Apple Introduced the LaserWriter 40 Years Ago Today

[kemal]

I damaged my back carrying one of those up a staircase. took years to remedy.

The printer was before laser printers had switching power supplies. So it had a heavy linear supply.

 

[azentropy]

Thing was a beast!

 

[epox999]

I damaged my back carrying one of those up a staircase. took years to remedy.

The printer was before laser printers had switching power supplies. So it had a heavy linear supply.

Wikipedia says they weighed 77 Lbs / 35 KG, ouch

 

[picpicmac]

Had one in my office. That, with a Mac, let me produce memos and white papers that looked quite a bit better than the IBM PC guys. And it popularized the use of PostScript, a programming language with which one can write software to do amazing things.

 

[MacLawyer]

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

Laserwriter IINT made a big impact in my small firm.

 

[Powerbooky]

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

Most designs didn't use active cooling on the CPU itself. It only used passive cooling, natural airflow and sometimes with heatsink. Those CPU's back then basically produced the same heat, no matter what the software did. I know, because I did some computer circuit design, including power supply circuits, when I was a student.

I damaged my back carrying one of those up a staircase. took years to remedy.

The printer was before laser printers had switching power supplies. So it had a heavy linear supply.

Back then switching power supplies did exist, but were a little more expensive (sold as a "premium" product).
Strangely enough the Commodore 128 from 1985 did have a switching power supply. And it was cheaper that a Mac then.

 

[timber]

Always liked that whole Apple design language.

All plastic but still looks classy.

 

[orbital~debris]

Now this is what I'm talking about, MacRumors!

Great post.

More printer updates, please 🖨️ (here's one for a start: I don't remember seeing any coverage over the update to Print Centre app in macOS Sequoia; it even got a nicer icon!).

 

[9081094]

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.

Wasn’t the LaserWriter not a rebadged HP printer? Apple licensed postscript from Adobe and you were able to print all sorts of typography. It was the starting of desktop publishing and made Apple big in the printing and graphic industry.

 

[hybrid_x]

The Macintosh is often given sole credit for sparking the desktop publishing revolution, but the LaserWriter deserves equal credit.

 

[hybrid_x]

I'd argue Brother's line of black and white consumer laser printers are a pretty great deal. 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.

I've had a couple of Brother laser printers and multi-function devices, and they are solid, reliable, integrate well with Apple tech (you don't need a dedicated app to use the scanner... just open the "Import from scanner…" interface directly in Preview), and the cost of consumables is relatively low.

I will never buy or own another inkjet printer. For most printing needs my Brother black-and-white lasers are perfect. If I need colour output, it's easy enough to send out to any number of places that provide that, whether I need prints for a meeting or presentation, or hard copies of photos for family.

 

[tachoknight]

My university had the LaserWriter IINT and OMG that thing was a work of art deco beauty. Same engine as the LaserJet II+ but with Postscript built in, instead of having a cartridge. While I like the Macs of today, the Snow White design language was gorgeous.

 

[JitteryJimmy]

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

And specifically once Ethernet over twisted pair came around (10baseT), along with the clear victory of TCP/IP. My shop was pretty much there in 1992 or so, but we were ahead of most shops. Note that Microsoft didn't deliver a TCP/IP stack for Windows until 1994/95.

 

[kagharaht]

Yep started with ImageWriter, ImageWriter II, then Laserwriter, Laserwriter II NT. My favorite that I had in my office for exclusive use was the Phaser Tektronix color 7000 series? I can't exactly remember the number, it's so long ago. That color printer was awesome. Big, heavy but nice having exclusive use of that in my office.

 

[Freedom1]

Believe it or not, back in 1987, I ran an Apple Laserwriter from a PC via a SCSI card printing using Postscript language. I was using an early version of Ventura Publisher and CorelDraw to publish our church bulletins and other materials. The monitor was an orange CRT display that barely displayed graphics. I think the printer was $5,000 at the time. We couldn't afford both the Laserwriter and a Mac, so went with the printer. Quite an adventure.

 

[ignatius345]

(you don't need a dedicated app to use the scanner... just open the "Import from scanner…" interface directly in Preview)

Apple's "Image Capture" app is really great for this too, if you haven't tried it.

 

[Pablo Huang]

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

OSX paved the road for the demise of AppleTalk (worked with OS9 and earlier), but it was fully dropped with 10, the fist Intel-only OSX, as TCP/IP took over.

 

[JitteryJimmy]

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

The original line of Macs (128,512,Plus) have passive cooling. The CPU doesn't have a heat sink of any kind. There are no fans. There are two smallish vents at the top rear.

It can get a bit toasty, as after all the computer is compact and is integrated with a CRT. A popular accessory was a fan unit that would sit on top and clip onto the top handle recess.

For my non-air conditioned house, it'd overheat on very hot summer days, leading to memory errors. Pointing a small desk fan at it kept it cool enough.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I recall seeing that very first, glorious, beautiful grayscale image print on that thing vs. dot matrix "art" to which we were all accustomed at the time and thinking "how could it ever get better than this?"

And then just a few years later, the incredible Amiga had this ray-traced juggler juggling shiny balls in 4096 colors and I recall thinking "how could it ever get better than this?"

And so on. The computer tech run in the last 40 years has been remarkable. If the pace of "wow" can continue, try to imagine what will wow us in 40 more years.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Wikipedia says they weighed 77 Lbs / 35 KG, ouch

Wow, did they consult with Peavey or something? Their lead sled tube amps weigh about a hundred pounds.

 

[ducknalddon]

Wasn’t the LaserWriter not a rebadged HP printer?

No, it was based on a Canon cx print engine (as was the HP LaserJet) with an Apple controller.

 

[ducknalddon]

I’ve got one of these in my garage. I had intended to get it working again but pretty much all of it is shot and spares and consumables are as rare as hens teeth.

I have been able to pull the roms and get the software running in MAME though.

 

[ikramerica]

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

No, no, much later. Having a NIC in a printer for ethernet was more costly than having localtalk built in.

Even an external localtalk adapter was cheaper than a true 10BT NIC. Localtalk could transmit over standard 4 pin telephone cords so you could cheaply build a localtalk network for a home office or SOHO including computers and printers. If your office couldn’t afford a T1 line, enet wasn’t an expense they could afford. So dial up plus LocalTalk was the way to go. Nearly all hp printers could work with LocalTalk and when Apple created a non-postscript font protocol for lower cost printers (TrueType) shifting the processing to the computer, desktop publishing really came to the masses.

What really killed localtalk was Airport and USB. USB allowed for simple connectivity for local use, and Airport allowed everyone to easily share internet and files wirelessly (and wired), but printers and computers needed to use IPP to connect directly. The quick adoption of wifi and usb put an end to localtalk as being cheaper, as most moderate to midrange printers started having IPP and ethernet built in, and even cheap printers were shared into the network via usb and a host computer.

 

[sw1tcher]

Wasn’t the LaserWriter not a rebadged HP printer? Apple licensed postscript from Adobe and you were able to print all sorts of typography. It was the starting of desktop publishing and made Apple big in the printing and graphic industry.

I'm not sure about the LaserWriters. I know my LaserWriter Select 360 uses a Fuji Xerox engine while others used Canon engines. I think the LaserWriters were designed/developed by Apple using engines from other companies.

On the other hand, I know some mid to late 1990s Apple StyleWriter inkjet printers were rebadged HP inkjets while earlier models used Canon engines.

 

[california_kid]

Let us not forget that Steve Job's obsession with font types made the prints beautiful regardless of how great the technology was back then.