Question on HP Laserjet 4 plus with duplexer print speed

[Brad Sims]

I can print 105 pages in 19 minutes which gives me a PPM
speed of 5-1/2 pages a minute. The printer itself is rated to
12 PPM, now I realize that the duplexer will cut into that somewhat;
but is this a reasonable speed for my printer?

I am using the Laserjet.ppd at 600dpi as provided by CUPS on Debian Sid.

Any opinions/things I could be doing better would be appreciated.

 

[DaveG]

I can print 105 pages in 19 minutes which gives me a PPM
speed of 5-1/2 pages a minute. The printer itself is rated to
12 PPM, now I realize that the duplexer will cut into that somewhat;
but is this a reasonable speed for my printer?

I am using the Laserjet.ppd at 600dpi as provided by CUPS on Debian Sid.

Any opinions/things I could be doing better would be appreciated.

The max. page per minute is based on the printer having a page ready to go
and then duplicating that same page multiple times. ie, you send the page
once, the printer prints 12 copies in one minute, not counting the time
taken to send and process the original, first page.

 

[Colon Terminus]

Yeah, thats about right for Linux.
If you were using Windows, you'd see the full performance of your printer.

 

[Marek Williams]

Yeah, thats about right for Linux.
If you were using Windows, you'd see the full performance of your printer.

No you wouldn't. I used one of those printers for several years from
Windows.

First, I've never heard of a printer actually producing the rated
speed. I'm convinced the factory runs one printing blank pages to come
up with their rating.

A lot also depends on what you're printing. If the job uses the
printer's native fonts only and no graphics, it will be way faster
than if it has to handle a downloaded font and if graphics are
involved. Some graphics are worse than others, too. Today I use
Laserjet 8000s, rated at 24 ppm. I have a page in one document that
stops the printer cold for over a minute. It's just a vector EPS file,
but moderately complex.

Another consideration is that the OP is using PostScript. In my
experience PostScript prints more slowly on the 4 and 4+ than PCL.

 

[DaveG]

First, I've never heard of a printer actually producing the rated
speed. I'm convinced the factory runs one printing blank pages to come
up with their rating.

As I said in a previous post:

"The max. page per minute is based on the printer having a page ready to go
and then duplicating that same page multiple times. ie, you send the page
once, the printer prints 12 copies in one minute, not counting the time
taken to send and process the original, first page."

In other words, yes the same time it takes to print blank pages. It's the
max speed rating of the print engine.

Trying to define a page printing speed is like trying to define how many
pages you can print from one toner cart. It all depends on what you are
printing. For toner life, they define a page as being 5% coverage. For
printing speed, they define the max. speed of the print engine.

 

[Brad Sims]

In grave ink the dread hand of DaveG did inscribe:

Trying to define a page printing speed is like trying to define how many
pages you can print from one toner cart. It all depends on what you are
printing. For toner life, they define a page as being 5% coverage. For
printing speed, they define the max. speed of the print engine.

My rule of thumb is: Take their max print speed and figure actual
speed will be about 20 percent slower, for toner life I take away
30%.

Now granted some will do better, some will do worse but I will be
in the ballpark...