is buffer size important?

[Cathy Morgan]

Comparing printers specs, I notice big differences in buffer
size. How important is this? What practical difference will
it make? I'm running windows 95 with 80mb ram, with a
PentMMX150 processor.

Does the buffer make a difference in whether or not the
printer can deal with large documents and photos? TIA

[Andrew Rossmann]

[This followup was posted to comp.periphs.printers and a copy was sent to
the cited author.]

In article <quEw7.149704$hh.12...@bin1.nnrp.aus1.giganews.com>,
cjmo...@hemc.net says...

For line-oriented printers (dot-matrix, inkjets), it doesn't really
matter much. It really only needs to hold enough information for a line or
two. The larger buffer mainly gives the ability for the computer to be
freed from sending data sooner.

For page-oriented printers (most lasers), it does affect the maximum
resolution you can print at. Today, memory is cheap enough that most
printers have more than enough memory for a full page of high-resolution
graphics.

--
If there is a no_junk in my address, please REMOVE it before replying!
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[Peach]

> For page-oriented printers (most lasers), it does affect the maximum
> resolution you can print at. Today, memory is cheap enough that most
> printers have more than enough memory for a full page of high-resolution
> graphics.
>

Have you checked 100pin dimms? Some places want $$$$$$$ for them.........

Although..................... http://www.crucial.com/

is probably one of the best places to get printer memory...

Joe

"Andrew Rossmann" <andyross@no_junk.worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.162cdf6cd...@netnews.att.net...

[Phil Weldon]

If your printer has an internal print engine that changes the graphics
language stream (Postscript 2 or PCL5 for example) then you will need a
relatively large amount of memory installed in the printer. My Lexmark 1200
dpi black and white laser printer requires a minimum of 10 Mbytes to print
an entire page at high resolution. In addition, to use the duplex printing
accessory, an additional 10 Mbytes are need, one for each side of the page.
Color Laser printers require even more buffer memory. The other benefit
from more memory installed in the printer is that entire jobs can be sent to
the printer, and the originating computer is completely free from any
demands by the printer.

The cheaper printers, especially the ink jet printers do not have an
internal print engine, and depend on the originating computer to rasterize
the image and send a bit stream to the printer. This means that a lot of
computer power is used for the entire duration of the print job. This will
be especially slow with your computer that has only a Pentium MMX 150 and 80
Mbytes RAM.

The short answer: for fast, high quality printing you need a printer with a
large buffer 10 Mbytes or more AND a fairly fast computer system to set up
the graphics language stream. If you have an inkjet printer with one
Megabyte of buffer memory or less, the computer system must set up the
entire image, and then stream it to the printer. A fast computer with
adequate memory will help a lot, but the results will still be slower than
for a printer with an internal print engine and 10 Mbytes or more of buffer
RAM.

For the situation you describe your limiting factor may be the slow CPU.
I'd suggest putting money in a new motherboard, CPU, and memory rather than
a Laser Printer with a large internal buffer. Best, of course, would be to
do both. The combination will let you print any content at the rated pages
per minute.

Phil Weldon, pwe...@mindspring.com

"Cathy Morgan" <cjmo...@hemc.net> wrote in message
news:quEw7.149704$hh.12...@bin1.nnrp.aus1.giganews.com...