Apple Computer Inc is reckoned to be readying at least two printers for an October announcement, US PC Week reports. Sources said the devices will include a tabloid-size laser printer and a colour inkjet model. The LaserWriter 16/600/PS will be based on Canon Inc’s 16 page per minute, 600 dots per inches LBP-BXII engine. This engine recently made its debut in machines from Atlanta, Georgia-based QMS Inc and Mobile, Alabama-based Xante Corp. According to the sources, the printer will be priced at about the same as the $4,900 LaserWriter Pro 810 it will replace. The 810 is based on a Fuji Xerox Ltd engine. The LaserWriter 16/600/PS will feature Adobe PostScript Level 2, including PostScript facsimile capabilities. It will offer parallel, serial and LocalTalk ports as well as an Ethernet interface that supports Internet Package Exchange and Transmission Control Protocol-Internet Protocol networks, sources said. The printer is expected to be driven by a 40MHz Am29000 RISC and to include 16Mb of RAM, expandable to 64Mb. Apple is said to be looking at producing a version of the 16/600/PS that will use the same Canon engine but lacks some of the high-end features. The Color StyleWriter 2400 will be based on a Canon inkjet engine that is easier and less costly to manufacture than the current Color StyleWriter Pro. Although it will closely resemble the current model, the 2400’s external plastic will weigh less than the Pro’s. The 2400 will reportedly output letter size pages at up to 400 dots per inch, slightly higher than the Pro model’s 360 dpi. The 2400’s print speed of two pages per minute monochrome and one page every two minutes for colour is identical to the speeds of the Pro. One departure from the StyleWriter Pro will be the ink transfer mechanism. The 2400 will use a pair of cartridges, one for black and another providing cyan, magenta and yellow, similar to the method used in Hewlett-Packard Co’s colour inkjet models. The StyleWriter Pro’s ink-supply system uses four separate matchbox-size cartridges, which is advantageous for printing more of particular colours, such as two-colour logos. The StyleWriter 2400 is expected to have a street price of $500, about $100 less than the StyleWriter Pro. Apple is expected to cut the price of the Pro, discontinuing it when supplies run out. Apple declined to comment.
