Printers Galore

Every office you go you would always find a printer, or wherever you find a computer there will always be a printer beside it or somewhere nearby. Printers are indispensable tools in the office, school or home. It is an equipment that an office can not do with out. It is an important asset of a school because it is used to print school related materials like notes, lesson guides, exams, and grades. It is handy to have at home because you no longer have to go out of your house to print something you need.

Thinking back to the days when these printers were still these large, bulky and heavy (not to mention very expensive) metal machines; no office, school or home would ever have this. In the past, only establishments like printing presses would own this equipment. But as printers evolved throughout the years you begin to see how amazing things have changed. Printers have reduced in size, from occupying a single room to fitting perfectly on your desk. They have also increased printing speed, from a few pages per hour to a couple of hundreds in just minutes. The printing quality has also improved from a coarse finish to a more refined and vibrant resolution print. There are five different types of printers we use today. (http://www.opendrivers.com) They are:

1.DOT Matrix – it is a type of printer that employs movable print heads with pins or wires that shoot and strike the ribbon placing a dot on the paper with hundreds of dots forming images or text.

2.Inkjet – it is a printer developed by Canon which forms letters and images on the paper by spraying small streams of quick-drying ink.

3.Laser - this uses laser technology to print images on the paper. The laser recreates the image on a negatively charged drum which will then collect ink that is positively charged to attract to the areas of the image. The Paper is then negatively charged therefore the positively charged ink is attracted to the paper and then is fused onto the paper. See laser printer printing steps for step by step procedure of laser printers.

4.Plotters - these printers use a pen to draw the image on the paper. Usually, plotters are Friction Feed but occasionally can be Tractor Feed as well.

5.Thermal - it uses heated pins to "burn" images onto heat-sensitive paper. The pins are electrically heated and brought into contact with the specially treated paper easily, instead of with great impact. The coating on the paper discolours when heated in this way.

Dot matrix printers are used by checkout tills and ATM machines or for printing invoices. These printers are cheap but durable but are print slowly and creates a lot of noise. Inkjet printers are commonly used in most homes and offices because they are easier to use and maintain, cheap but have better quality printing and more ink efficient. Laser printers are used for printing very high quality output. It prints very fast thus can make many copies. An example of laser printers are photocopiers. Plotters are used by graphic designers and architects for engineering drawings or architectural blueprints. Thermal printers are inexpensive and produce low-quality, low resolution print but prints quiet and fast. It is used in calculators and many fax machines. If you want to know more about different types of printers, what they are used for and the most suitable for your usage, click on the web site links we have provided for you. These web site links have been selected according to popularity and given ratings for your convenience.