Apple has produced several lines of printers in its history, but no longer produces or supports these devices today. Though some early products use thermal technology, Apple's products can be broadly divided into three lines: ImageWriter (dot matrix), LaserWriter (PostScript laser), and StyleWriter (thermal inkjet).

Early products Apple's first printer was the Apple Silentype, released in June 1979, shortly after the Apple II Plus. The Silentype was a thermal printer, which used a special paper and provided 80 column output. Also compatible with the Apple III, the Silentype was a rebranded Trendcom 200.

The Apple Dot Matrix Printer (often shortened to Apple DMP) is a printer manufactured by C. Itoh and sold under Apple label in 1982 for the Apple II series, Lisa, and the Apple III. Apple followed this release with a Qume daisy wheel engine, the Apple Letter Quality Printer (also known as the Apple Daisy Wheel Printer), in January 1983. This printer could print at forty characters per second. Also in 1983, Apple released its only plotter, the Apple Color Plotter. This printer moved and rotated four color pens along the horizontal axis, the device moving the paper into order to allow its pens to render along the vertical axis. The Apple Scribe Printer was a thermal transfer printer, first introduced in 1984 alongside the Apple IIc for a relatively low retail price, and compatible with the Apple IIe computer.

Image Name Type Interface DPI Introduced Discontinued NotesSilentypeThermalserialN/AUses nonstandard DE-9 pinoutDot Matrix PrinterDot MatrixparallelN/A9-pinDaisy Wheel PrinterDaisy WheelserialN/AOffers graphicsColor PlotterPlotterserialN/AScribeThermalserial144Reviewed

Dot-matrix series

Image Name Type Interface DPI Introduced Discontinued NotesImageWriterDot matrixserial1449-pinImageWriter IIDot matrixserial160x1449-pinImageWriter LQDot matrixserial320x21627-pin, Letter Quality

Laser printer series

The LaserWriter was a laser printer with built-in PostScript interpreter introduced by Apple in 1985. It was one of the first laser printers available to the mass market. In combination with WYSIWYG publishing software like PageMaker, that operated on top of the graphical user interface of Macintosh computers, the LaserWriter was a key component at the beginning of the desktop publishing revolution.H. A. Tucker: Desktop Publishing. In: Maurice M. de Ruiter: Advances in Computer Graphics III. Springer, 1988, , P. 296.Michael B. Spring: Electronic printing and publishing: the document processing revolution. CRC Press, 1991, , Page 46.

Image Name Type Interface Engine PPM DPI Introduced Discontinued Weight NotesLaserWriterPostScriptlaserserialLocalTalkCanonLBP-CX830077 lbs.LaserWriter PlusPostScriptlaserserialLocalTalkCanonLBP-CX830077 lbs.LaserWriter II SCQuickDrawlaserSCSICanonLBP-SX830045 lbs.LaserWriter II NTPostScriptlaserserialLocalTalkCanonLBP-SX830045 lbs.LaserWriter II NTXPostScriptlaserserialLocalTalkCanonLBP-SX830045 lbs.LaserWriter II fPostScriptlaserserialLocalTalkCanonLBP-SX830045 lbs.LaserWriter II gPostScriptlaserserialLocalTalkAAUICanonLBP-SX830045 lbs.Personal LaserWriter SCQuickDrawlaserSCSICanonLBP-LX430032 lbs.Personal LaserWriter NTPostScriptlaserserialLocalTalkCanonLBP-LX430032 lbs.Personal LaserWriter LSQuickDrawlaserserialCanonLBP-LX430031 lbs.Personal LaserWriter NTRPostScriptlaserserialLocalTalkparallelCanonLBP-LX430029.5 lbs.Personal LaserWriter 300QuickDrawlaserserialCanonLBP-PX430015.4 lbs.Personal LaserWriter 320PostScriptlaserLocalTalkCanonLBP-PX430015.4 lbs.LaserWriter Pro 600PostScriptlaserserialLocalTalkparallelCanonLBP-EX860039 lbs.LaserWriter Pro 630PostScriptlaserserialLocalTalkparallelAAUICanonLBP-EX860039 lbs.LaserWriter Pro 810PostScriptlaserserialLocalTalkAAUIFuji/XeroxXP 202080081 lbs.two built-in paper traysLaserWriter Select 300QuickDrawlaserserialFuji/XeroxXP 5 (P1)530026 lbs.LaserWriter Select 310PostScriptlaserserialparallelFuji/XeroxXP 5 (P1)530026 lbs.LaserWriter Select 360PostScriptlaserserialLocalTalkparallelFuji/XeroxXP 10 (P1)1060029 lbs.LaserWriter 16/600 PSPostScriptlaserLocalTalkparallelAAUICanonLBP-EX17600 40 lbs.LaserWriter 4/600PostScriptlaserLocalTalkCanonLBP-PX4600unknown15.4 lbs.LaserWriter 12/640 PSPostScriptlaserAAUILocalTalkparallelFuji/XeroxP89312600199726.5 lbs.8 ppm duplexLaserWriter 8500PostScriptlaserEthernetLocalTalkparallelFuji/XeroxP88020600January 199970.4 lbs.11x17 paper trayColor LaserWriter 12/600PostScriptlaserEthernetLocalTalkparallelCanonLBP-HX12600110 lbs.3 ppm in colorColor LaserWriter 12/660PostScriptlaserEthernetLocalTalkparallelCanonLBP-HX126001997110 lbs.3 ppm in color

Inkjet series

The StyleWriter was the first of Apple's line of inkjet serial printers, targeted mainly towards consumers. They produced print quality that was better than the dot matrix ImageWriters, and were cheaper than the LaserWriters. All but a few models contained Canon print engines, a few were rebadged Canon printers, while the last few were rebadged HP DeskJet printers.

The Apple Color Printer was the first color inkjet printer sold by Apple. Introduced in 1993 alongside the StyleWriter II, it was a rebadged Canon BJC-820 printer. Its maximum resolution was 360 DPI and connected to the computer via SCSI. Unlike many inkjet printers of the time, the Apple Color Printer did not suffer from print slowdowns caused by slow communication from the computer performing rasterization, since the SCSI bus is relatively fast. The model was discontinued in 1994 when Apple introduced the Color StyleWriter series of printers.

Image Name Type Interface Engine PPM DPI Introduced Discontinued Weight NotesStyleWritermonochromethermalinkjetserialCanon0.53607.5 lbs.StyleWriter IImonochromethermalinkjetserialCanon13606.6 lbs.Portable StyleWritermonochromethermalinkjetparallelCanon0.53604.5 lbs.Cable adapter allowed connection to serialColor StyleWriter ProcolorthermalinkjetserialCanon2/0.536011 lbs.StyleWriter 1200monochromethermalinkjetserialCanon1360unknown6.6 lbs.Color StyleWriter 2400colorthermalinkjetserialCanon3360unknown7.9 lbs.LocalTalk optionColor StyleWriter 2200colorthermalinkjetserialCanon3720x360unknown3.1 lbs.portableColor StyleWriter 1500colorthermalinkjetserialCanon3720x360unknown5.5 lbs.LocalTalk option, EtherTalk optionColor StyleWriter 2500colorthermalinkjetserialCanon3720x360unknown6.9 lbs.LocalTalk option, EtherTalk optionColor StyleWriter 4100colorthermalinkjetserialLocalTalkHP5600unknown11.7 lbs.Color StyleWriter 4500colorthermalinkjetserialLocalTalkHP5600unknown11.7 lbs.Color StyleWriter 6500colorthermalinkjetserialLocalTalkparallelHP8/4600unknown14.3 lbs.EtherTalk option

References

External links Technical Specifications for Apple Color Printer Edwards, Benj (10 December 2009). "A look back at Apple's Printers". Macworld.