Three colour printers are compared by Piers Letcher

More printers now offer entire screen dump facilities, but most have been limited to black and white printing. Recently new technology, multicoloured ribbons and colour inkjets have brought the price of colour printers within treach of home computer users, as shown in our Pro-Tests of the Seikosha GP-700A, the Tandy CGP-220 and the Integrex Colorjet. We looked at the choice you have for colour results - for people who want more than the four biros on the Atari/Commodore/Tandy ... colour printer/plotter.

Pro-Test: PCN, Issue 20
Price: £489 inc VAT
Text Speed: 50 cps
Graphics Speed: 4-5 mins for full screen dump.
Interface: Centronics parallel, RS232 serial (£50 extra)

Comments:
This was the first cheap full colour printer, halving the cost of anything previously available. It operates (unusually) be having four wedge-shaped hammers hitting a multi-coloured ribbon - overstriking can be used to mix colours.

By dot matrix standards the printer is both bullky and noisy (due to four hammers striking in unison). Its ribbons tend to get messy since the ink merged across the four bands, though this can be cured to some extent by putting the printer into self test mode to reolve the ribbon. Its documentation also lets it down. Although most of the necessary information is included, it's aimed at experienced users.

But is has the advantages of speed(at the expense of silence) and paper versatility - the others user roll paper whereas this will take tractor feed or single sheet.

Contact: dRG (0934) 419914

Pro-Test: PCN, Issue 44
Price: £575 inc. VAT
Text Speed: 37 cps
Graphics Speed: Full screen dump 6 mins, half-size full screen dump 1.5 mins
Interface: Centronics parallel, RS232 serial (£140 extra), Viewdata including Centronics and RS232 (£165 extra).

Comments:
Although the Colourjet is the most expensive of these three printers, it is the most versatile. It is primarily for BBC and Apple users, but with Centronics as standard and RS232 as optional, it works with almost any machine. A BBC graphics dump program listing comes with it, and in March 1984 there will be software for an IBM high resolution dump.

The internal software allows you to do double-strike and double-resolution while in text mode, and though this slows the printer further, the results are impressive.

Contact: Integrex (0283) 215432

Pro-Test: PCN, Issue 39
Price: £499 inc VAT
Text Speed: 37 cps
Graphics Speed: 6 mins for full screen dump
Interface: Parallel for Tandy colour computer, and switchable serial 600/2400 baud

Comments:
The CGP-220 is cheap, quiet and of high quality, though unfortunately it is difficult to attach to anything except a Tandy. This problem is caused by Tandy's pins being slightly different from the Centronics standard. Also, when hitched up to anything else you have to write the program to get your screen dump. Printing characters is fairly slow, but elongated and colour characters are easily selected with control codes.

Contact: Tandy Computer Centres

The Tandy CGP-220 and the Integrex Colorjet are repackaged versions of the Canon A1210 colour ink jet printer. They run almost silently, printing one pixel at a time by squirting ink through a very fine nozzle. To print a line, or character, takes seven runs across the page. Two clip-in cartridges - one black, one colour - provide the link, thus avoiding ribbon trouble. Special roll feed paper is used, though the printer will cope with single sheets, or tractor feed with the edges torn off.