Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watserv1!bmaraldo
From: bmaraldo@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Commander Brett Maraldo)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: LaserPrinters and the ST
Keywords: laser printer, atari st, spectre
Message-ID: <252@watserv1.waterloo.edu>
Date: 30 Nov 89 20:13:33 GMT
References: <4725e878.14a1f@force.UUCP>
Reply-To: bmaraldo@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Commander Brett Maraldo)
Distribution: na
Organization: Unit 36 Research
Lines: 59

In article <4725e878.14a1f@force.UUCP> covertr@force.UUCP (Richard E. Covert) writes:
>Well, I have finally done it. I sold my Atari SLM804 laser printer.
	
	Probably a god move.
>The Panasonic 4450 lists for $2500 but the street price locally is about $1600.
>I can buy the 4450 from a mail order place in chicago for $1269, add another 
>$230 for the necessary additional 1 meg of RAM and you are at $1500. And since
>it is mail order I don't have to pay sales tax.

	I have a 4450 as well (LP1100).  The price has come down since I bought
mine (in Canada).  More detail follows...
>The 4450 is 11 ppm, which is faster
	
	Since I don't do much straight text dumps, this speed isn't noticable
to me.  I mainly do bitmap dumps from TeX or Calamus.  It takes about 5min
per page for Calamus to process a page and about 2min per page for TeX.  When
I do do a text dump (from a PC and WordPerfect) the printer flies!

>The 4450 has builtin Epson fx-286e, panasonic 1092i, diablo 630,
>ibm proprinter, and Laserjet+ emulation. This should allow most, if not all,
>software to print on it. The 4450 also has dual 250 sheet trays, with optional

	The emulations are very complete as well.  I have no incompatiblilty
probelms.

>The 4450 also has dual 250 sheet trays, with optional
>envelope and other size trays. The 4450 has optional font cartridges, and I
>believe a PostScript cartridge (though that isn't needed with the availability
>of UltraScript now). The 4450's toner cartridge is $35 and is rated at 5,000

	Those two 250 sheet trays come in handy!  You can also set the
printer up to switch from one tray to the other when one runs out of paper.
It'll also do duplex printing without a jam, but you have to be fast!

>The 4450's toner cartridge is $35 and is rated at 5,000
>sheets.

	Well... there isn't a toner cartridge.  You fill the 4450 like a 
photocopier (there is a little dorr under the paper tray).  The consumables
are:	toner, $75/shot 5000 pages; drum, $250/shot 20,000pages; and
developer, $170/shot 13,000 pages.  I worked this out to be about 4 cents
per page (cheap!).
>
>So, all in all, the Panasonic 4450 is the laser printer that I will probably
>buy.

	I don' think you'll be disappointed.

	Also, the 4450 is built tough!  The design is great!  there is
one-touch access to the complete paper path and cleaning is easy.  

Brett L Maraldo


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