Untitled - TRS-80 Color Computer Archive

duced the new IIgs, which uses the WesternDesign Center's 65C816 chip, a 16/32-bit descendant of the earlier 6502 series used in themost popular 8-bit computers. And Motorola announced its 68020 andplans for the 68030 microprocessors, both of whichcould be used in futuregenerations of theAppleMacintosh, Atari ST, andCommodore Amigacomputers.For many computerusers, the introduction of theMotorola and Intel microprocessors may seem remote,having little to do with their currenthands-on computing. But for thosewho have seen the whirlwind history ofpersonal computing so far, it's alreadyabundantly clear that the future has a way ofarriving far faster than anticipated. And thesenew 32-bit microprocessors will be the enginesat the core of the new supermicros taking usinto the 1990s.Laser MagicLaser printers are also evidence of onrushingtechnology. Hewlett-Packard introduced thefirst laser printer, the LaserJet, in 1984. Today,there are more than 60 models of laser printersfrom over 30 companies, with prices rangingfrom under $2,000 for fairly slow text-onlylaser printers to about $8,000 for advanced graphics-and-text output thatallows up to 300 dots per inch forgraphic images. (See accompanying article, "Lasers That Read,Write, and Print.")Apple's LaserWriter Plus; theQMS Kiss and Big Kiss; Okidata's Laserline6 Basic and Advanced; and AST Research's Turbo Laser are but a few of themodels currently available. Breaking the$2,000 price barrier are the QMS Kiss fromQMS at $1,995 and the Laserpro Express fromOffice Automation Systems for $1,895. AndToshiba's new $3,499 PageLaserl2, whichprints 12 pages a minute, is 50-percent fasterthan most laser printers being used.More than 46,000 laser printers were reportedly sold during the first nine months of1986, and the demand is steadily increasing asprices drop and quality improves. Dataquest, amarket research firm, has reportedly estimatedthat more than a quarter-million laser printerswill have been shipped by manufacturerswhen the dust settles from 1986. New laserprinters have recently been introduced by Epson, Citizen-America, Ricoh, Printronix, andothers, that are helping to spur even greaterinterest.The development of versatile, relativelyinexpensive laser printers is fueling the recentm1 liftFebruary 1987 COMPUTEI 9