The LaserWriter IIf offers a 50% performance improvement over the
LaserWriter IINTX. With gray scale mode disabled, the LaserWriter IIg
gives twice the performance of the IINTX. The IIg's performance is the
same as the IINTX with gray scale mode active.
The LaserWriter IIf and IIg controllers provide twice the processing power
of the LaserWriter IINTX. The major controller components include:
- Processors
- Memory
- ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits)
- I/O
These components, plus the PostScript Level 2 software, provide
significantly faster performance than LaserWriter IINTX.
The Motorola 68030 in the IIf and IIg improves performance over the 68020
in the LaserWriter IINTX in the following ways:
- The 68030 runs at a faster clock speed. This makes the IIf 25% faster
and the IIg 55% faster than the IINTX.
LaserWriter Clock Speed
----------- -----------
IINTX 16 MHz
IIf 20 MHz
IIg 25 MHz
- The 68030 has integrated instruction and data cache to give a 15%
performance improvement over the IINTX.
- The 68030 has burst-mode RAM access to transfer large amounts of data
in less time.
PhotoGrade allows printing more than 65 levels of gray. The LaserWriter
IINTX offers 33 levels of gray.
The IIf and IIg use 80ns memory. This means that RAM from the IINTX or
IISC can't be used in the LaserWriter IIf or IIg. The Macintosh IIci uses
the same RAM as the LaserWriter IIf and IIg.
Unlike the LaserWriter IINTX, the LaserWriter IIg has three communication
ports, and all three can be physically connected at the same time.
Arbitration logic controls the activity of the ports. Because PostScript
processes one job at a time, only one port has access to the printer at any
given time.