ImageWriter LQ (1987)

A wide-carriage impact dot-matrix printer documented by Apple in 1987, with Letter Quality, Near Letter Quality and Draft modes.

ImageWriter LQ. Photo: All About Apple museum, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.5 Italy. Original file unchanged; not a launch photograph.

Specs

Ports	Serial · optional AppleTalk card
Extras	Impact dot-matrix · Letter Quality / Near Letter Quality / Draft

A wide-carriage dot-matrix printer

Apple’s archived specification places the ImageWriter LQ in 1987. Its owner’s guide describes a wide-carriage impact dot-matrix printer with three internal quality and speed levels: Letter Quality, Near Letter Quality and Draft. It is neither a laser nor an inkjet printer.

Paper and accessories

The guide documents push- or pull-tractor continuous paper feeding, bottom feeding for labels, heavy stock and multipart forms, and switching to single sheets without unloading continuous paper. A one-, two- or three-bin automatic cut-sheet feeder was optional. These capabilities do not establish that every accessory is installed on each unit.

Connection, color and photograph

A serial connection can be supplemented by the optional ImageWriter II/LQ AppleTalk Option card for networking. The guide covers color printing and ribbons, not toner. The All About Apple photograph shows a legible ImageWriter LQ label and is preserved unretouched under CC BY-SA 2.5 Italy; it does not establish internal configuration or working condition.

Sources

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