Various types of printers reviews

On the basis of technology used, they are classified in to Two:
1) Impact Printers
2) Nonimpact Printers

Impact Printers uses the typewriter printing mechanism.In this case an INK ribbon,that makes a physical contact with the paper.When the hammer strikes the ribbon it

produces the corresponding outputs.Examples:- Dot Matrix printer and Character Printer

Nonimpact Printers uses Chemical, heat or electrical signals to produce the output. It produces the result without using the hammer mechanism. Examples:- Inkjet,

DeskJet, Laser. Thermal printers are under this category of printers. It cannot Print Composite forms.

Two basic qualities associated with the Printers Resolution and Speed Print Resolution is measured in terms of number of Dots per Inch (dpi).Printer Speed is

calculated on the basis of number of characters printed in a unit of time.It is represented as character-per-second (cps),lines-per-minute (lpm),or page-per-minute

(ppm).

Advantage and Disadvantages of Printers:

Advantage: output produced by the printer is permanent (hard copy).
Disadvantages: Printers are noisier than display devices. Compared to display devices, the time taken to get the printout is slow.

IMPACT PRINTERS

a) Daisy- Wheel Printers

It uses a Wheel as a print head.When the wheel rotates,hammers strikes the backside of the spoke and press it against the paper to print a character.

Advantages:

1) It can print letter quality characters.

Disadvantages

1) Printing speed is slow.
2) It cannot print graphics.

b) Dot Matrix Printers

It produces printed images with a print head striking mechanisms. A higher number of pins on the print heads means that more dots are printed, which results the

higher print quality.(i.e. a 24 pin printer has better print quality than 9 pin printer).Each character is a group of small dots. The speed of dot- matrix printer is

measured by the number character per second (cps).

Advantages:

1) It can print multipart forms.

Disadvantages:

1) It is noisy because of striking mechanism.
2) Printing quality is not good compared to Ink-jet and Laser printers.
3) Paper jams.

c) Line Printers

It is a High Speed impact printer. It prints entire line at a time. The speed of the line printer is measured by the number of line-per-minutes (lpm).It produces a lot

of noise. Less expensive.

NONIMPACT PRINTERS

a) Ink-Jet Printers

It produces the text and graphics by spraying tiny drops of ink liquid on a paper. It produces the letter- quality text and graphics in both black- and –white and

colors. It produces high quality text than dot matrix printer’s .Some of this type printer can print photo- quality images on any type of paper. Speed of Ink- jet

printer is measured in terms of line-per-minute (lpm). Black color is used for pure black printing. Color printing three colors are used (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow).

Technologies to control the ink flow is:- thermal, Piezoelectric and continuous.

Advantages:

1) They are quiet.
2) It produces high quality color outputs.

Disadvantages:

1) Specialized papers are required to produce high quality color outputs.
2) Ink cartridges and specialized papers are expensive.

b) Laser Printers

Laser Printer working mechanism is similar to a photocopier. It process and store entire page before they print it. So it is also called as Page Printers. Now, Most of

the Laser Printers can print text and graphics in very high resolutions. Then the resolution ranges from 600 dpi to 1200dpi. It prints the text at the speed of four

to over thirty pages per minute.

Advantages:

1) They are quiet and fast.
2) It produces high quality outputs on normal papers.
3) Cost per page of toner cartridges is lower than other printers.

Disadvantages:

1) Initial price of this printer is high.
2) They are more expensive than Dot-matrix printers and Ink-jet Printers.
c) Plotters

Plotter is large printer. It generates high quality outputs. It produces the output by moving an ink pen over the surface of a paper. These types of printers are used

by engineers and architects. It usually used to produce high-quality blueprints, map and floor plans.

Two basic type of Plotters are
Pen-Plotters and X-Y Plotters

Adventages:

1) It can print large data
2) High-Quality