![]() Apple ImageWriter II Apple ImageWriter II ![]() Apple ultimately chose the Trendcom Model 200 as the basis for the Silentype, which was nearly identical to Apple’s model aside from a “Silentype” badge and custom interface hardware designed by Apple engineers.įrom then on, Apple would always base its printers on technology from other companies, choosing to incorporate existing printer engines (like those from Canon or HP), or to simply rebrand an existing model with an Apple name. When Apple needed a printer, it didn’t say, “Here, Woz, design us an amazing new printer that only uses 3 parts.” Apple looked outside the company for an engineering solution, perhaps even for the first time. However, this technology (commonly used for receipts today) is notoriously impermanent, making it a poor choice for serious hard copy use.Īside from being Apple’s first printer, the Silentype is perhaps most important because of the precedent it set. This made the printer smaller, quieter, and even less expensive than most printers on the market, which typically used the dot matrix printing technique. The Silentype printed on special heat-sensitive paper that darkened when heated. In retrospect, Apple’s first printer seems like an underwhelming effort. Its translucent-green accents foreshadowed the radical design revolution Apple’s products would undergo the following year, making it the closest thing to an “iPrinter” you’ll ever find. The LaserWriter 8500 itself was a beast of a machine as a 600-dpi workgroup printer, Apple designed it to handle multiple paper sizes and a heavy workload (20 pages per minute). Apple downsized its printer division and ceased work on new printers, but still produced a few models-like the 8500-until 1999.īy that time, printers had become a cutthroat business with low profit margins, and universal standards like USB and Ethernet (both supported by Apple in 1998) obviated the need for Apple to provide specialized printers to interface with the Macintosh’s unique LocalTalk port or to operate on an exclusively AppleTalk network. It also marked the end of a famous brand that revolutionized publishing.Īpple endured a famously bad financial first half of the 1990s, and while cleaning house around 1997, Apple decided that printers weren’t part of its core business. Why it’s important: The LaserWriter 8500 is much more important symbolically than technologically: as the last printer Apple introduced, it marked the end of a long line of technical excellence in Apple printers. Apple LaserWriter 8500 Apple LaserWriter 8500
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