IF 1995 WAS THE YEAR color laser printers became a reality, 1996 may mark the year they reach critical mass. New players are readying color laser printers for release this spring, among them Digital Equipment, engine-manufacturer Canon, and Panasonic. Driving several of these devices is technology from Electronics for Imaging, which is migrating its Fiery controller from color laser copiers to desktop printers. What marks this latest crop is faster print speeds and better output quality.
Digital Colorwriter LSR 2000
The Digital Colorwriter LSR 2000 is the first color laser printer to incorporate EFI's Fiery XJE controller, a scaled-down version of its popular PostScript processor for color laser copiers. EFI claims that its 100-MHz controller is capable of producing pages at the Canon engine's rated speed of 3 ppm in color and 12 ppm in monochrome. The PostScript printer produces 600-x-600-dpi continuous-tone color output. It ships with 32 MB of RAM (upgradable to 48 MB) and a 340-MB internal hard drive. Parallel, Ethernet, and SCSI ports are standard. Pricing for the unit, expected to ship in January, hadn't been set at press time. 800-344-4825 or 508-493-5111.
Canon 360PS
The manufacturer of the engine found in the Digital printer as well as in color laser printers from Apple and Lexmark plans to introduce a color laser printer under its own label. Because it also uses EFI's controller, the Canon 360PS will have specs similar to those of the Digital printer: 600-dpi continuous-tone color output at 3 ppm, with advanced image-processing and memory-compression schemes. It too will ship with 32 MB of RAM; a 340-MB hard drive; and parallel, Ethernet, and SCSI ports. The 360PS, scheduled to ship in February, will start at about $10,000. 800-652-2666 or 516-488-6700.
Panasonic KX-P8475
Based on an engine manufactured by parent company Matsushita, the Panasonic KX-P8475 is rated to produce pages at 3.5 ppm in color and 14 ppm in monochrome. It contains a 33-MHz RISC PostScript Level 2 controller. The printer also offers 600-dpi color and monochrome output. Slated for release this spring, the KX-P8475 ships with 8 MB of RAM (upgradable to 72 MB) and a parallel port; LocalTalk, Ethernet, and token ring are extra. Base price is about $6,500. 800-742-8086 or 201-348-7000.
Tektronix Phaser 550
Tektronix was first out of the gate with the Matsushita engine. In its second incarnation, the printer offers a higher resolution of 1,200 x 1,200 dpi for both color and monochrome and a faster color-output speed of 5 ppm at 600 dpi, thanks to all-new software and hardware components. Tektronix also announced PhaserLink, an Internet-based printer-management utility that takes advantage of Netscape Communications' browser to monitor printer status, change printer configuration, access technical support, and so on. Like the earlier Phaser 540 color laser printer, the Phaser 550 ships with SCSI and parallel ports; Ethernet, LocalTalk, and other network options are sold separately. The Phaser 550 is priced at $6,995. 800-835-6100 or 503-682-7377.
