>Thanks Ed. I learned a lot.
>But I still don't know how to characterize a Non-GDI printer. Isn't there a name for this class of printers?, (other than Non-GDI), that when a customer specifies it at a CompUSA store, the saleman there would know whet s/he is talking about..

I don't know of a generic term for non-GDI printers; in the case of laser printers, I tell my clients that if they go to buy a printer, it must be PCL or PostScript-compatible. In the case of people purchasing inkjets, I have them go in looking for the ability to emulate an HP DeskJet, PCL-compatible laser or IBM ProPrinter, and have the salesman give them something in writing assuring them that if it does not meet these requirements, they can bring it back for a refund or merchandise exchange for another printer meeting their needs.

At the mid- to hi-end of the spectrum, this hasn't been a problem - printers like the HP 4000, 5 and 8000 series don't have this problem. PostScript printers don't, either.

I've found that either accompanying my client to the store when they buy, or drawing up a list of printers that I know will fit their requirements, with a few prices off the net from large sites like CDW, MicroD, MicroWarehouse and Dell is the best way to ensure that they get what's needed. I have the advantage of not being involved in hardware sales; since my clients know up-front that I'm not making anything from their hardware purchase, they seem to be more than happy to take my recommendations and do their own comparison shopping.

In a straight Windows environment, with only Windows-based printing, GDI printers will work, at an obvious cost in local performance. It's all the old-style DOS reporting that relied on printer codes to control output that will not port to the GDI printer environment; for me, that's still a fairly large part of my clientele, since I often will store laser macros with pre-rendered standard form layouts on the clients printers, and then send their forms as streams of characters with control sequences to trigger the proper macro, to lower the amount of graphical output sent for each for, and speed up the print process. My best advice is to educate your end-users about the problem before they go on their shopping spree.