Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Al,

It all depends on your price range.  Cheapest would be a 9-pin dot matrix.
These can be had for under $200.  For about $300, you can move up to a 24-pin
dot matrix.  Above that you get into ink-jet and laser printers.  This is
assuming you want black and white.  Color is another option.

I'll comment on dot matrix:  If you go this route, you'll be much happier to
spend another $100 or so and get a 24-pin.  The best two I've seen are the
Panasonix KXP-1124 and the Star NX2400.  I have the Star and am very happy
with it.  Each has it's own advantages/disadvantages, I'm sure.

DIR/TITLE=PRINT should point you to more information.

Good luck,

...richard

    I just went through the exercise of choosing a printer, so I can
    sympathize with your predicament.  
    
    There are several types on printers:
    
    	Daisywheel
    	Thermal paper
    	9 pin dot matrix
    	24 pin dot matrix
    	Ink jet / laser
    
    The daisywheel printers provide letter quality output (because they are
    essentially typewriters) but they are slow, noisy, and cannot do
    graphics.  To switch fonts, you have to switch daisywheels.
    
    Thermal paper printers are cheap to buy but expesive to run since they
    require special paper.  Be aware that the Okimate color printer that sells
    for as little as $99 is a thermal paper printer...
    
    9 pin dot matrix printers are fairly inexpensive and do a pretty good
    job if you aren't too picky about print quality.  Many (most) have a
    Near Letter Quality mode in which the print head makes two passes. 
    They usually have several fonts installed and several heights/widths
    available.  Some can downline load additional fonts.  They also do
    graphics. Prices are in the $200 to 400 range.
    
    24 pin printers look and operate much the same as a 9 pin, but the
    output looks better because of the finer granularity that the
    additional pins provide.  NLQ on a 24 pin printer looks pretty darn
    good.  Prices are in the $350 to $550 range.
    
    Laser printers provide excellent output -- for a price.  Prices are in
    the $2k to $4k range.
    
    
    The "right" printer for you depends on what your needs and wants will
    be over the next 3 years and on the amount of money you are willing to
    spen.  I wanted the best letter quality output possible and I wanted
    graphics.  I couldn't afford a laser printer.  I considered a
    daisywheel for documents + a 9 pin for graphics, but that wouldn't
    permit me to integrate text and graphics easily.  So I decided on a 24
    pin.  I finally bought a Panasonic 1124.
    
    You milage may vary :-)
    
    
    John B.

    
    I have a NEC Pinwriter 5200 ( 24 pin ).  I like it a lot.  I don't
    know the price because it was donated to the charity I work with
    however I am running it on both my amiga and an IBM clone.  I use
    Wordperfect on the Amiga and Multi-mate on the IBM and both
    seem to work fine.  The near letter quality is excellent and it
    also allows for sheet feeding without removing the tractor fed
    paper, a great feature!
    
    Harry

	I recently upgraded my printer to an HP DeskJet PLUS.  It's a 300dpi
ink jet (normal paper) printer.  It gives lasar quality output for about $700.
In fact, not having a WordPerfect driver for it, and not wanting to go through
the PRINTDEF routine, I did what the DeskJet manual suggested - I told
WordPerfect it was a LasarJet.  That works fine, since they're compatible.
The output from AmigaTeX (there's a DeskJet driver here) looks great on it,
also.

	I think this is probably one of the best values in terms of
price/performance.

Mark

P. S. RE: .2  The Okimate-20 is NOT a thermal paper printer.  It uses a thermal
process to transfer colours from the ribbon to the (non-thermal) paper.

    Us poor people (my review is coming up :-) ) make do with what ever we
    can get our mits on. In my case it is an old LA50. It is ideal for my
    current needs.
    
    Now that I have got my hard disk going, I shall probably start on the
    road to buying applications that require higher resolution printing; in
    which case I may well need a new printer. So my first port of call will
    be the printers that Digital badge, and see what sort of deal employee
    purchase can come up with.
    
    However, the printer I chose will match my needs; and the LA50 I have
    (which Digital was throwing away) meets my current needs. LA75 or
    LA100s may prove interesting - anybody got experience of these
    printers?
    
    Then again, if it were a toss up between a $500 dot matrix printer and
    a $700 HP Deskjet PLUS, then there's no contest; given the HP Deskjet
    is reliable, and doesn't break down as frequently as our LPS40; then
    again it won't get hammered as much.
    
    Angus