Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!know!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hpcc05!hpdmd48!stephen
From: stephen@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (Stephen Holmstead)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Deskjet Info wanted !
Message-ID: <15440030@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com>
Date: 26 Oct 90 17:29:44 GMT
References: <1990Oct19.100544.8517@uni-paderborn.de>
Organization: Hewlett Packard - Boise, ID
Lines: 39

Rick Wrigley wrote:
>Specs are the same, 300 dpi addressable, somewhat less in actuality.
                                                   ^^^^
What?!?!?!?  Less?  Are you kidding? :-)

Actually, as I have been told (from those who SHOULD know), the Deskjet
has a resolution of 600 dpi.  The problem is that each of the drops of
ink (or pixels) are round and have very sharp contrast on the edges.
In comparision, the Laser printers only have a resolution of 300 dpi,
but due to the physics involved with the printing process on a laser,
the dots (or pixels) are created with small magnetic fields on the print
drum and thus, they have very smooth and gradual contrast on the edges.
For example, if you were to look at each from the side (sort of
pictorially), they would look something like this:

          ________                            _______
         |        |                        __/       \__
         |        |                      _/             \_
         |        |                     /                 \
  _______|        |________         ___/                   \___ 

        DeskJet pixel                      LaserJet pixel

Visually, the LaserJet pixel has the effect of being 'anti-aliased',
whereas the DeskJet pixel isn't.  The result is that the Deskjet takes
more than one drop of ink to try to produce an 'anti-aliased' 300 dpi
pixel.  Even still, the DeskJet cannot come close the smoothing effect
caused by the magnetic field distribution on the LaserJets.

The bottom line is that the DeskJet does NOT have 'somewhat less'
resolution, but rather, it has somewhat different resolution.

>Still the closest thing you can get to a laser...

Yup.
 ____       ____
|   / /_  __\   | Disk      0S/2 == 1/2 OS (Leo Schwab)      Stephen Holmstead
|  | / / /_/ |  | Mechanisms         //             ...!hplabs!hpdmlge!stephen
|___\   /   /___| Division         \X/ Amiga        stephen@hpdmlge.boi.hp.com