Apple launched the LaserWriter 40 years in the past right now, forming a cornerstone of what grew to become generally known as the desktop publishing revolution.
The LaserWriter was Apple’s first laser printer and among the many first available on the market to include Adobe’s PostScript know-how, a web page description language that allowed for exact and scalable rendering of textual content, layouts, and graphics. It was a major departure from the dot-matrix printers of the time.
The LaserWriter was powered by a Motorola 68000 microprocessor—the identical processor used within the Macintosh. With a built-in programming language, its personal RAM, and a CPU that ran at the next velocity than the Macintosh, the LaserWriter printer had essentially the most processing energy of any Apple product of the time.
With a decision of 300 dots per inch (dpi), the LaserWriter delivered print high quality beforehand achievable solely with costly skilled typesetting tools. The printer was priced at $6,995 upon its launch (virtually $24,000 right now).
Apple’s introduction of the LaserWriter coincided with the launch of the AppleTalk networking protocol, which allowed a number of Macintosh computer systems to share a single printer, which was unprecedented on the time and revolutionized printing in places of work.
Paired with the Macintosh and software program reminiscent of Aldus PageMaker, the printer enabled customers to design and print professional-quality supplies, reminiscent of brochures, newsletters, and commercials, immediately from their desktops. This successfully democratized publishing by making instruments that had been as soon as unique to giant printing corporations accessible to small companies, educators, and unbiased creators.
Apple advanced the LaserWriter product line into a spread of fashions, together with the high-performance LaserWriter Professional collection and the extra reasonably priced Private LaserWriter. As rivals like HP and Canon launched less expensive laser printers with comparable options, and third-party printers grew to become more and more appropriate with Apple techniques, the LaserWriter misplaced its aggressive edge. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, peripheral merchandise like printers had been deemed non-essential and the LaserWriter was discontinued.