Types of Printers

There are different types of printers, each designed to meet the varying needs of the users. The first thing to do while choosing a printer is to figure out which technology makes sense for the type and number of prints you need to take. Laser printing and inkjet printing are the two technologies out there, each offering benefits over the other.

Inkjet Printers Inkjet printers have become a standard and are widely used by many home users. They are versatile, easy to use and are an economical printing solution. Inkjet printers are capable of producing detailed text and photos on different types of printing paper. The ink cartridges in these types of printers create images or text by spraying droplets of ink from the nozzle.

Laser Printers The laser printers utilize a photographic drum to attract the charged ink. A heated roller is then used to transfer the ink on the paper. This technology has been around for decades and it’s still going strong because of its combination of quality, speed and low printing cost per paper. The laser printers come in both colour and monochrome options. While laser printers are not typically not preferred by home users, they are perfect solutions for office use with high volume printing needs. For basic printing needs, such as black text on white paper, a monochrome laser printer is the simplest, affordable and also the most reliable option.

Photo Printers While decent quality photos can be printed using any colour printer, having a dedicated photo printer is always a good option if you’re going to be prating photos most of the time. In these cases, photo printers offer better results compared to other printers. Using the inkjet technology, these printers produce full pages or 5 x 7 inch and 4 x 6 inch snapshots. Also, the dedicated photo printers accept a wide range of cards and media for printing quality photos.

All-in-one printers Also known as multi-functional printers, these combine a scanner, printer, photocopier and also a fax machine into one single unit. The all-in-one printers are perfectly suited for small business and home office needs. Available in laser and inkjet varieties, they include flatbed scanners, auto duplexing for both side copies and can also include auto document feeder. As these printers have more complex features.

Portable Printers As the name suggests, portable printers are handy, sleek and easy to carry around. They use colour-inkjet printing technology, which offers good print speed and high quality image prints.

Features to look for in a printer

After you’ve decided on the type of printer you want to buy, you should then look for the features. The first things to look for are the resolution and the print speed. In case you want a printer for use at work, you would want to consider other features such as web printing, network connectivity, memory card slot, touchscreen controls, etc. Let’s take an in-depth look at some of these features.

Print Speed, Resolution, Paper Handling

Print speed is the number of pages that a printer can print in a minute. It’s usually denoted as ppm (pages per minute). This number will always vary between a black and white and colour printer. However, not all manufacturers measure the ppm in the same way. While some use specific settings to maximize the numbers, others use draft quality to determine the ppm. Laser printers tend to be faster than inkjet printers. The latest printers have print speed denoted as ipm (images per minute). It’s similar to ppm, but the only differentiating factor here is that ipm is measured at number of dots per inch or at a fixed resolution. The resolution of a printer is specified as the number of dots per inch (dpi) it can put on a surface. It is generally measured both vertically and horizontally. Theoretically, higher resolution allows for more detailed prints. A resolution 600dpi is considered to be decent, perfect for most text and photos. On the other hand, for smaller, crisper text and detailed photographs, resolution of 5,000dpi or higher are considered to be good. While most printers print documents and photos on A4 size paper, there are some printers that can also print onto transparencies and labels. There are also some printers that can print images and text on envelopes, large-size and legal papers. If you plan to print on different sized papers, consider the paper tray sizes and the capacity that the printers support.

Memory, Connectivity, Dual-sided printing, Controls and Screen

Similar to your PC or laptop, printers too have some on-board memory and a processor. Also known as buffer, this memory indicates the number of print jobs the printing machine can queue up at once. Having more memory means the printer can easily handle more jobs without any slowdown. This is especially true if you are looking forward to print massive colour documents with lots of images. While most new printers have a USB port to connect with a computer, some printers also allow you to print over a network. There are printers that have network support using an Ethernet port. There are some others that also have wireless printing solutions, some which work over the web. This means you can print documents over the internet, from anywhere in the world. Some printers, especially portable ones even have Bluetooth so you can print directly from your mobile or tablet. Most laser printers come with large paper trays, which is ideal for high-volume printing jobs. High-end printers also offer multiple collators and output trays. In case you also plan to copy or scan several sheets, look for multi-functional printers that come with automatic document feeder (ADF). This saves you the trouble of having to individually feed sheets of paper. Also known as duplexing, these printers automatically print content on both sides of the paper sheet. In case of printers that lack this feature, you need to manually feed the paper back into the printer for taking proper two sided printouts. With both side printing, you can not only save paper, but also have thinner stack of print outs. Some printers come with minimalist controls whereas others come with an array of buttons that are meant to let you control and change settings of the printer. Some high-end printers also feature touchscreens in place of buttons which makes operating them easy. With the help of these above pointers, we hope you’re able to choose the right printer for you. Don’t forget to visit the closest Reliance Digital store for more information on them. Also feel free to ask our executives and we’ll be more than happy to help you figure out the right printer for you.

Memory card & USB support, Cartridges

Some printers also support printing from memory cards and USB drives. They have built-in card readers and USB ports for this purpose. Thanks to the feature, you no longer need to transfer photos and documents to the computer for printing. All the popular memory card formats are supported by most of the printers.  When looking for a printer, the type of cartridge it uses is something that you shouldn’t neglect. While inkjet printers use ink cartridges for printing, laser printers use toner or powdered ink and a drum, known as photoreceptor for printing. Consider the cost of the number of cartridges and their cost. This will help determine how much your running cost might be.