How to choose: Laser Printers, Inkjet Printers, Dot Matrix Printers

Man is always in constant search for knowledge which he makes use to create innovations that will make his life better. Among the varied inventions of man is a computer printer. The first computer printer can be traced back in the year 1953 which was developed by Remington-Rand as a match for Univac computer. Laser printers were evolved from the dry printing process or Xerox invented by Chester Carlson in 1938. 1971 witnessed the birth of the first laser printer which was then named as EARS. The next years are period of experiments and added inventions which paved the way to the first IBM printer. The IBM 3800 Printing System was considered as the first high-speed laser printer with a speed of more than 100 impressions-per-minute.

Nowadays, a computer printer is of vital importance in the different areas of human activities. It goes hand in hand with a computer as a component that generates the hard copy or a readable text from the stored data on the computer's system. Several printer technologies are available today but it can be categorized into two types - namely the impact and the non-impact technologies. A computer printer that uses the impact technology is equipped with a system that requires contact with the paper or whatever material that can be used to produce the readable text.

Dot Matrix and Character Printers are the two major classifications of Impact printer technology. A character printer is a computerized typewriter made up of a group of bars which serve as the platform for letters and numbers. Like a typewriter, the right characters are hit or struck to touch the ink ribbons which in turn pass on the characters to the paper. It can be used with speed but has limited uses. Computer printers with Dot matrix technology have a group of small pins needed to strike the ink coated ribbon to pass on the image to the paper.

A printer using the Non-Impact technology does not need contact with the paper to produce the desired image. An example of this is the commonly used Inkjet painters and Laser printers. An inkjet printer directly sprays drop of inks into the paper while a laser printer is equipped with a toner, heat and static electricity to produce the image. Inkjet printers are used in almost all offices, business, café and many other establishments. The printed image coming from an inkjet printer has tiny dots that usually have a diameter of 50-60 microns.

Print head assembly, paper feed assembly, power supply, control circuitry and interface ports are the parts making up a typical inkjet printer. The quality of the produced image in an inkjet printer is also dependent on the type of paper used. Brightness and absorption are the main factors that determine the quality of the printed image. The brightness is determined by the smoothness of the paper's surface. Smooth surface reflect more light which makes the image brighter. Absorption refers to the ability of the paper to take in the ink. Papers with good absorption capacity have images that will stay tight while poor absorption capacity can result in blotting.

Monochromatic and multi-colored images can be produced depending on the type of printer. Monochrome printer is only capable of generating images with only one color, commonly black, while a color printer can produce colored images. A printer can transform a group of characters, a vector image and a bitmapped image into a printed version. Other printers however cannot process all of these types. By examining your needs, you can choose the optimum printer for you.

David Arnold Livingston is a successful entrepreneur and shares his knowledge of computer printer resources at: http://www.ravenprinter.com/