🚀 go-pugleaf

marcel@opal.cs.tu-berlin.de (Marcel Weiher) writes:
>
>Could someone correct me, but the only IBM/Lexmark color printer I've
>seen so far uses the same Canon Cj-800/820 that NeXT does.  I'd
>probably get the black model...
>

You're right, the engine is the same. However, one of the big things
in color printing is the calibration. This is all done in the software 
of the rip engine (Raster Image Processing engine). The cannon interface 
to the postscript engine is a bitmap interface. So, while the physical
engines are the same, the perceived quality can vary depending on 
the color calibration in the rip engine. 

To be honest, I have seen neither 4079 nor Next color printouts, 
but the Next has been getting "bad press" in these groups recently and 
Lexmark seems to be getting OK press (with respect to color quality 
anyway -- its my understanding the 4079 is pretty darned slow.) 
The color calibration may very well be the issue. 

The other thing to keep in mind is that the Next uses PS level2 for 
color.  Level2 is a whole lot better for color than Level1. Since the 
4079 is a level one box, if it indeed gives better print quality, then 
Next needs to take a serious look at their color settings. 

Finally, understand that a printed document will never look like
it does on the screen. Color is a very finnicky business. Colors
look different under different lights and calibrating a printer
actually comes down to calibrating for a specific "light style."
A printed page will look different under flourscent and incandescent
and natural light. Additionally, different combinations of inks
(in the case of printers) and phosphours (in the case of monitors)
will give output devices different color gamuts. As a result, it is
completely within the realm of possibility for one device to produce
a color that cannot be produced on another.

In general, it's trickey.

-Chris (Speaking for me and not Lexmark)