driver was set to 512KB, I upped it to 18432 KB. 300 dpi is still the max it gives me. i tried a reboot "just in case".

interestingly enough, the HL-7050 driver is set for 16384 KB, so it's not a memory issue. I just checked and the HL-7050 is PCL-6 while my HL-1440 supports PCL-4. I'll have to check out what version of PCL the other printers supported by the LaserJet driver are at as well as base memory they come with.

Thanx for the info though, never knew that was there!