Texas Instruments Inc has expanded its microLaser printer family and says that with an entry price of UKP2,400, the microLaser XL significantly lowers the price threshold for high performance page printers. The microLaser XL is available in three models, all with Hewlett-Packard LaserJet Series II emulation. Other features include an Adobe PostScript interpreter and 17 scalable PostScript fonts, and Texas Instruments says that its proprietary semiconductors integrate the PCL and PostScript standards, allowing either mode to be selected without restarting the printer. The average print speed is 16 pages per minute, and instead of buffering the page until processing is complete and then placing the image onto paper, the microLaser uses concurrent processing to begin printing before processing is complete. The 16-character liquid crystal display uses words and abbreviations rather than codes, and the printer can be pre-set to store up to four configurations to match user requirements. The microLaser family is upgradeable from LaserJet Series II emulation to PostScript page description language by adding an expansion board, and as well as a Centronics-type parallel interface, there are a number of special interfaces including AppleTalk. A standard XL comes with 512Kb memory while the PostScript models have 1.5Mb, and memory can be expanded in 1Mb increments to 4.5Mb.
