[geeks] Printers, postscript, networking...

[Phil Brutsche]

Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> I have been looking at the HP 1320. $300, 14x14 footprint, duplexor, and has
> PostScript. It seems sturdy enough, and has a monthly duty cycle greater than
> what I usually print in a year.
> 
> Anyone care to comment on them?

The 1320 is a great printer... as long as you don't need to rely on
PostScript.

At work we have the following HP laser printers:

LaserJet 2200 x3
LaserJet 4050 x2
LaserJet 8000 x1
LaserJet 2430 x1
Color LaserJet 2500 x1

The PostScript emulation in the older units (4050 and 8000) rocks -
never a single problem.

The PostScript emulation in the 2200 is marginal at best - we
occasionally get PDFs that cause an exception error in the PS engine.

The newer units (CLJ 2500 and 2430) are even worse - certain types of
jobs will cause an exception error *every single time*.  I got fed up
and made them PCL only.

I would still go with an HP, as opposed to a Brother (yuk!), Samsung, or
Xerox, just because it's easy to find a local shop that will fix it
cheaply!  Oh, and GhostScript can hide any PS emulation problems ;)

-- 

Phil Brutsche
phil at tux.obix.com