If It Prints, I'll Let You Know

Before the Mac and the iPhone Was the Apple Printer

Before Apple became synonymous to anything with an i- or a Mac-, it was primarily a printer manufacturer – one of the rather well known in its time. A feature on PC World takes a trip down memory lane, reminiscing about the best printers that came from Apple, at a time when printers were far from the sleek, compact inkjet beauties that we know today.

Among them is the Apple LaserWriter 8500, released in August of 1997. It was a workgroup printer that can handle multiple paper sizes as well as heavy work load. Its hefty size is accompanied by an equally hefty price tag, at $3,100. It proved to be the last printer that Apple produced.

Then there is the Apple StyleWriter, introduced in March 1991 and was one of the inkjet printers that began to take over what was previously the realm of dot-matrix printers. At $599, it was one of the more affordable consumer printers that could provide good-quality graphics.

The most memorable Apple printer is identified as the Apple LaserWriter, released in March 1985. At $6,995, it was definitely not your printer-next-door; it was the fourth laser printer that was released, but was the only one with “an inexpensive, easy-to-use GUI-based PC to properly utilize the new technology” – the Apple Macintosh.