which 1200 dpi laser printer

[neils]

G'day

I need a 1200 DPI mono laser printer with Postscript to connect to a
Mac G5 running OS 10.4.2.

My 'retirement job' is setting pages for a mono publication that sends
a PDFX-1A compliant file to a printer using a computer to plate
workflow and I need genuine 1200, and Postscript, to gauge what my
pages will look like out of the press.

it would be great if the printer could also print files from Pagemaker
running in Classic on this machine, and maybe from a G3 or G4 on OS 9.2
- workarounds are a pain.

I bought a printer recently, sight unseen - solely on its
specification. It was by a reputable maker and claiming 1200 DPI, not
cheap by a long shot and I paid extra for Postscript and more memory.
It was an utter failure, and the maker later took it back.

All you find here at dealers, and all their staffs have heard of, is
home and general office stuff. There are a few manufacturers' branch
offices where, if you're lucky, you might get to speak to a sales
person but ask for a demo print and they throw up their hands and refer
you to Sydney, or New Delhi. Try getting a few test pages out of them.

I know that Fuji and GCC have machines that can do what I want, but
their prices, bulk, and duty cycles are more than I need.

On paper the Brother HL-5270DN and Brother HL-6050 look like
possibilities. Any comments?

Neil

 

[Tom]

I have had very good service out of Brother printers but they is low end HL
1440s and cheap to refill toners

 

[me]

G'day

I need a 1200 DPI mono laser printer with Postscript to connect to a
Mac G5 running OS 10.4.2.

My 'retirement job' is setting pages for a mono publication that sends
a PDFX-1A compliant file to a printer using a computer to plate
workflow and I need genuine 1200, and Postscript, to gauge what my
pages will look like out of the press.

it would be great if the printer could also print files from Pagemaker
running in Classic on this machine, and maybe from a G3 or G4 on OS 9.2
- workarounds are a pain.

I bought a printer recently, sight unseen - solely on its
specification. It was by a reputable maker and claiming 1200 DPI, not
cheap by a long shot and I paid extra for Postscript and more memory.
It was an utter failure, and the maker later took it back.

All you find here at dealers, and all their staffs have heard of, is
home and general office stuff. There are a few manufacturers' branch
offices where, if you're lucky, you might get to speak to a sales
person but ask for a demo print and they throw up their hands and refer
you to Sydney, or New Delhi. Try getting a few test pages out of them.

I know that Fuji and GCC have machines that can do what I want, but
their prices, bulk, and duty cycles are more than I need.

On paper the Brother HL-5270DN and Brother HL-6050 look like
possibilities. Any comments?

Do Brother machines have genuine Postscript if that is a requirement?
According to http://www.itdatabases.com/profiles/by-id/7934/ the HL-5270
has Postscript emulation. I could be wrong, but I'm less than convinced
its really 1200 dpi.

It looks like the Ricoh Aficio AP410 might fit your bill, but this is
about three times the price of the Brother.

Another option (slightly less) might be the OKI B6300N, which seems to
have Postscript and 1200 dpi.

Or the Xerox Phaser 4500 series.

 

[neils]

G'day

By the way, I made a mistake in my post., "Which 1200 DPI laser
printer". I wrote 'I paid extra for Postscript and more memory'.

Actually the Postscript was included in the base price. I paid extra
for additional memory (needed to run Postscript according to the
manufacturer) and for two more years of warranty.

Neil

 

[neils]

G'day

By the way, I made a mistake in my post., "Which 1200 DPI laser
printer". I wrote 'I paid extra for Postscript and more memory'.

Actually the Postscript was included in the base price. I paid extra
for additional memory (needed to run Postscript according to the
manufacturer) and for two more years of warranty.

Neil

 

[neils]

G'day

To Warren Block

The printer was an Epson EPL-6200.

I suspect it is something of an 'orphan' in their local range, I had to
wait several weeks for the additional memory to come from Japan.

The Sydney techs did not seem at all familiar with it, but I must say
that once I mailed them copies of its attempt to print a Photoshop
0-100% greyscale gradient out of Photoshop and InDesign they promptly
decided to class it as 'DOA'.

To Timothy

According to the spec sheets neither the Brother HL-5270DN nor the
Brother HL-6050 have genuine Postscript, in both cases it is
'emulation'. That worries me, because all of my printers for years
(Apple and GCC) had genuine Postscript, I've had no dealings with
'emulation'. On the other hand the Epson EPL-6200 had genuine
Postscript too.


The spec for the Brother 5270 includes

"Mac OS 9.1 - 9.2 HQ1200 (2,400 x 600), True 1200x1200/ 600 / 300dpi
OSX 10.2.4 or greater."

That for their 6050D includes

"Engine Resolution - High
1200 x 1200 dpi
Engine Resolution - Normal
600 dpi
Engine Resolution - Draft
300 dpi"

No superscript note there with corresponding footnote in 4 point text
reading 'equivalent to' or somesuch as you find on some other brands,
seems pretty clearly 1200 DPI.

But I'd like to hear more about 'emulation'.

Neil

 

[Tom]

if ya need the name of a good toner supplier for brother machines email me I
have used their toner for 3 years now they are in US...ran me like $8 a
bottle

 

[blinkstudio]

Juat had a bad experience with a different reputable brand who are
taking their machine back.
My feeling now is that only genuine Adobe Postscript is accaptable (my
10-year old Apple Laserwriter made a better effort at a very complex
postscript job than the new machine with emulation, even if it did take
10 times as long).
As far as I can tell if you want real Adobe Postscript you have ONE
option:
Xerox.

 

[me]

Juat had a bad experience with a different reputable brand who are
taking their machine back.
My feeling now is that only genuine Adobe Postscript is accaptable (my
10-year old Apple Laserwriter made a better effort at a very complex
postscript job than the new machine with emulation, even if it did take
10 times as long).
As far as I can tell if you want real Adobe Postscript you have ONE
option:
Xerox.

My post also pointed out Ricoh and OKI have genuine postscript, but its
at 2-3 times the price of the Brother machines that were mentioned.

Personally it hasn't been an issue for me, for my own printing the
computer and printer talk to each other fine (occasionally the old
computer would be running out of memory and would mess up a page, but a
new computer solved that problem). My Xerox Phaser 8200 has genuine
Adobe Postscript Level 3. And my Canon CLC 950 has level 2. I print the
same documents to both printers without issue. My backup printer is
black only and has just got PCL 3 (or possibly 5 an HPIIIP) and that is
fine, except if I send it a page that's too big for its memory.

 

[Warren Block]

The printer was an Epson EPL-6200.

I suspect it is something of an 'orphan' in their local range, I had to
wait several weeks for the additional memory to come from Japan.
[snipped]

According to the spec sheets neither the Brother HL-5270DN nor the
Brother HL-6050 have genuine Postscript, in both cases it is
'emulation'. That worries me, because all of my printers for years
(Apple and GCC) had genuine Postscript, I've had no dealings with
'emulation'. On the other hand the Epson EPL-6200 had genuine
Postscript too.

Newer HP lasers have emulated PostScript. I can recall finding a few
problems, but they were so minor that I can't remember exactly what they
involved.

For serious use, I'd go with the midrange or higher HPs (model numbers
not starting with a "1"). My personal favorites are the LJ4000 series,
although the LJ5000 has some seriously nice output.