cost me under $150 btw.

IMO a lot of what people end up hating about printers is the inherent crappiness of inkjets. The one Epson I had just bled me dry, was slow as hell, picky about paper stock, and always needed to "clean" itself (and consume ink) if it had been sitting for any time between print jobs. There's a reason you see so many of these being given away.

Laser printers avoid a bunch of these issues and in my experience are just more reliable and cheaper to run over the long term.