List of Apple printers


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, LaserWriter, and StyleWriter.

Early products

Apple's first printer release 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 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, 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.
ImageNameTypeInterfaceDPIIntroducedDiscontinuedNotes
SilentypeThermalproprietary DB-9N/AInterface pinout
Dot Matrix PrinterDot MatrixparallelN/A9-pin
Daisy Wheel PrinterDaisy Wheelserial DB-25N/AunknownOffers graphics
Color PlotterPlotterserialN/Aunknown
ScribeThermalserial144unknownReviewed

Dot-matrix series

ImageNameTypeInterfaceDPIIntroducedDiscontinuedNotes
ImageWriterDot matrixserial1449-pin
ImageWriter IIDot matrixserial160x1449-pin
ImageWriter 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.
ImageNameTypeInterfaceEnginePPMDPIIntroducedDiscontinuedWeightNotes
LaserWriterPostScript
laser
serial
LocalTalk
Canon
LBP-CX
830077 lbs.
LaserWriter PlusPostScript
laser
serial
LocalTalk
Canon
LBP-CX
830077 lbs.
LaserWriter II SCQuickDraw
laser
SCSICanon
LBP-SX
830045 lbs.
LaserWriter II NTPostScript
laser
serial
LocalTalk
Canon
LBP-SX
830045 lbs.
LaserWriter II NTXPostScript
laser
serial
LocalTalk
Canon
LBP-SX
830045 lbs.
LaserWriter II fPostScript
laser
serial
LocalTalk
Canon
LBP-SX
830045 lbs.
LaserWriter II gPostScript
laser
serial
LocalTalk
AAUI
Canon
LBP-SX
830045 lbs.
Personal LaserWriter SCQuickDraw
laser
SCSICanon
LBP-LX
430032 lbs.
Personal LaserWriter NTPostScript
laser
serial
LocalTalk
Canon
LBP-LX
4300unknown32 lbs.
Personal LaserWriter LSQuickDraw
laser
serialCanon
LBP-LX
430031 lbs.
Personal LaserWriter NTRPostScript
laser
serial
LocalTalk
parallel
Canon
LBP-LX
430029.5 lbs.
Personal LaserWriter 300QuickDraw
laser
serialCanon
LBP-PX
4300unknown15.4 lbs.
Personal LaserWriter 320PostScript
laser
LocalTalkCanon
LBP-PX
430015.4 lbs.
LaserWriter Pro 600PostScript
laser
serial
LocalTalk
parallel
Canon
LBP-EX
860039 lbs.
LaserWriter Pro 630PostScript
laser
serial
LocalTalk
parallel
AAUI
Canon
LBP-EX
860039 lbs.
LaserWriter Pro 810PostScript
laser
serial
LocalTalk
AAUI
Fuji/Xerox
XP 20
2080081 lbs.two built-in paper trays
LaserWriter Select 300QuickDraw
laser
serialFuji/Xerox
XP 5
530026 lbs.
LaserWriter Select 310PostScript
laser
serial
parallel
Fuji/Xerox
XP 5
530026 lbs.
LaserWriter Select 360PostScript
laser
serial
LocalTalk
parallel
Fuji/Xerox
XP 10
1060029 lbs.
LaserWriter 16/600 PSPostScript
laser
LocalTalk
parallel
AAUI
Canon
LBP-EX
17600unknown40 lbs.
LaserWriter 4/600PostScript
laser
LocalTalkCanon
LBP-PX
4600unknown15.4 lbs.
LaserWriter 12/640 PSPostScript
laser
AAUI
LocalTalk
parallel
Fuji/Xerox12600unknown26.5 lbs.8 ppm duplex
LaserWriter 8500PostScript
laser
Ethernet
LocalTalk
parallel
Fuji/Xerox20600unknown70.4 lbs.11x17 paper tray-
Color LaserWriter 12/600PostScript
laser
Ethernet
LocalTalk
parallel
Canon12600unknown110 lbs.3 ppm in color
Color LaserWriter 12/660PostScript
laser
Ethernet
LocalTalk
parallel
Canon12600unknown110 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.
ImageNameTypeInterfaceEnginePPMDPIIntroducedDiscontinuedWeightNotes
StyleWritermonochrome
thermal
inkjet
serialCanon0.53607.5 lbs.
StyleWriter IImonochrome
thermal
inkjet
serialCanon13606.6 lbs.
Portable StyleWritermonochrome
thermal
inkjet
parallelCanon0.53604.5 lbs.Cable adapter allowed connection to serial
Color StyleWriter Procolor
thermal
inkjet
serialCanon2/0.536011 lbs.-
StyleWriter 1200monochrome
thermal
inkjet
serialCanon1360unknown6.6 lbs.
Color StyleWriter 2400color
thermal
inkjet
serialCanon3360unknown7.9 lbs.LocalTalk option
Color StyleWriter 2200color
thermal
inkjet
serialCanon3720x360unknown3.1 lbs.portable
Color StyleWriter 1500color
thermal
inkjet
serialCanon3720x360unknown5.5 lbs.LocalTalk option, EtherTalk option-
Color StyleWriter 2500color
thermal
inkjet
serialCanon3720x360unknown6.9 lbs.LocalTalk option, EtherTalk option
Color StyleWriter 4100color
thermal
inkjet
serial
LocalTalk
HP5600unknown11.7 lbs.-
Color StyleWriter 4500color
thermal
inkjet
serial
LocalTalk
HP5600unknown11.7 lbs.
Color StyleWriter 6500color
thermal
inkjet
serial
LocalTalk
parallel
HP8/4600unknown14.3 lbs.EtherTalk option-