and a LaserWriter 12/640PS

[beachycove]

On top of my other conquest, I just picked up separately a free LaserWriter 12/640PS from my dentist's office (they had bought new equipment). I had been eyeing it up for years. Quite a day. Mind you, my wife doesn't know the extent of it yet.

The moral of this particular story, however, is this: It pays to speak nicely to Dental Receptionists.

Now to fire up a machine with LaserWriter Utility on it in order to see a) if it has printed less than a bazillion pages, and B) if it is quieter than the LaserWriter Pro that is currently in the office!

 

[aftermac]

Mind you, my wife doesn't know the extent of it yet.

Good luck with that!

 

[beachycove]

I reckon that as long as I tell her that I plan to sell it to finance my Mac habit, all should be well. Pray for me, brothers!

...

On another note, the LW12/640 turns out to have printed 112,248 pages since 1997. The serviceable life is probably something double or triple that, though, so as it would take me a very, very long time to print another 100,000 pp., I think this printer might just see me through the next decade — not least as, unlike my other two LaserWriters, this one will print over LPR.

It has also survived life for all these years with the stock 4MB of RAM. I gather that it will take a couple of 72-pin SIMMS, however, so in principle, I suspect that it could be taken up to 68MB. We'll see. It printed out a very nice test page on startup even at that.

It is, however, not noticeably quieter than the LaserWriter Pro, but a little lubrication of the fan could perhaps improve matters. Didn't these have a low power feature like their little brothers, the LW4/600s?

On that note, it does remind me very much of the LaserWriter 4/600 I have been using at home for the past couple of years, except that it's Big Brother. And the difference between them really shows up in print speed and connectivity. Given the trade-in discounts that I discovered over on vectronicsappleworld recently and that were available for buyers when the machine was new, it must have cost a bomb.

 

[Hrududu]

It'll do 64MB which is what I've got in mine. Right now mine has 67832 pages printed and MUCH faster than my Select 360. Very nice printer, and very quiet like you said. I still can't get my envelope feeder to work though, so I still have to print my envelopes on the 360. If you need a spare toner, the best price I've ever found on Apple toner's is http://www.performancetoner.com/m4683ga.html. I've had bad luck with "new old stock" Apple toner's on eBay.

 

[beachycove]

Is the fan meant to slow down in low power/ energy saver mode? The fan is rather energetic in my new toy.

 

[Hrududu]

I really can't say if I've noticed it slowing down while in power saving mode. Mine is surprisingly quiet, so I really don't know. I'll have to print a job and see if I can hear it spinning up faster.