Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-pcd!hpvcfs1!rickk
From: rickk@hpvcfs1.HP.COM (Rick Klaus)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: DeskJet, PaintJet and DeskWriter
Message-ID: <780033@hpvcfs1.HP.COM>
Date: 14 Aug 89 16:10:51 GMT
References: <9291@pwcs.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Vancouver, WA
Lines: 31

>The DeskWriter has a list price of $200 over the DeskJet +, so I
>seriously doubt that you're going to get one for the same or less. You
>can run a DeskJet or DeskJet + quite satisfactorily with the
>completely free HPDJ driver, or spend only $79 for the really excellent
>MacPrint driver.

The DeskWriter does list for more, but several booths at MacWorld were
selling it for $775.  Once you add the price of the third party driver
to the DJ+ cost, you are in the same ballpark.  In addition, the DW driver
has been extensively tested and is compatible with most Mac Applications.
MacWeek "expected to find many more problems than [they] encountered."
You are not going to get this with a Public Domain driver.

>We went the "real cheap" route and bought a lowly DeskJet. They can now
>be had for $500 or even less. With the MacPrint driver they offer
>everything we'd use in the MUCH more expensive DeskWriter except for
>speed. Our printing demands are simply not high enough to justify the
>much greater expense. Since MacPrint supports both the built-in and
>cartridge fonts of the DeskJet (neither of which are available on the
>DeskWriter), we can actually get the same speed out of our DeskJet as
>a DeskWriter by using them.

The DeskJet is cheaper, but the speed is SO much slower that it is almost
unbearable.  As for cartridge fonts speeding things up, you are throwing
WYSIWYG out the window when you try to mix Mac fonts and graphics with
printer fonts.

>Michael Connick    att!mtfmi!mec        201-957-3057

Rick Klaus
hpvcfs1!rickk