Computer Printers Buyers Guide
More and more people are looking to buy a new printer, perhaps to replace the model that came with a computer or as a stand-alone option to print digital photographs. In the past people may have only used their printer to print out word processing documents or information from the Internet but printers can do a lot more now -- so, it is important to find the right printer to suit individual needs especially if printing from specialist applications such as photos or if printing in high volumes.
Printer types- Laser printers: these printers use positive and negative static charges with the ink being imprinted on to the paper with the resultant heat. They tend to be popular because they are more cost-effective for larger print runs. The quality here is fine for standard jobs but, unless you opt for extremely costly colour laser printers, they are restricted to monochrome and thus inappropriate for photo printing.
- LED printers: LED printers work in much the same way as laser printer but they use LED technology rather than laser.
- Inkjet printers: inkjets basically work by spraying ink on the paper to make the image. The pages that come out of an inkjet printer will therefore be wet and the ink may bleed into the paper. These printers are generally cheaper to purchase than laser printers but may be less economical for large print jobs. The user will also have to let the paper dry to avoid ink smearing here. Inkjets can give better results on higher quality paper than laser jets and, being colour, will print better photos.
- Bubble jet printers: these printers are an off-shoot of inkjet printer technology and work in much the same way.
- Dot matrix printers: these are an older printer technology, still to be found in some point of sale systems, with their familiar buzzing noise. They use a myriad of tiny pins and an ink ribbon to create individual characters. They are rarely used for domestic applications nowadays.
- Digital photo printers: these printers have been specially designed to print digital photos. They produce higher resolution results, particularly when photo printing but this quality of output will almost certainly be wasted on standard print jobs, making them a specialist printer to compliment other regular printers.
- Scanner printers: also known as photocopier printers. As the name suggests, these printers scan a hard copy of a document and then print it.
- All in one printers: also known as multi-function printers. These models can do various jobs as well as print. They can, for example, scan, print photos, make photocopies and in some cases can send faxes as well.
Printer terminology
There are various terms used when printing. Some common examples include:- Background printing -- this simply means that the printer is working on a print job in the background whilst the computer also works on other tasks.
- Buffer -- also known as the printer memory, the buffer stores the data for a print job when a job is sent to print.
- Cartridge -- the cartridge holds the ink that the printer uses.
- Characters per inch (CPI) -- this measures the number of characters that a printer can print inside a horizontal inch.
- Characters per second (CPS) -- this refers to the number of characters a printer can print in one second.
- Condensed printing -- this happens when the printer condenses the characters, making them narrower than usual so that wide documents such as spreadsheets will fit to the paper width.
- Default -- this is a standard setting within a printer function which can be changed by the user to customise print jobs.
- Dots per inch (DPI) -- this refers to the resolution of something to be printed. The higher a DPI, the better the print quality. This is a hangover from the days when all printers were dot matrix: the greater the number of pins in a dot matrix print head, the greater the resolution. This is now translated into the number of notional 'dots' per inch managed by the printer's hardware and software.
- Lines per inch (LPI) -- this refers to the number of lines that will be printed in a vertical inch.
- Print alignment -- this term refers to the mechanism that allows the printer to adjust the alignment of its print head using internal software and hardware functions in order to ensure that it will continue to print cleanly in straight lines. This is a maintenance function which needs to be run periodically, particularly with inkjet printers.
- Print head -- this part of the printer contains the mechanism needed to get the ink on the paper during printing. This will of course vary depending on the type of technology used by the printer in question.
- Resolution -- print resolution refers to the quality or sharpness of an image to be printed and is usually measured in DPI (dots per inch) as defined.
- Toner -- toner is literally the powdered ink that is used by laser printers although the term is sometimes more loosely used to cover the ink contained in inkjet and bubblejet cartridges.
Printer Selection Criteria
The first decision to make is what the printer will be used for and how much you have available to spend. Some printers are good for general print jobs and others will be better for specialist printing (such as, for example, digital photos).
Inkjets are usually used for general printing but need to be used fairly regularly or the ink can dry out. Laser printers may cost a little more (especially colour laser printers) but won't have any dryness problems if printing only happens infrequently. They are also generally held to be better at high volume print jobs and usually print a lot faster than inkjets.
Combination printers can also be useful if having a scanner and/or fax facility included in the printer would save space and money. Consumers looking for specialist printing services -- such as printing digital photos -- may want to look at specially designed photo printers which can be hooked up to a PC or a digital camera.
Bear in mind here that printer prices may be relatively low but ink and toner cartridges costs may be higher so it is worth checking out the costs of consumables before choosing which printer to buy.
Printers in the Future
Choosing the best printer will, at the end of the day, come down to cost and will depend on what the printer will be used for. Print technology is also seeing some changes which could be useful. These include wireless printers which do away with the need for cable connections and 3D printers that have the ability to actually replicate and create objects from web-based blueprints although this technology is in its infancy at the moment.
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