HP Laserjet PDF

[Monroe]

Just starting to get to know a bit more about laser printers as part
of a search for a replacement for an inkjet, again and again I'm
coming across a critique/problem with HP Laserjets and high-quality
PDF printing. Plenty of comments, critiques on the web and I've
actually tried first hand for myself on a couple of older models
(2200D and 4000). What is the problem that creates incredibly long
wait then print times for PDF files on these printers? At first I
thought a function of the memory in the printer, but with the two
examples above, this wasn't the case.

Are there any workarounds? Any older HP models (or new) that don't
suffer from this? Any other good quality printers that have no
problem whatsoever?

 

[Warren Block]

Just starting to get to know a bit more about laser printers as part
of a search for a replacement for an inkjet, again and again I'm
coming across a critique/problem with HP Laserjets and high-quality
PDF printing. Plenty of comments, critiques on the web and I've
actually tried first hand for myself on a couple of older models
(2200D and 4000). What is the problem that creates incredibly long
wait then print times for PDF files on these printers? At first I
thought a function of the memory in the printer, but with the two
examples above, this wasn't the case.

Without knowing any specifics about what you're doing, it's hard to say.
Certainly I haven't seen incredibly long print PDF print times on either
of those families of printers.

Maybe a hint of what program you're using to print PDFs, under what
operating system, with what printer driver?

People who don't specify are usually using Windows, which would imply
Acrobat Reader. The latest versions of Reader automatically check with
Adobe to see if you have the latest version and will download it in the
background unless you disable that "feature". This could cause the
delay you describe.

Also, only the latest versions of PostScript handle PDF natively. Most
printers out there can't do it, so the printing software has to
translate or render the PDF into the printer's native language. On
Windows, a lot of people use PCL drivers even with PostScript printers,
and that can make for a delay as a large bitmap is downloaded to the
printer.