The flatbed image scanner for the Macintosh that was expected from Apple in August, is now tipped to for next month. Microbytes hears that the scanner was delayed because a companion product, linked to the scanner in a planned advertising campaign, was not ready. The newswire hears that the scanner, which links to the SCSI port, has 300 dots per inch resolution, and uses the Pixel BitMap format; it will likely cost around $1,600. Expected to support line drawing and offer a 4-bit-deep grey scale for photographs, it will also have 75 dpi fast-scan for test printing.Also expected at January’s MacWorld Expo in San Francisco are three new laser printers driven by the new Canon LBP-SX engine, to replace the LaserWriter line. According to Newsbytes, the low-end model will rely on the Macintosh Quickdraw language, but it is expected to be upgradeable with a 68000-based peripheral card to run PostScript applications. Two slots in the low-end printer will also accommodate cards for Ethernet, extra fonts or memory boards. It is expected to sell for $2,500. Like the current LaserWriters, the mid-range and high-end models will have PostScript in ROM: the mid-range printer is expected to be an upgraded LaserWriter Plus with the new engine, and expansion slots. The fast high-end printer will be driven by a 16MHz Motorola 68020 processor.
