is PostScript worth of ?

Hi,
I am stuck which of these printers is better
HP1160
HP1320
The first has only PCL5e.
The second has also PCL6 and Postscript 2, and of course costs some more.

Do you think it is worth of ?
How can I see if I need postscript ?

thank you

Casper <Casper@boh.it> wrote:

> I am stuck which of these printers is better
> HP1160
> HP1320
> The first has only PCL5e.
> The second has also PCL6 and Postscript 2, and of course costs some more.

A quick look through froogle.com shows that they're pretty close in
price. Techdepot.com has a refurb 1320 for $312.

> Do you think it is worth of ?
> How can I see if I need postscript ?

If you care about quality of printing and device independence,
PostScript is worth it. Most people don't care and would not notice the
difference.

--
Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA

"Casper" <Casper@boh.it> wrote:
>Hi,
>I am stuck which of these printers is better
>HP1160
>HP1320
>The first has only PCL5e.
>The second has also PCL6 and Postscript 2, and of course costs some more.
>
>Do you think it is worth of ?
>How can I see if I need postscript ?
>
>thank you
Apart from the PCL/Postscript issue you might want to consider the other main
difference between the 1160 and the 1320. the 1160 only takes the 5949A
cartridge, the 1320 takes the 5949A and the 5949X versions. The X version has
more than twice the amount of toner as the A version and is a more economical
buy. Check new or compatible cartridge prices in your country.
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging

Casper wrote:
> Hi,
> I am stuck which of these printers is better
> HP1160
> HP1320
> The first has only PCL5e.
> The second has also PCL6 and Postscript 2, and of course costs some more.
>
> Do you think it is worth of ?
> How can I see if I need postscript ?
>
> thank you
>
>
>
If you have a macintosh, you need postscript.

If you have a Liniux/Unix/X-windows machine, it helps.

Otherwise its another bit of bloatware.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> If you have a macintosh, you need postscript.

Are you sure? I have a Mac compatible laser, and it lacks PostScript.

Casper wrote:
> Hi,
> I am stuck which of these printers is better
> HP1160
> HP1320
> The first has only PCL5e.
> The second has also PCL6 and Postscript 2, and of course costs some more.
>
> Do you think it is worth of ?
> How can I see if I need postscript ?
>
> thank you

It's not clear from
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/e...f51-410622.html,
is it PCL 6 Enhanced or PCL 6 Standard (which seems to be the same thing
in fuction as PCL 5e)? If it is PCL 6 Standard, and I am right that it
has the same functionality as PCL 5e, then it might be a marketing gimmick.

Casper wrote:
> Hi,
> I am stuck which of these printers is better
> HP1160
> HP1320
> The first has only PCL5e.
> The second has also PCL6 and Postscript 2, and of course costs some more.
>
> Do you think it is worth of ?
> How can I see if I need postscript ?
>
> thank you

I think it's a mistake to focus on what PCL it supports, unless you have
specific niche requirements that you haven't mentioned (my printer
doesn't use PCL at all for Windows or Mac, only has PCL 4 for DOS
printing). The differences I think you should focus on are these:

HP Laserjet 1160:
up to 20 ppm, 600x600 dpi, 16MB memory

HP Laserjet 1320:
up to 22 ppm, up to 1200x1200 dpi, 16MB memory (expandable to 144MB),

The CPU in each is probably the same, running at 133MHz. If you need
slightly faster print speed, go for the 1320. If you're just printing
out text, 600x600 dpi should be fine. If you do some graphics, might go
for the 1200x1200 dpi. It appears that the memory on the 1160 is not
expandable, and if you do large or multiple print jobs, you'll want to
be able to upgrade the memory. Although printing at 1200x1200 dpi is of
course going to take up more memory (around twice as much? Is there
compression?). So 16MB on the 1320 might be comparable to something
closer to 32MB on the 1160, assuming that option existed.

M.H. wrote:
> Casper wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I am stuck which of these printers is better
>> HP1160
>> HP1320
>> The first has only PCL5e.
>> The second has also PCL6 and Postscript 2, and of course costs some
>> more.
>>
>> Do you think it is worth of ?
>> How can I see if I need postscript ?
>>
> I think it's a mistake to focus on what PCL it supports, unless you
> have specific niche requirements that you haven't mentioned (my
> printer doesn't use PCL at all for Windows or Mac, only has PCL 4 for
> DOS printing). The differences I think you should focus on are these:
>
> HP Laserjet 1160:
> up to 20 ppm, 600x600 dpi, 16MB memory
>
> HP Laserjet 1320:
> up to 22 ppm, up to 1200x1200 dpi, 16MB memory (expandable to 144MB),
>
> The CPU in each is probably the same, running at 133MHz. If you need
> slightly faster print speed, go for the 1320. If you're just printing
> out text, 600x600 dpi should be fine. If you do some graphics, might
> go for the 1200x1200 dpi. It appears that the memory on the 1160 is
> not expandable, and if you do large or multiple print jobs, you'll
> want to be able to upgrade the memory.

I don't see why the size of a print job is important, it's the size of any
particularly big page which is important, which could occur if the job
consists of many pages or just a few

Although printing at
> 1200x1200 dpi is of course going to take up more memory (around twice
> as much? Is there compression?).

Depends what it is, the simplest case is a full size page of a bmp in which
case it should take up _four_ times the memory

M.H. wrote:
> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> If you have a macintosh, you need postscript.
>
> Are you sure? I have a Mac compatible laser, and it lacks PostScript.

I think recent ones also understand how to drive other printers. The old
OS 9 and earlier need the postscript tho by and large.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> I think recent ones also understand how to drive other printers. The old
> OS 9 and earlier need the postscript tho by and large.

I'm fairly certain OS 9 didn't require PostScript printers. Not sure
about earlier ones.