I have an opportunity to get a lightly used LaserWriter 8500. My concern is being able to get toner cartridges for it. Years ago, Apple used to have a list of third party toner cartridges that work with their printers. Can anyone tell me what 3rd party cartridge will fitt this printer?
I found this:
https://www.tonercartridgedepot.com/apple-laserwriter-8500-4408-d.html
Not cheap.
Apple never made their printers. They had them made by big printer companies like HP and Canon. We have a LaserWriter 4/600PS that uses an HP cartridge. Try looking over the printer to see if any identifying tags point to the company that made it. Also look at older name-brand printer images to see if one matches.
Information on this site:
https://www.priceless-inkjet.com/cartridges.AppleLaserWriter8500.html
suggests that the printer is made by IBM:
I did some more research. To what Mac and OS version do you plan to connect this printer? I looked in the Printer support folders on two of our Macs, one with 10.9.4 and the other with 10.10.3, and it seems Apple no longer provides built-in support for any of its old printers.
Support software for older equipment was once available on an obscure Apple web page but, in their infinite wisdom, Apple no longer allows access to it.
So drivers may be a problem. If you find drivers, plan on using the printer's Ethernet port, not tho two other connections.
Thanks for your reply. The 8500 was one of the last printers Apple made. It has a Xerox/Fugi print engine that was also used in the IBM infoprint 20. I found a remanufactured cartridge on ebay so I'm going to try that?
I have it connected to an iMac running Lion. Lion still has all of the LaserWriter PPD's. I connected it to a Color Classic running System 7.5 so I could use the Printer Utility and set an IP address. Reconnected to the iMac through ethernet and set it up as an IP printer. Works great!
New problem: it has over 200 fonts in ROM, most of them I don't have on my computer. Now I'm looking for original install disks so I can get the screen fonts. Any suggestions?
New problem: it has over 200 fonts in ROM, most of them I don't have on my computer. Now I'm looking for original install disks so I can get the screen fonts. Any suggestions?
I saw that. Unfortunately, without access to the old Apple downloads, we are short on resources. I can ask some of the other senior helpers if they can provide some suggestions.
The LaserWriter 8500 has 117 built-in PostScript Level 3 fonts, and 19 TrueType fonts. A full list of fonts on the printer's firmware is here.
A thing to note here though is that you don't need any of those same desktop fonts to use the printer. Just the PPD and a way for the OS you're using to communicate with it. The purpose for embedded fonts is simply to speed things up. The PPD knows which fonts are on the printer. So if a document you send to the printer uses any of those, then it doesn't bother to download the fonts from the computer to the printer, and instead uses the embedded fonts.
So the real issue is just getting the printer working. After that, use any fonts you want.
These printers are very old so something tends to fail every year or two and no one will even talk to you about repair. I have kept one going for 19 years by buying a total of 4 of them and using the older ones for parts. I just installed a fuser roller yesterday from one of the other printers. The manual feed tray is so unreliable I have to feed the pages in one at a time after lightly creasing the first quarter inch of the leading edge.
But the biggest problem is the toner cartridges. Although they last for years, the original Apple cartridges cost between $150 and $300 and often don't work because the drum wiper blades have gotten stiff and I have never found a source for the wiper blades. The Apple cartridges are sealed in boxes and sellers often will not refund your money if they print a gray background (toner remains on the drum). I wasted $480 this month for two bad cartridges. Its is probably better to buy remanufactured cartridges but they can cost just as much.
The only possible reason I can think of to own one of these printers is because you use a computer that will not communicate with any other high resolution printer. I bought an Epson P800 inkjet for $850 after rebate that will run circles around the LW8500 and even a $200 inkjet printer will make better prints but they aren't compatible with my Powermac 7300.
The cartridges are for the Fuji-Xerox P880 engine used in the LW8500 and many other printers. However, the cases for other models don't always fit the LW8500 with modification so search for the Fuji-Xerox P880 cartridge but make sure it fits the LW8500. The remanufactured cartridges are original cases with new wiper blades, drums, doctor blades and other easily worn parts. I would refill them but its necessary to empty the waste toner compartment which requires disassembling the cartridge. I guess you might get one refill without doing that but I'm not that desperate yet although its increasingly tempting.
If you didn't pay much for the printer, you have a backup and friends will help you carry it, go for it. Good luck with the drivers.
LaserWriter 8500 Toner Replacement
