hp lazerjet 4

The EX engine, as used in the HP LaserJet 4, was a landmark product that helped HP continue its dominance of the laser printer business. At the time it was introduced many companies were offering enhanced SX-based machines that promised either better print quality or faster page processing than the LaserJet III. These companies included LaserMaster, QMS, and Xante, and their products typically sold for for $3,000 or more. All of them used special controller electronics to boost the standard 300/400 dpi of the SX engine to a pseudo 600 dpi or higher.

The EX offers true 600 dpi, which is noticeably better than the SX's 300/400 dpi. The LaserJet 4 had a street price of only $1,400 for a PCL printer and $1,900 for a PostScript version. The LaserJet 4 also featured an Intel i960 RISC processor, which is much faster than the 68000 used in the HP III. Suddenly the game of making a better-than-HP laser printer game was over... HP had won the battle. To stay in business, the other companies had to move into market other areas, like high-speed, large format, or large format color printing.

The EX is the third generation of medium-sized general purpose laser printers in the series that began with the 8 ppm CX engines used in the orignal LaserJet. The CX was replaced by the SX, and the SX was replaced by the EX. The HP Printers in this class are those without an extra letter in the model name (i.e., LaserJet, LaserJet II, LaserJet III, LaserJet 4, LaserJet 5). Apple also used each generation from Canon, beginning with the LaserWriter (CX), LaserWriter II (SX), and LaserWriter 630 (EX).