Review of The Okidata Laserline 6 Printer
                       Copyright 1988 David W. Batterson

     Okidata America's Laserline 6 is a true laser printer, unlike some of the
other page printers we've evaluated lately, which use LED-array or LCS
technology to achieve laser quality printing.
     I assume that in order to remain price competitive ($2,145 list, Okidata
decided to offer limited memory (272K), with an optional upgrade to 656K for
$299 list.  Right off the bat, I'd advise buyers to get the 656K memory right
away, as you'll need it.
     If you plan to just print text, that's enough memory.  But most users want
to use laser printers for 300 dpi graphics capability, not just to laserprint
business letters or spreadsheet files.
     What happens when you are printing a document with extensive graphics?
Status code number 20 flashes at you, indicating you sent too much data for the
printer's buffer.  You lose some graphics toward the bottom, and they are
printed on the next page.
     My understanding is that Okidata will raise the onboard RAM, and offer
upgrades to at least 2 MB in future models.  Whether you should wait for that
possibility is up to you, but I think I would if I were buying it.
     Print quality is excellent.  I tested the blackness by printing a
newsletter banner in reverse--white on black--and it came out very nice.
     The control panel features a series of plastic buttons--rather than the
now common membrane switches--and the usual LEDs, which indicate "Ready" and
"Online" status, replace toner, paper size, and so on.  Missing was a "Data
Transfer" indicator.
     The Laserline 6 comes with a Personality Module, which supplies a parallel
or serial port, and the printer's standard emulation.
     The Laserline 6 has a fairly compact size, though not as small as the
CrystalPrint WP page printer.  It measures (minus paper tray) 16.1" wide x
16.5" deep x 9" high; weight is 37.8 pounds.
     The paper tray holds 150 sheets of standard 20 lb. paper.  You can use
letter or legal size paper, business size (4 1/8" x 9 1/2") envelopes, sheets
of labels, and transparencies.  Those who expect to do extensive printing
should get the optional second paper tray, which holds 550 sheets of 20 lb.
paper.
     Printing envelopes is not exactly a piece of cake.  First of all, you have
to experiment to get the return address and addressee on the envelope in the
right location.
     Upon feeding an envelope manually--after setting the paper guide to "HLT,"
the envelope does not move perfectly straight through the printer, causing it
to print slight off kilter.  The printing wasn't as dark as on regular paper
either, possibly due to the envelope's thickness.
     You cannot do multiple envelope printing either.  It's quicker to go type
the envelope in any case.
     The Laserline 6 is more generous in supplying fonts than the H-P LaserJet
II.  You get 15 fonts.  What you are really getting are variations of five
different type faces.  There's Helvetica Bold 14, Courier 12 (in regular, bold,
italic and landscape), Times Roman 10 (regular, bold, italic, plus proportional
regular, bold and italic), Times Roman 8 (regular and proportional), and Line
Printer 8 (regular and landscape).
     There are optional font cartridges, including Prestige Elite, Letter
Gothic, Courier Legal and so forth, for a list price of $149 ea.
     You'll save money by downloading H-P compatible soft fonts, available for
free on many BBSs.  But you'll definitely need the memory upgrade for this.
     Speaking of prices, toner cartridges (they print about 1,500 pages) run
$29, the drum kit (replace every 20,000 pages) is $199, and the cleaning kit
(which lasts 10,000 pages) is $89.  These are all suggested list, and will run
somewhat less through mail order discount suppliers.
     Some printers use optional cartridges or DIP switch settings to emulate
other printers.  Okidata opted for software instead; with the Laserline, you
get LaserControl.  This runs either as a memory-resident "Pop up" program, or
standard.  The Pop-up uses 79K of memory.
     You use this for older software which doesn't support the H-P LaserJet. 
LaserControl allows the Laserline 6 to emulate the Diablo 630, Qume Sprint 5,
NEC 3550, 5510 or 7710, Epson MX-80, and the IBM Graphics Printer.
     One unique feature is the ability to print right-justified, proportional
type style from word processing files, even if your WP program doesn't print
proportional fonts.  You can also select margins, characters per inch, page
length, number of copies, aspect ratios for graphics, and other useful choices.
     Overall, due to the memory limitations and less-than-satisfactory envelope
printing, the Laserline 6 rates a B+ in my view.  You should be able to get a
nice price on one, though.
     For more information, contact Okidata America, Inc., 532 Fellowship Road,
Mt. Laurel, NJ  08054; 800-OKIDATA.
                                       #
     David W. Batterson writes for a variety of publications, and also does
private consulting.  Contact him via MCI Mail: DBATTERSON.