I'm looking for a printer which could be used to take most of the load off
our our photopier. Particular characteristics I need include:
1) Operates at a speed of at least 20 PPM
2) Understands Ethernet
3) Understands LPD protocols (i.e. BSD Unix printing)
4) Understands PAP protocols (i.e. Macintosh printing)
5) Understands PostScript
6) Can print on both sides of a page
7) Can staple the pages of each copy together
8) Pages come out in "per copy" order, as opposed to "per page" order
(e.g. 1,2,3<staple>, 1,2,3<staple>, 1,2,3<staple>...)
9) Does not require each page to be repeatedly sent.
10) Has a supplies and maintenance cost of about $.01 per page
(plus paper), which is aproximately our photocopier's cost.
11) Duty cycle of at least 20,000 pages per month.
While researching solutions, I arrived at the conclusion that I am slightly
ahead of my time. It looks like many companies are moving towards the
printer that I want. I expect to see my dream printer available from many
companies in a couple of years. Meanwhile, here is a list of the "closest"
things I could find. I did not consider printers without a duplexing
(2-sided printing) option.
HP LaserJet 5si MX
Duplex printing, a large paper tray and a "multi-bin mailbox"
are available as options. Does not collate (internally) or staple.
Interestingly enough, the mailbox looks remarkably similar to the
staple-sorter on our photopier.
600 DPI, 24 pages per minute; 100,000 pages per month.
http://www.dmo.hp.com/peripherals/printers/lj5simx.html
Cannon gp30F
A 30PPM photocopier with a RIP attached. 400DPI. Does all of
the above. Cost is $20,000 to $30,000. Apparently, this is the only
photocopier on the market with an attached RIP. Our sales rep. expects
that the rip will find its way to other photocopiers in the next couple
of years and that the price will drop significantly.
Xerox Docuprint
The Xerox docuprint received the most responses. Apparently, it will do
what we want, but is just a little bit "bigger" than our needs or our
budget.
300 DPI, optional "High-Capacity Stitcher/Stacker".
Model 350-HC 50 pages per minute; 750,000 pages per month
Model 390 92 pages per minute; 2,000,000 pages per month
http://www.xerox.com/Products/DocuPrint/Overview.html
Dec Printserver
Duplex printing, a large paper tray and a "mailbox" are available as
options. Does not collate or staple. I could not find information
about the mailbox on their web site. Does not understand PAP
(macintosh printing). 600 DPI.
17/600 17 pages per minute; 70,000 pages per month
32 plus not specified (32?); 200,000 pages per month
http://www2.service.digital.com/DECdirect/html/PrintServer-Family.html
Thanks to:
rlancaster@cs.bgsu.edu (Ron Lancaster)
perryh@pluto.rain.com (Perry Hutchison)
jeffw@triple-i.com (Jeff Wasilko)
Ric Anderson <ric@rtd.com>
"Gary W. Marine" <marineg@lists.hv.boeing.com>
-- William C. DenBesten <DenBesten@cs.bgsu.edu> Computer and Network Systems Administrator Department of Computer Science Bowling Green State University Bowling Green Ohio 43403-0214.
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