In May 1983, NEC announced the PC-PR201—a compact, inexpensive Japanese language printer for personal computers.
The PC-PR201 employed a 24-pin print head, and had a printing width of 90 characters (or 136 alphanumeric/kana characters), and a printing speed of 40char/s. It was priced at less than ¥300,000. Level 2 kanji (Chinese characters) could be added with ROM as an option.
In July 1984, NEC announced the PC-PR101—the sister machine of the PC-PR201. The PC-PR101 was a small machine with a printing width of 53 characters (or 80 alphanumeric/kana characters), and had a compact floor area about 30% smaller than the PC-PR201.
In the subsequent shift to color and changes in the printing system, the "PC-PR201xx" and PC-PR101xx" names were inherited as representative models of NEC's PC serial printers.
| Model name | PC-PR201 | PC-PR101 |
|---|---|---|
| Printing system | Dot impact | |
| Character types | Alphanumeric/kana,Kanji JIS Level 1 (level 2 available as an option) | |
| Character composition,dimensions |
|
|
| Max. number of printed characters(char/line) |
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| Dot pitch | 1/160, both vertical and horizontal | |
| Line spacing | Variable in 1/120inch units | |
| Copy capability | 4sheets including original | |
| Printing speed(char/s) |
|
|
| Paper width | 5–16inch | 5–10inch |
| External dimensions(mm) | 570(W)×335(D)×125(H) | 410(W)×335(D)×125(H) |
| Weight(kg) | 9.5 | 8.5 |
