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From: chuq@sun.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: Buying: PC vs. the Mac
Message-ID: <3607@sun.uucp>
Date: Tue, 29-Apr-86 13:09:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: sun.3607
Posted: Tue Apr 29 13:09:38 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 2-May-86 23:13:16 EDT
References: <67900002@ism780>
Organization: Fictional Reality, uLtd
Lines: 80

> At the time I bought my XT (one year ago) and even now, it was absolutely the
> correct choice for someone with my profile of usage.  Writing.  LOTS of
> writing.  The need for letter quality printing, REAL letter quality, not all
> this "near" letter quality crap that's insufficient for the standards of many
> editors; a printer with a cut-sheet feeder to handle letterhead and
> envelopes -- the issue of envelopes skewering laserprinters; and a
> professional, heavy-duty word-processing program.
> 
> By my standards, the WP program needs to be something like Word Perfect or
> Multimate.  Microsoft Word is an abomination that's not much better than
> Wordstar; MacWrite is fine for writing Aunt Hepzibah or tooling out a term
> paper, but that's about it.
> 
> Finally, Word Perfect is supposed to be coming out on the Mac at the end of
> the year.  There are some kludges that now allow the Mac to use a NEC
> printer, though I don't know about nuances such as cut-sheet feeder codes.

I'm going to take the devil's advocate position on this.  I use my Mac for
writing.  LOTS of writing. While I agree in principle that real letter
quality printing is advisable, in reality the imagewriter can generate 
stuff that is close enough that you have to look hard to tell the
difference. You need to use a good font (the ones shipped with the Mac
are NOT good enough -- I use the Boston font) and you need to keep your
ribbon fresh.  The latter is a problem with any printer, but moreso here.

I don't use printed letterhead.  I have a set of Macpaint created
letterheads I can paste into a letter as I need them.  This means I
don't have to have things reprinted when I move, or when I find out
that I was given the wrong zip code when I moved (as just happened to
me... sigh!).  This gives me the option of multiple letterhears without
driving my printer, my storage space and my pocketbook crazy (I use
three -- a personal letterhead, a Plaidworks letterhead for my computer
stuff, and a special letterhead for OtherRealms).  Use a good quality
(20 pound or better) pinfeed paper, and you don't NEED sheet feeders.

I found early on that using envelopes in a printer, ANY printer, is more
trouble than it is worth.  For most work I now use #10 window envelopes.
This means that the address you type on your letter shows through.
Otherwise, I either scribble or type the envelope manually (finding that
using a real typewriter for envelopes saves me about 80% of the time of
doing it on a computer).  Return addresses and SASE (#9 plaid white, no
window, so it fits inside a #10) I use mailing labels, which I print out
a couple hundred at a time and keep handy.

If you take a little care, your 'bad' NLQ imagewriter still beats that pants
off of most typewriters.  It isn't a laserwriter, and it isn't a daisywheel,
but you pretty much need a microscope to tell.

I agree with Jim that MacWrite is for people who think that manual
typewriters are wonderful.  Unlike Jim, I think Word is a very useful
WP program. It can do anything you want it to do, and once you figure it out
(the case with ANY program) it has more power than you'll probably ever
need.  The only thing 'missing' is the style sheet option, which you can
simulate quite nicely with glossaries, and the only thing brain-damaged is
running heads, which I try to avoid.  Jim is running into the 'this fits my
style' problem -- if he likes Word Perfect, then that is great, but you need
to be careful generalizing.  Word is complex, but it also stays out of your
way until you're ready to use the complexity.

Also, I disagree that the Letter Quality support is a kludge.  For those
that NEED a Nec (either for real or psychological reasons) Word supports
daisy wheel's as part of its standard packages, and I've seen some
impressive letters pour off of them.

One thing you need to be aware of, though, is that when you're doing SERIOUS
writing you have to be conservative.  Don't submit stuff to editors in
London Font, underlined and shadowed.  Don't use multiple fonts, don't play
games.  Don't justify, don't get fancy -- good clean crisp copy is what is
important.  Use the thing as a really fancy typewriter, and leave the fancy
stuff at home.  With a little care, though, you CAN generate good quality
printing without spending a bundle.

chuq
-- 
:From the lofty realms of Castle Plaid:          Chuq Von Rospach 
chuq%plaid@sun.COM	FidoNet: 125/84		 CompuServe: 73317,635
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The first rule of magic is simple. Don't waste your time waving your hands
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