USB vs Serial vs Parallel
Bare Feats speed test on all three interfaces of
the Epson Stylus Color 740 ink jet printer.
(first posted in April 1999)
© 1999 Rob Art Morgan, editor of BARE FEATS
rob-art@barefeats.com

Macintosh printing isn't as simple as it used to be. These days, choosing the right printer is mind boggling. Epson has no less than 6 models on my local dealer's shelf. Some of them come with three different interfaces. My Mac works with all three. Which interface do I use for best performance?

 

 

Conclusions: On this preliminary test, USB narrowly beats out Serial, even though its theoretical transfer rate is much higher than serial. The print head speed may be a factor. You only can move it so fast no matter how big the printer buffer is or how fast you fill it.

Parallel was significantly slower than pure USB or Serial. I'm not sure what to blame for that. Maybe the drivers have to worker harder when converting from Serial/USB to Parallel.

Test Configurations

INTERFACES

Cable
Software

USB

USB
Epson SC 740 5.54Es

Serial

Serial
Epson SC 740 5.54Es

Parallel (Serial)

Strydent
Serial to Parallel
PowerPrint 4.5.1
(Epson Stylus Color)

Parallel (USB)

Strydent
USB to Parallel
PowerPrint 4.5.1
(Epson Stylus Color)

 

A big THANK YOU to...

...Interex for the use of the USB PCI card

...Strydent for the USB to Parallel & Serial adapters and drivers

See MORE SPEED tests

RETURN to bare feats main page

© 1999 Rob Art Morgan, editor of BARE FEATS
Gotta Question? Comment? Want to advertise?
Email
Rob Art