It was the first commercial non-impact Xerographic printer used to create computer output.

It used a selenium photoconductor drum with characters positioned in a manner similar to a line printer.

[2] The 1200 Computer Printing System was available in both an offline and an online model: The printer itself has the following characteristics: Lease costs for a Xerox 1200 started at $2,100 per month.

[1] The Xerox 9700 was announced in July 1977 with planned availability in the third quarter of 1978, although with a considerably higher purchase price of $295,000.

[16] It was a genuine laser printer that could print 120 pages per minute at 300 dots per inch.