Personal LaserWriter 300

The Personal LaserWriter 300 was a compact monochrome laser printer from the LaserWriter series that was released by Apple Computer for the home office market in June 1993.

Description
The 300 could print at a resolution of 300-dpi from a Canon LBP-PX print engine that could output 4 pages-per-minute with a rated life of 100,000 pages. It is compatible with HP LaserJet 4ML toner cartridges.

Like the Personal LaserWriter LS before it, costs were reduced by eliminating LocalTalk networking and PostScript support. The printer can still be networked through GrayShare software, which requires a host Macintosh computer to do so. It did not contain a processor to rasterize images and also relied on a Mac to do such with QuickDraw. Adobe Type Manager or System 7's TrueType support was necessary for reproduction of scalable outline fonts. The data would then be compressed and transmitted through the serial port at 57.6 kbps (slower than LocalTalk's maximum of 230.4 kbps). The smaller enclosure weighed about half as much as early Personal LaserWriter models with lower power consumption and cost in exchange for a shorter life expectancy.

Discontinuation
The 300 was discontinued in September 1994 and was superseded by the 600-dpi LaserWriter 4/600 PS. A higher-output alternative was the LaserWriter Select 360.