Computer Printers

Buying Guide for Computer Printers

Computer printers help the user to print documents or photos from a computer. Printers that can do different jobs are available in the market these days. It is more useful when you need a hard copy of a document that is stored in the computer's memory. There are different models and different types of printers available in the market. Hence, it is necessary for the user to understand about his printing needs before planning to get a new computer printer.

Different types of printers are Laser printers, Ink jet printers, LED printers, Dot matrix printers, Bubble jet printers, Scanner printers, Digital Photo printers and All in one printers.

Laser printers
These printers use positive and negative static charges and the ink gets imprinted on to the paper due to the heat. This type of printers are more cost effective for lump sum printing. The print quality is standard unless and until you opt for high class colour laser prints. This printer is not suitable for photo printing as it comes with monochrome only.

Ink jet printers

Images on the paper are formed just by spraying of ink. The paper that comes out of the printer after printing is wet and at times the ink flows over the paper. These type of printers are cheaper than laser printers. But they are not economical for large volume of printouts. Good quality printouts can be got when printed on good quality paper. Also photos are printed in colours.

LED printers

LED printer use the same technology as the laser printers, but LED technology is used here rather than the laser technology.

Dot matrix printers

This is the old form of printers. These printers use tiny pins and an ink ribbon to spray ink on to the paper to form characters. These printers are rarely used nowadays.

Bubble jet printers

These types of printers use off-shoot of ink jet printer technology and its working is more or less in the same way.

Scanner printers

These types of printers are also called as photocopier printers. They scan a hard copy of the document and then print it.

Digital Photo printers

These printers print digital photos and also print photos with high resolution.

All-in-one printers

These printers are also called as the multi-function printers. These printers are designed to print as well as do other jobs such scanning, making photocopies and sending fax.

How to select a printer?

Selection of a good printer depends on the amount of money you can spend on it. Printers that are used for general purpose and specialised printing are available in the market. Ink jets that are used in these printers must be used regularly to avoid drying out. There would not be any problem of drying up of ink in the case of laser printers. Printers that have a combination of scanner and/or fax facility along with printing would be more beneficial and would also save money.

The price of the printers are cheaper than the cost of its toner cartridges and the ink. Hence, it is better to check for the price of the product before buying it.

Features to look for:

It is essential for the user to look in to various features that are required in a good printer. Some of the important features are resolution, speed, connections and quality level.

Resolution

Resolution is measured in dots per inch(dpi) and it measures the detail, sharpness and clarity of the image. Higher the number of dots better will be picture quality. If you require to print photos, then a resolution of 1440 x 720dpi is required for a good printing photo quality. And in case you require to print documents, then a resolution of 300x300 dpi would be required.

Speed

The speed of the printer is measured in pages per minute(ppm). The figure that is normally quoted on the printer shows that the output rate is based on printing a standard page with text without any images. This usually depicts the printer's maximum speed.

Quality level

The fastness or slowness of the printer depends upon the price of the printer. This would however not compromise the quality of printing. Some of the good quality ink jet printers print with laser quality printing. If you require to print photos then, ink jet printers are ideal whereas good laser printers are suitable to print text.

Connections

PC and printers are required to be connected with the same type of connections. Printers and PCs are mostly connected through the USB. Whereas some older printer models use parallel port connection.

It is necessary to look in to these factors before buying a computer printer. This would help the buyer to select an appropriate model based on his requirement and also helps one to save money by getting the right model.

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