Printers: Better peformance with USB cable vs Parallel?

[optimistic]

Printers: Better peformance with USB cable vs Parallel?

Or are they the same.


My Canon S600 seems to eat up a lot of resources when doing a large print job. My old HP540 didnt seem to effect the computer at all when printing.

 

[bozo1]

I've tested both ways and found no difference at all. The speed of the printer is the limiting factor.

Well, more specifically, I found no difference in my print speed. I didn't test which route consumed more PC resources.

 

[optimistic]

Originally posted by: bozo1
I've tested both ways and found no difference at all. The speed of the printer is the limiting factor.

Well, more specifically, I found no difference in my print speed. I didn't test which route consumed more PC resources.

THanks, its ok. Just had an extra USB cord handy. Didn't know if it was worth it to make the switch and use my last usb port.

 

[Peter]

That's because your new printer is 2400x1200 dpi while your old one was 300x300. That's 32 times as much data moving around.

Parallel ports (in ECP mode) reach the same kind of throughput as an entire USB channel, but are on a legacy bus that eats more system bandwidth.

So if you want the thing to print fast, use the parallel port, but if you want your computer to be smooth while you print, use USB.

 

[jarsoffart]

My printer, the HP OfficeJet G55, would use a lot of resources on my old system (Dell XPS T500, 500 MHz, 256 mb PC100 SDRAM) when I would print using a parallel cable. Sometimes the program would just freeze. That problem totally disappeared when I switched to a USB cable.

 

[Peter]

Just as I said then ...

 

[optimistic]

Originally posted by: jarsoffart
My printer, the HP OfficeJet G55, would use a lot of resources on my old system (Dell XPS T500, 500 MHz, 256 mb PC100 SDRAM) when I would print using a parallel cable. Sometimes the program would just freeze. That problem totally disappeared when I switched to a USB cable.

So, USB then!

Thanks peter, bozo and jarsoffart.