Apple Introduced the LaserWriter 40 Years Ago Today

Apple introduced the LaserWriter 40 years ago today, forming a cornerstone of what became known as the desktop publishing revolution.

apple laserwriter
The LaserWriter was Apple's first laser printer and among the first on the market to incorporate Adobe's PostScript technology, a page description language that allowed for precise and scalable rendering of text, layouts, and graphics. It was a significant departure from the dot-matrix printers of the time.

The LaserWriter was powered by a Motorola 68000 microprocessor—the same processor used in the Macintosh. With a built-in programming language, its own RAM, and a CPU that ran at a higher speed than the Macintosh, the LaserWriter printer had the most processing power of any Apple product of the time.

With a resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi), the LaserWriter delivered print quality previously achievable only with expensive professional typesetting equipment. The printer was priced at $6,995 upon its release (almost $24,000 today).

Apple's introduction of the LaserWriter coincided with the launch of the AppleTalk networking protocol, which allowed multiple Macintosh computers to share a single printer, which was unprecedented at the time and revolutionized printing in offices.

Paired with the Macintosh and software such as Aldus PageMaker, the printer enabled users to design and print professional-quality materials, such as brochures, newsletters, and advertisements, directly from their desktops. This effectively democratized publishing by making tools that were once exclusive to large printing firms accessible to small businesses, educators, and independent creators.

Apple evolved the LaserWriter product line into a range of models, including the high-performance LaserWriter Pro series and the more affordable Personal LaserWriter. As competitors like HP and Canon introduced more cost-effective laser printers with comparable features, and third-party printers became increasingly compatible with Apple systems, the LaserWriter lost its competitive edge. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, peripheral products like printers were deemed non-essential and the LaserWriter was discontinued.

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Top Rated Comments

abusbey3 Avatar
9 months ago
We bought one as soon as they came out and connected to our departmental AppleTalk network. Other faculty could not believe we could print things that looked like they had go to an offset printing company. They were amazing.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
System603 Avatar
9 months ago

Printing a photo in black and white could take up to an hour ?
That's still true with many current printers, only in a different way ?
- low on magenta when printing black text
- paper jam
- no paper in tray #2
- no print jobs in queue
...


Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
9081094 Avatar
9 months ago
I still remember with my Macintosh plus with an scsi external harddrive of 20mb and a radius screen.

Printing a photo in black and white could take up to an hour ?
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wbrat Avatar
9 months ago
As Apple is so interested in health these days, it should make a printer again that "just works" - it would save so many lives by preventing heart attacks and nervous breakdowns...
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
epox999 Avatar
9 months ago

When Ethernet came along. Ethernet was an open standard and able to have higher transfer throughput
You may mean TCP/IP, ethernet is a connection type / technology, TCP/IP is the protocol that replaced the AppleTalk protocol

AppleTalk support was removed in 2009 in MacOS 10.6
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lcseds Avatar
9 months ago
This was based on a Canon engine. I worked with an Apple engineer to fix the tray/feed jam errors resulting in a new tray design. Had to change oil in it when a fuser was replaced. Jeebus I'm old.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)