Postscript vs. PCL1 is not something I’d like to discuss on this blog, however I will admit that there are instances when the PCL drivers won’t get the job done, specially with PDF files (granted, a PDF file is essentially a postscript file, but that’s a discussion for another day).
On more than one occasion I have come up across a few files some Excel, some PDF that for whatever reason won’t print flawlessly when spooled to a printer that is using a PCL driver on the print server but when I create another printer on the print server using the Postscript driver the file prints out without a problem. The issue may occur to a local printer but I have only seen it with higher yield printers like the HP Color LaserJet 4700n connected to a print server through the network.
The bottom line is that it is worth a try to use the Postscript driver for those problematic files that just don’t print correctly when using the PCL driver (read the article linked on note 1 below for some of the Postscript pros which may provide some understanding into why the Postscript driver prints a document with more fidelity than PCL).
Also, I think it should be noted that due to the nature of Windows printing, it is perfectly acceptable to have two printers each using a different set of drivers on the system, all you need to do is have them use the same port but a different driver and naturally have a different name so that you can tell them apart and there is no naming conflicts when creating the second printer.
Notes
1. http://www.laserquipt.com/support/idx/0/063/article/PCL-vs-Postscript.html
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