What are Different Types of Printers
The world of printers is a collection of sizes, features, speed, style, and other things. All the printers are not made the same. Instead, every printer is designed to match specific needs of a customer.
Like if you want to have a small printer for home, you may need an inkjet printer. If you need a printer for office use then you may look for laser printers. And if you are an artist, you should look for 3D printers.
So let’s have a look at some scenarios and give you a proper guide that will help you to choose the right printer for you.
Table of Contents
1. Laser Printers
These printers use laser beam technology that transfers an electrical charge to a drum. And then the drum transfers the electrically charged powdered ink called toner on the paper. As a result, a print is produced. So instead of ink cartridges, they use toners.
Laser printers are widely used in offices because they are super fast. However, the prices of laser printers are high but these printers are cost efficient. So the major drawback of a laser printer is the upfront cost. They have excellent print quality especially for black and white documents.
Both color and monochrome laser printers are available in the market. Laser printers are capable of producing large amounts of documents. In most models, you can also expand the paper tray capacity.
Generally speaking, these printers have a lifespan of at least five years.
Read Also: Best Dual Tray Laser Printer
Benefits
- Faster
- Low cost per print
- Efficient
- Expandable paper tray capacity
2. Inkjet Printers
They use inkjet printing technology in which a print is produced by spraying droplets of ink onto the paper. Inkjet printers are very popular because of the low upfront cost.
An inkjet printer uses ink cartridges which are easy to replace. Nowadays, there are inkjet printers with individual inks. So the best part is you can only replace the ink which needs to, saving your cost.
Most inkjet printers have a print resolution of 300 dpi. And when it comes to the print quality, inkjet printers produce high quality and detailed prints with a wide color range. The photos look crisp, sharp, and professional.
On the weak side, they have high running costs as compared to laser printers. So they are not recommended for high volume printing needs.
The print speed for inkjet printers is moderate, mostly ranging from 15 ppm to 20 ppm.
Read: How To Clean A Printer
Benefits
- Small footprints
- Affordable price
- Rich color prints
3. Dot Matrix Printers
Dot matrix printers use hammers and ribbon to print images from dots. Nowadays, people don’t prefer them usually because they are expensive to buy and operate as well.
They have a print head either in back-and-forth motion or in an up-and-down motion resulting in the formation of print on the page by impact. That’s why they are also called impact printers.
When multipart forms are required then a dot matrix printer is all you need. As they can make multiple prints at the same time.
These printers make 200 to 400 characters per second, that means they have a speed of 90 to 180 lines per minute.
We should also know the output of these printers is not high resolution. And they are slow as compared to inkjet and laser printers. Also, the lifespan of a dot matrix printer is not longer.
Benefits
- Cheap price
- Low maintenance cost
- Print carbon copies
- Work in hot and dirty conditions
4. Multi-function or All-in-one Printers
Multifunction printer (MFP) or All-in-One printer is the printing machine that can print, scan, copy, and sometimes fax as well. The purpose of these printers is to save the room space. You don’t need to buy a seperate copier or scanner machines when you have this type of printer. Plus, it will save you money.
Some multi-function printers also include other tasks such as stapling, folding, hole punching, etc.
Having a MFP printer can be beneficial for you in many ways. Like it will replace the 3 or 4 machines, so it will obviously consume less electricity. Furthermore, you won’t need to spend money in maintenance of many machines in the future. You will only maintain one machine. Isn’t this great?
Benefits
- Workplace efficiency
- Cost efficiency
- Easy to use
5. 3d Printers
The most advanced type of printer is the 3D printer in which you can make 3D objects. 3D printing involves the formation of 3D solid objects from a digital file.
Unlike traditional technologies for making three dimensional objects, these printers don’t require any tool. But they manufacture an object by making successive layers of a material.
One of the best parts is that you can even manufacture complex shapes easily and yet at a cheap price. No matter how much the complex part is, it will cost you the same as simple parts do.
The output quality of 3D printers is much better than the parts manufactured with injection molding or metal casting. You always get high-quality and detailed objects.
Benefits
Low initial price
Make complex object at no extra cost
Large range of materials
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Conclusion
By now, you have discovered much about different types of printers. Also, you have an idea now of which printer is suitable for you and which one is not.
If you by mistake buy a wrong printer, it won’t match your needs. That’s why we aimed to prepare this article to provide value to our readers. So that you can choose the right one for you.
