Laser printer

The laser printer emerged from Xerox's dual heritage: copying machines and computing research. Gary Starkweather, an engineer at Xerox's Rochester facility, recognized that a laser could precisely control where toner was deposited on paper—essentially a computer-controlled copier. When Rochester management showed little interest, Starkweather transferred to Xerox PARC in Palo Alto, where the Alto personal computer project needed a way to produce the high-quality output that justified its graphical interface.

The first working prototype, nicknamed EARS (Ethernet, Alto, Research, Scanned laser output system), began operating in 1971. It combined several Xerox technologies: the xerographic printing process that made the company's fortune, laser scanning optics, and the Alto's bitmap graphics system. The output was revolutionary—any image the computer could display could be printed at typeset-quality resolution.

The adjacent possible required multiple streams to converge. Xerography, invented by Chester Carlson in 1938 and commercialized by Xerox, provided the electrostatic printing mechanism. Lasers, invented in 1960, offered the precision light source. Digital computing generated the page images. Polygon mirrors could scan laser beams across a drum at sufficient speed. Each piece existed; Starkweather's insight was recognizing they could be combined.

Xerox introduced the commercial 9700 laser printer in 1977, but at $350,000 it served only large enterprises. The transformation came with Hewlett-Packard's LaserJet (1984), priced at $3,495—expensive but within reach of offices and eventually homes. Canon, developing the print engine that HP used, became a major supplier. Apple's LaserWriter (1985), combined with PostScript and PageMaker software, sparked the desktop publishing revolution.

Geographic factors reflected Xerox's peculiar structure. The copier business lived in Rochester, New York. PARC, the research center that invented the laser printer, operated 2,500 miles away in Palo Alto. This distance contributed to Xerox's failure to capitalize on PARC's inventions—the laser printer, the graphical user interface, Ethernet—as researchers and Rochester executives inhabited different worlds.

The cascade effects transformed document production. Professional typesetting began its decline. Offices could produce camera-ready documents internally. Desktop publishing democratized print design. The environmental impact was significant—paper consumption initially increased as printing became easier and cheaper.

By 2025, laser printing had become infrastructure—reliable, fast, and inexpensive enough that its transformative origins were forgotten. The technology that enabled desktop publishing was itself being challenged by paperless workflows, though office laser printers showed no sign of obsolescence.