June 24, 1979: Apple Introduces First Apple Printer

Computer printers had been around for a few years but most ran over a thousand dollars and thus were out of the reach of many users. Apple, realizing that there was a market for a lower cost printer, decided to rebadge a printer by another manufacturer (Trendcomm) and offer it as an Apple accessory.

The printer was the called the Silentype and relied on heat and thermal paper to leave it's mark. The advantages over the more standard printer daisy wheel and dot matrix printers were obvious. The Silentype could handle hi-res (for the time) graphics and, at $599, the cost was significantly less than the other common offerings. The drawbacks were just as obvious as the pros: the printer required special paper, the output would never be mistaken for a typewritten page, the paper sizes weren't anywhere near standard letter size and the paper degraded remarkably fast. Not the best option for printing resumes and the like.

Apple's first in a line of many printers became available this month in 1979.