11 Facts About LaserWriter

LaserWriter is a laser printer with built-in PostScript interpreter sold by Apple, Inc from 1985 to 1988.

In combination with WYSIWYG publishing software like PageMaker, that operated on top of the graphical user interface of Macintosh computers, the LaserWriter was a key component at the beginning of the desktop publishing revolution.

LaserWriter was announced at Apple's annual shareholder meeting on January 23, 1985, the same day Aldus announced PageMaker.

However, the LaserWriter featured AppleTalk support that allowed the printer to be shared among as many as sixteen Macs, meaning that its per-user price could fall to under $450, far less expensive than HP's less-advanced model.

For implementation purposes, the LaserWriter employed a small number of medium-scale-integration Monolithic Memories PALs, and no custom LSI, whereas the LaserJet employed a large number of small-scale-integration Texas Instruments 74-Series gates, and one custom LSI.

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The LaserWriter was, thereby, in the same form factor, able to provide much greater function, and, indeed, much greater performance, all within the very same LBP-CX form factor, although the external packaging was, for marketing purposes, somewhat different.

Since the cost of a LaserWriter was several times that of a dot-matrix impact printer, some means to share the printer with several Macs was desired.

The LaserWriter offered a generally faithful proofing tool for preparing documents for quantity publication, and could print smaller quantities directly.

LaserWriter was the first major printer designed by Apple to use the new Snow White design language created by Frog Design.

LaserWriter was the first peripheral to use the LocalTalk connector and Apple's unified round AppleTalk Connector Family, which allowed any variety of mechanical networking systems to be plugged into the ports on the computers or printers.

In 1988, to address the need for both an affordable printer and a professional printer, the LaserWriter II was designed to allow for complete replacement of the computer circuit board that operates the printer.