40 years ago, Apple cemented its place in desktop publishing history

By Alan Truly Published January 23, 2025

Apple launched the LaserWriter printer in March 1985, nearly 40 years ago. Combined with a Macintosh computer, Adobe Postscript technology, and Aldus PageMaker software, it made desktop publishing a reality.

Apple’s earlier printer, the ImageWriter was a dot-matrix printer with limited speed and resolution. Adding the option of a laser printer was game-changing. Suddenly, professional print layout and printing were possible with a personal computer system you could fit on a desk.

More importantly, the synergy of this advanced technology allowed Apple to implement a WYSIWYG design. Otherwise known as What You See Is What You Get, this soon became the standard for desktop publishing. Today, we expect this from every document we print. A document looks the same on the screen as it does on paper. That wasn’t always the case.

To be fair, a revolutionary system like this was first imagined by Xerox researchers at PARC (Palo Alto Research Center). The Xerox Star was an enterprise solution that was quite similar to Apple’s Lisa and Macintosh computers with an easy-to-use graphical user interface controlled by a mouse. The days of typing cryptic code words to operate computer software would soon be relegated to programmers.

While the LaserWriter was quite expensive compared to the best printers available in 2025, it was much more affordable and manageable than competing solutions. For about $7,000, businesses could have an in-house, high-quality laser printer that could print eight pages per minute at 300 dpi. At that resolution, text and graphics become crisp enough to smooth rough edges and make fine print readable.

To achieve this feat, Apple gave the LaserWriter a powerful processor, the same Motorola 68000 chip used in the Macintosh. It could run Adobe Postscript software to maximize quality while minimizing data transfer times, making printing fast, reliable, and efficient.

Today’s best color laser printers roll out crisp, vivid documents at up to 1,200 dpi with blazing speeds of 35 pages per minute. Even a budget-priced inkjet printer greatly surpasses the LaserWriter’s speed and print quality.

Still, Apple earned a place in desktop publishing history with the remarkable LaserWriter printer.