EPSON LQ-570+

It seems that laser printers are all you read about nowadays. But if you're budget-conscious, you need a lower-cost alternative that will still produce professional results. Epson's LQ-570+ might be just what you're looking for.

Compared to earlier dot-matrix printers, the LQ-570+ features enhanced graphics, faster output, and quieter operation. I did most of my testing from Windows, where the LQ-570+ driver does a great job of taking advantage of the new-and-improved graphics capabilities. You'll have a hard time finding a dot-matrix printer that can produce better results for letters and reports. The pages printed about twice as fast as with my HP IIP laser printer, even with largely graphical documents. And don't count out this dot-matrix printer because your office already has too much noise. This printer doesn't feature the usual bumps and grinds associated with pin printers. It makes about as much noise as my hard drive at bootup.

The manual boasts of easy letterhead printing—I'll admit that I hadn't yet learned this trick, even with my laser printer. After several false starts, I carefully read the manual and got it right. Single-feeding of normal envelopes was very easy, and the results were very nice. As a matter of fact, I found feeding single sheets as easy with this printer as with any I'd ever used.

If you're working with DOS-based software that doesn't directly support the LQ-570+, you can use a generic Epson 24-pin driver, or you can embed the proper codes in your document manually, using the comprehensive listing of printer commands in the manual.

The printer has a wide variety of built-in fonts, including Roman, Sans Serif, Courier Prestige, Script, and others. Many of these include proportional versions, which print characters at their true width, so you don't end up with a lot of space around the letter i, for instance. This makes your documents more readable and professional-looking.

If you're not ready to take the laser plunge, you'll find that this printer is on the leading edge of dot-matrix technology, and it offers a long list of very nice features that might just be all you need.

RICHARD C. LEINECKER

Epson

(800) 289-3776

$349

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