This article by Benj Edwards in MacWorld tells why twenty five years ago, Apple’s first laser printer had such an impact. He tells why the LaserWriter mattered so much to Apple, Aldus and Adobe.
When the LaserWriter was introduced, it had a more powerful processor than the Mac itself and prompted many people to say that “Apple’s most powerful computer is a printer.”
The LaserWriter sold for $6,995 in 1985. The Macintosh was introduced with a dot matrix printer called the ImageWriter. While it duplicated the 72 dpi of the screen and was even capable of printing 144 dpi, it was no match for the professional image of the LaserWriter.
The LaserWriter was the first printer to use Adobe’s PostScript. It was also the first network printer, making it possible to share the enormous expense with up to 40 Macs. No other laser printer could be networked until 1991.
There is much more detail in the full article read it here: http://www.macworld.com/article/150845/2010/04/laserwriter.html
