Printer Types

Ink-jets(bubble-jets) printers spray ionized tiny drops of ink onto a page to create an image. This is achieved by using magnetized plates which direct the ink's path onto the paper in the desired pattern. Almost all ink-jets offer a color option as standard, in varying degrees of resolution. Ink-jet printers are capable of producing high quality print which almost matches the quality of a laser printer. A standard ink-jet printer has a resolution of 300 dots per inch, although newer models have improved on that. As a rule color link-jet printers can also be used as a regular black and white printer.

Laser printers operate by shining a laser beam to produce an image on a drum. The drum is then rolled through a pool, or reservoir, or toner, and the electrically charged portions of the drum pick up ink. Finally, using a combination of heat and pressure, the ink on the drum is transferred onto the page. Laser printers print very fast, and the supply cartridges work a long time. Color laser printers use the same toner-based printing process as black and white ( B/W) laser printers, except that they combine four different toner colors. Color laser printers can also be used as a regular black and white laser printer.

LED/LCD printers are types of electro photographic printers that are identical to laser printers in most ways. Both LCD (liquid crystal display) and LED (light-emitting diode) printers use a light source instead of a laser to create an image on a drum. In most contexts, "laser printer" covers LCD and LED printers as well. The print process is almost identical, but LED printers use Light Emitting Diodes to charge the drum, and the other uses Liquid Crystals. These printers produce a very high quality text and graphics print out.

Impact (Dot-matrix) printers use a set of closely spaced pins and a ribbon to print letters or other characters on a page. These printers actually impact the page to print a character, much like a typewriter. Dot-matrix printers vary in terms of speed and the number of pins they have. They can run at a speed anywhere between 50 and 500 CPS (Characters Per Second). The number of pins, which can vary between 9 to 24, determines the quality of the print job. Dot matrix printers are commonly used for printing invoices, purchase orders, shipping forms, labels, and other multi-part forms. Dot matrix printers can print through multi-part forms in a single pass, allowing them to produce more pages than even high-speed laser printers.

Solid Ink printers are page printers that use solid wax ink sticks in a "phase-change" process. They work by liquefying wax ink sticks into reservoirs, and then squirting the ink onto a transfer drum, from where it is cold-fused onto the paper in a single pass. Solid-ink printers offer better color consistency than do most technologies, with little variation caused by changes in temperature, humidity, or type of paper. Solid ink machines have better reliability, because they have fewer components in comparison, for example with color laser printers .

Dye Sublimation printers are professional devices widely used in demanding graphic arts and photographic applications. True these printers work by heating the ink so that it turns from a solid into a gas. The heating element can be set to different temperatures, thus controlling the amount of ink laid down in one spot. In practice, this means that color is applied as a continuous tone, rather than in dots, as with an inkjet. One color is laid over the whole of one sheet at a time, starting with yellow and ending with black. The ink is on large rolls of film which contain sheets of each color, so for an A4 print it will have an A4-size sheet of yellow, followed by a sheet of cyan, and so on. Dye sublimation requires particularly expensive special paper, as the dyes are designed to diffuse into the paper surface, mixing to create precise color shades.

Portable printers are usually fairly lightweight and sometimes carry the option of using a battery instead of drawing power from the computer. Usually they realize basic print resolutions suitable for plain text printing. You can find on the market the following types of the portable printers: Thermal printer, Thermal transfer printer and Ink-Jet printer. The main advantage of thermal and thermal transfer printers is that they can be very small. The smallest thermal and thermal transfer printers weigh approximately one pound. Usually the ink-jet portable printer weighs more than 2 pounds. Thermal printers require a special type of paper.

Plotters are large-scale printers that are very accurate at reproducing line drawings. They are commonly used for technical drawings such as engineering drawings or architectural blueprints. The two basic types of plotters are called flatbed plotters and drum plotters. Flatbed plotters are horizontally aligned with a flat surface to which a piece of paper is attached. The paper remains stationary and the printer moves pens across the paper to draw the image. Drum plotters, also called upright plotters, are vertically positioned. They have a drum that the paper rolls on. Drum plotters usually make more noise and are more compact than flatbed plotters.

Digital Photo printers Many middle range printers are now able to print photo quality images. Usually an option with color printers, specialist photo print heads allow a greater resolution to be achieved to improve photo image quality. Photo ink jet printers expand their gamuts by adding additional ink colors, usually light cyan and light magenta.

Network printer is a printer that provides output capabilities to all network users.

Multifunction printers: combine top-quality color ink-jet or laser printing with plain-paper and PC faxing, color copying and color scanning , telephoning- all in one convenient, space-saving machine. If you work from home or have a small office a multifunctional device may be ideal.

The Bravo AutoPrinter is the worlds first automated CD/DVD printing system that can truly be called innovative. It combines automatic, robotic-based CD or DVD printing along with full-color, 2400 dpi disc printing all in one compact, desktop unit.

Printers for banking: these printers realize innovative technology and functionality to increase productivity, and reduce costs.

EZ CD/DVD Printers: provide a low cost way to create professional printed CD-Rs and DVD-Rs. Instead of writing on the CD or applying labels, you can print directly on the CD surface! With high speed capabilities, a full color image can be printed directly on the top surface of your CDs in less than 1 minute.

Label Printers are the smartest way to print labels one at a time. The printers allow easy installation. You can get high-quality, professional results every time.

VersaLaser™ (Universal Laser Systems Inc.) is peripheral tool, that can transform images or drawings on your computer screen into real items made out of an amazing variety of materials... wood, plastic, fabric, paper, glass, leather, stone, ceramic, rubber... and it's as easy to use as your printer. 2 models of VersaLaser have 16"x12"(VL-200) and 24"x12" (VL-300) work areas.

3D Printers ( Z corporation). The ZPrinter 310 System creates physical models directly from computer-aided design system ("CAD") and other digital data in hours instead of days. The printer is fast, versatile and simple, allowing engineers to produce a range of concept models and functional test parts quickly and inexpensively. The system is ideal for an office environment or educational institution, providing product developers easy access to a 3D Printer.

Comparison-shopping Center: You can use directly the Comparison-shopping Center to buy on the Internet a product with the lowest price.