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> I don’t think printer drivers do anti-aliasing on text. The hardware of a printer does anti-aliasing for free.

You missed the explanation above why you're wrong, at least on consumer non-PostScript printers. Most cheap printers nowadays passes the buck of rasterisation to Windows (and its horrible, security headache spooler). You can even check if which is which: in Windows 10, open Settings, then Devices, select Printers & scanners, select [your name of printer], press Manage, press Printer Options (not Printing options), open the Advanced tab and then click on the Print Processor... button. If it says "winprint" then Windows handles the rasteriser.



Anti-aliasing text is of limited value at the resolutions printers can achieve. 1200+ DPI inkjets and lasers have been commonplace for over 20 years. That doesn't mean GDI variations won't influence pixels due to small numeric differences.


> The hardware of a printer does anti-aliasing for free.

I think they meant something like "ink smears".


In that case, then it'll be purely a mechanical thing. Another thing that is still handled by the printer (unless its drivers are sophisticated, winprint isn't) is halftoning, but I'm not sure if that counts as anti-aliasing.




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